Customer Reviews

Street French 2: The Best of French Idioms (Street Language) (Bk.2)

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If you are looking for a book that will unravel the mysteries of the everyday French language, look no further. Street French 2 goes far beyond the standard idiomatic translations, even including practice puzzles and exercises. I would recommend it to those who are already very familiar with the language but would like to improve their overall knowledge of conversational French. It is not a book for beginners.

I bought this book as an idiom review and I do like the way it is structured. There are enough exercises to reinforce the message without it becoming exhaustive and each chapter varies from the last. The puzzles and word games are a nice addition. One thing I find distracting, however, is the phonetic spelling that attempts to get people to pronounce things the way they would be heard by a native speaker. The idea behind this is sound, but, in any language, correct diction is always the best way to make oneself understood if a non-native speaker is communicating with a native. If you spend any length of time in France, the local diction will automatically become a part of your manner of speaking. In trying to force this you risk phonetic errors that make you sound like an amateur.