Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself French Complete Course

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When I bought this book I thought that it was going to be great. But, I actually judged it by the cover, since it looked really great. Actually, with all due respect I think that this course is not worth it. There are a lot of mistakes, on the book and on the cassettes, it doesn't help you a lot, it's too overwhelming and it's absolutely not for beginners. Me, I've been learning French for six years now, and I've tried a lot of courses and so far this is the worst I have ever used. It's too hard, and you feel completely lost after a while. If you're learning French, I'd recommend 'French In Three Months' and 'Pimsleur's Language Program'.

"Teach Yourself French" by Gaelle Graham is a fair book. It's main problem is that it doesn't give enough recorded explantions how to pronounce the French language. "Smart French" does this well, but lacks the structure of "Teach Yourself." I suggest either buying both, or, if you can afford it, "French in Action."

I used the "Teach Yourself: Beginner's French" book and cassettes first, which made it easier to use this more complex follow-up book. I think this is what made this book easier to follow, given the complaints others have listed in their reviews. I think the two should be used in conjunction, and I am satisfied with the results, although I credit some of that satisfaction to having already been exposed to a Romance language, Spanish. Overall, I think this book is worth the money, considering how expensive many other learn-at-home programs can be.

I found it to be easy to understand and very helpful. It's great way to start out. I've gone through many of the french teach yourself type books and I found this to be the most well put together to date.

Since I already understand a decent amount of French, this is a dandy way to bring back what I've lost in memory. But I really have to wonder if this would work for someone completely new to the language. If you are completely new to French, the tapes are definitely a must by sheer virtue of French not being a phonetic language. It's much like English in the sense that the way a word is spelled has little to no bearing on how it's pronounced.

'There is no way in hell you'll learn how to speak french from this book'

i'd agree with the statement there is no way in hell you'll learn french from JUST this book, but with tv monde and french radio you should be set, i was able to pick up the language quick enough with this. but compared to the other titles in the teach yourself series it lacks structure, it leaves important grammar that is essential to understanding earlier lessons right up until the end of the course. It also introduces a lot of words without any translation which means that you have to do a lot of flipping through the dictionary to find the meanings. but it is ok and it is the best in it's category in the lower price range.

I found this course absolutely excellent - one of the best Teach Yourself books I have used. It is best suited to those who have some shaky remnants of French remaining from school. If, like me, you have to know what every single word means, you will need a decent French dictionary as well, because they are not all in the vocab at the back. This book would be too fast-paced for a total beginner.

I have had a lot of luck with the Teach Yourself Series. I started by using the Italian book in this series, and then picked up the Spanish version with great success. The Spanish one in particular I would highly recommend, as it was very thorough.

The French one on the other hand, I don't quite know what to make of it. I now study French at university, and have other sources available, so this is a good complement. However, this book seems to skim over elements of French pronunciation that I consider vital. They (the author) seem to assume that everyone already knows how to pronounce French 'R'. Nasal consonants are not discussed, liaison is not gone into in any depth, and vowel sounds are not dealt with in any detail. I believe that vowels are hugely important to mastering French, and cannot understand why they would be omitted here. Being Australian, the comparisons with British English do not bother me, but I guess for an American they might be confusing.

Otherwise, the conversations are good, varied and entertaining. To anyone who complains that they are too fast, well, I would reply that if you plan on going to a francophone country, you need to be prepared for people speaking like this or faster.

In summary, a good resource, but you will need some supplementary materials that deal with pronounciation and the grammar in more depth.

When I bought this book I thought that it was going to be great. But, I actually judged it by the cover, since it looked really great. Actually, with all due respect I think that this course is not worth it. There are a lot of mistakes, on the book and on the cassettes, it doesn't help you a lot, it's too overwhelming and it's absolutely not for beginners. Me, I've been learning French for six years now, and I've tried a lot of courses and so far this is the worst I have ever used. It's too hard, and you feel completely lost after a while. If you're learning French, I'd recommend 'French In Three Months' and 'Pimsleur's Language Program'.

I have used this in German, as well as in French and will use it in Greek. Made me fluent enough to actually carry on simple conversations, get directions, make purchases and read signs and newspapers. Fantastic package. Easy to use and effective if you spend a half hour for 6 days a week for 6 weeks. I have worked on Russian using other options and my money was not nearly as well spent as with Elisabeth Smith. Fantastic.