Customer Reviews

Sur le vif

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was an extremely helpful grammar review to finish up the intermediate level before continuing to a course in grammar and composition. Confusing subjects that had to be covered quickly in beginning French were reviewed, along with a few irregular verbs per chapter and spelling rules.

Much of this book is given to building vocabulary, set out in themes like student life, transportation, immigration, and politics. These were especially helpful in feeling prepared to talk about something besides family and the weather in French, and having the wide range of extra vocabulary gives one a lot of options for topics to write on at higher levels.

I found this book really engaging. It gives you the opportunity to learn within a particular context. The workbook provides great reinforcement. I like the idea of having the grammar section at the end of the book which makes it more inviting (it's not just about learning the grammar, it's about using it).
Another great feature: this book is not as heavy as the previous ones I had!!

At first, I was skeptical with this text book but soon came to enjoy it! There are relevant studies throughout the book with helpful cultural tidbits.

I do have one pet peeve about the text book, however. There are not enough practice exercises in the book. Practice of grammar points taught in the book are mainly dependent on the supplementary workbook (sold separately).

This textbook is better than soem of hte other college textbooks such as Motifs which was horrible!

J'aime le français. There was a tear in the book but it's nothing a little scotch tape could handle.

Sur le vif is thin gruel -- a pedagogically-unsound textbook -- and a thinly-veiled rant by tenured radicals. It made my intermediate French course far less than it should have been. The book's grammar lessons are relegated to a truncated section ("Structures") in the back -- and such grammar lessons! Major concepts are glossed over in a few sentences, with only one or two exemplary sentences to give the student a vague idea how it works practically. The vocabulary sections at the head of each chapter, which would be an ideal chance to introduce students to French literature and culture, are instead given over to left-wing propagandizing (nerdy rants against the internal combustion engine; multiculturalist cheer about the Muslim colonization of France; a final chapter, "Sans frontieres," vaunting international socialism; and quizzes with questions celebrating homosexual marriage and Ang Lee -- because, of course, knowing about Ang Lee will help me master the subjunctive). I wish to God I had my [...] back -- or that Sur le vif were printed on soft paper. Avoid avoid avoid!

This Troisieme Edition works along with the new web site which provides additional practice opportunities. It is written so that the reader and language student can learn about the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of the French-speaking world and to prepare the average traveller a guide as you traverse a French country or the French Canadian area of North America.

There is a grammatical section so as to make communicating with the foreigners not so difficult. Now, when I tried to learn Spanish a long time ago, it was the verbs which tripped me up keeping me from writing a letter to my pen pal in Sabadell, Spain. He knew English well enough to teach it to others there, but I wanted to surprise him by sending just one communique in his native tongue. This book explains the difference in the "-er" verbs vs. the "-ir" verbs; also the regular verbs which end in "-re" such as entendre. There are pronominal or reflexive verbs, reciprocal and idiomatic verbs. Two kinds of infinitives: past and present. It explains prepositions with geographical names, like La Nouvelle Orleans (poor place may just not exist anymore or will be moved to higher ground).

This book teaches the student to communicate with French speakers about contemporary issues and helps to develop language skills which will enhance career opportunities. Foreign languages are not so important in the United States as most of us are not world travelers. The native tonue in America will soon be Spanish anyway, as so many Latins have taken over the large cities in pupulation growth.

The cartoons (Little Red Riding Hood in bed with the wolf wearing Grandma's nightcap) and La fleur, lem mir oir et le cheval, about a knight and his lady fair are fun to interpret and the songs add a fun dimension to the text of learning another language. It seems that many in the U.S. of America have trouble learning their own native English, and the idioms of sections of the country are meaningless to those of us who don't live there. Harlem speech is as far from California speech as the man in the moon is from Mars.

We need to learn to live together, no matter the nationality or demonination (religion) we celebrate, as this Earth is for us all to get along in and live, love and be happy.