A complete course, covering listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Together with the audio CDs you will get a good overview of the essential skills you need to understand and speak French.
If you’re a complete beginner then a text book that takes you through all the different facets of French is likely to be at the top of your shopping list. You will probably be familiar with this series of language books as there is an edition available for almost every language. This course book is most suitable for an adult learner who wants to study French independently - as the title says. You could also use this book in conjunction with a weekly French class, or after a break from studying the language at school.
This is a complete course, covering listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Together with the audio CDs you will get a good overview of the essential skills you need to understand and speak French. Make sure you use the recordings fully if you are studying independently. Here you will be able to listen to French and practice using it - essential tasks to be able to progress with your French learning. The book is sold with the CDs or separately. Complete French is split into 25 different units. Each unit focuses on a different grammar function explained through a topic – for example, adjectives in “visiting the old town.” Included in each unit or chapter are a statement of what you are going to learn, a presentation of the new language forms and functions - usually in dialogue format -, and exercises to help set the language in your mind.
"A user-friendly book, designed for the beginner who wants to progress quickly."
There are also grammar sections where you can practice constructing your own sentences, pronunciation guides, and information about French-speaking counties. This information includes detail into such factors as the French health service and French food. To check your progress there is a self-assessment test included at the end of the book. A glossary of grammar terms and transcripts of the dialogues are also included. When you listen to the dialogues it can be tempting to read along with the transcripts but try not to do this (at least until you have listened to the dialogue a few times.) Your listening skills will improve through listening, not reading.
One of the advantages of this book is the clear layout and the logical progression of the exercises and topics. You don't feel like you are skipping anything and the French gets gradually more challenging, and the dialogues more difficult, as you go along. For this reason it is a good idea to work through the book in order. You can listen to the dialogues more than once - this is a good idea to help train your ear to understand French and also to remember new words and phrases. The pronunciation guides are handy – make sure you don’t skip over the parts where you are required to speak. It may seem strange practicing spoken French on your own but it does give you a good base on which to make progress with spoken French. On a minor note, I found that the book itself is not very strong and after a few months dipping in and out of it, it began to fall apart.
Complete French is user-friendly and designed for the beginner who wants to progress quickly – you can also use the book if you have some knowledge of French but want to brush-up on your skills.
