Customer Reviews

Une Semaine à Paris - A traveler's guide with a novel twist (Book + 3 Audio Cd Set)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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I teach French at Mississippi State University and I have enjoyed Camille's books and have introduced them to my classes. In addition to her great materials, she is very easy to contact and get personal help from. It's great for people that do not have the opportunity to have contact with a native speaker! Her podcasts are amazing!!!

Camille Chevalier Karfis has created a unique guide to Paris. Without omitting the best known sights, she also writes persuasively of others that are unknown to many tourists, but which certainly merit a visit. But beyond this, she has also addressed the needs of visitors who want to improve their French before they make the journey, by providing an engaging story in 17 chapters about a French-speaking couple from the U.S. enjoying a week in Paris. The vocabulary, grammar,and delivery begin at a very easy-going level but become progressively more demanding as the story continues; nevertheless, the slope is very gentle, and someone who can only manage Chapter 1 at first should be able to progress before long through the remaining chapters. The complete text and a translation are always available to those who can't grasp everything on a first listening. Those with intermediate skills, who will understand the material more quickly, can gain useful speaking practice by echoing each phrase - the relaxed pace always allows this. Even advanced speakers are likely to find the travel information of interest (and they might want to use the story on friends or family members).

Camille (at learnfrenchinboston.com) is evidently a very talented and inventive teacher, and has managed to break out of the inefficient traditional classroom routines that leave so many students stranded when they arrive in France, no matter how many tests they have passed. I can warmly recommend "Une semaine à Paris" to students and teachers alike.

Perfect for anyone wanting to understand daily French conversations! (and even be able to speak as well). No more quizzical looks when a shop owner asks if you need assistance. No more gesturing wildly to get your point across. This book, and especially listening to Camille's CD's over and over again, will truly enhance your next trip to France. There are so many ways to learn here - try NOT reading the book but rather just LISTEN to the CDs - amazing French education tool! Nothing like it on the market! Superb technical quality!

I don't feel aged but let's just say that I get the coffee discount at McDonald's. It seems to me that with age there are some mental abilities that decline just as surely as the ability to run swiftly and jump high. I certainly don't feel "stupid" but the mind feels a bit less agile, less quick to soak up the new and, especially, less quick to rearrange itself to allow a new language to settle in deeply where it needs to be for anyone who aspires to even the most casual "fluency."

I am guessing that over the last seven years I had put well more than a thousand fairly diligent hours into the study of French. (It is hard to know how to count these hours, I give myself less than half credit for an hour spent watching a French movie with English subtitles, even though I was concentrating on listening to the French.) The results were pathetic.

I pursued lots of different resources: audio magazines, French in Action and other packaged courses, internet broadcasts, etc. I always felt that I had not found quite the right resource until I came upon Camille's little book. This truly has been for me the "open sesame" to the French language. It is highly authentic but slowed down to a pace that makes it manageable. I have not found that material slowed down by technical means works nearly as well as this deliberate reading by a careful native speaker. When I have gotten all that I can get from this reading, do I think that I will be ready for all of the rapid-fire and colloquial French that one may encounter in the streets? No, I don't. But I will be on the horse and riding. My ability to understand careful French -- typical of news programs that I listen to online and of audio magazines -- is dramatically improved. It seems to me that it is that first step that is so hard. Once one is understanding the majority of what one hears, further growth should come quite naturally, especially with the internet and so much recorded material available.

The discovery of this resource has been a big deal for me. My commitment to learning French had gotten to be something of a monster that I was wrestling with. Now, the monster is in a lot of trouble.

I bought this CD/book combination just before traveling to Paris, and I've enjoyed listening to and reading it many times. Now that I've 'been there,done that' in Paris, reliving my trip through Thomas and Angela is really fun. Plus I know my French has improved because now I can listen to most of the CD in my car without having to look at the text to figure it out.

A good nice story, with a lot to learn and a nice kiss at the end. You read and you listen.

Basically my title says it all; Camille should do more of these.
The book & CDs are good learning tools.
I have suggested these products to others.
Felix

This is an enjoyable read and at the same time an introduction to a wide and useful vocabulary, especially if you are travelling, shopping, eating etc. And without really noticing, you learn how to make sentences and how to use some of the basic tenses and how to put all that together to make an interesting and pleasant conversation.
In addition to teaching you french, the book teaches you Paris - where to stay, where to go, where and what to eat and so on, and how to get what you want in shops and restaurants. I have got a more intimate "feel" of Paris from this book than from any guidebook.
The audio discs are excellent and will make you feel at ease with your pronunciation.

I have been taking private French classes for 4 or 5 years. I found this book incredibly useful for my last three visits to Paris. Being able to listen to the pronounciation of the streets and monuments by arrondissement in Paris proved to be invaluable in improving my french.

I have tried at least a dozen different language learning programs, from audio tapes to computer programs. Some are terrible and some pretty good, but Une Semaine à Paris gives you excellent language instruction plus a great tour guide of Paris! The pace of the oral presentation is perfect and the pronunciation so fantastic that it is difficult not to understand. It really helps improve pronuncation/enunciation. It is a good program for someone who knows some French and wants to become more proficient or simply brush up. I heartily recommend Une Semaine à Paris!