The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning French

by Gail Stein

Speak French like a Parisian ... Includes a CD!

As the second most spoken language in the world after English, French continues to be among the most popular foreign languages for native English speakers. This helpful guide focuses on more academic topics, such as verb tenses, in useful travel-themed chapters dealing with everything from renting a car to visiting a doctor.

• Includes a new CD that can be used with or without the book
• Contains entire chapters on idioms, gender, and weather not offered in competitors' books
• French as a foreign language is the second most frequently taught and spoken in the world after English

Genres: Reference, France, Language, Nonfiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

Reviews

[Cass · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an idiot's guide, it is not a textbook or a Pimsleur course or a phrasebook... But it kind of tries to be something in the middle of all three.

I definitely learnt things from the book, but not as much as I had hoped, and it felt a bit all over the place (though this is a style that idiot's guides tend to use).

It was good, if I saw a second hand copy I would buy it for my reference shelf, but I wouldn't spend money on a new copy.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I would have had this book a few months ago when my nephew decided to take French and then brought his homework over to me since I took French in college in the early 1990's.

Est-ce que je peux vous aider? (May I help you?)
This book might be the helper that you need to fake it until you make it in French.

[Aye Aye Sanda Htun · Rating 4 out of 5]

helpful for me in learning french.

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I am not a complete idiot, like I thought I was when I bought this book. I bought it and tried to study it. It wasn't helpful for me. I lived in Paris at the time and this specific book, which was written by a polyglot who has taught French for many years, confused me. The way she structured the grammar explanations, as well as the exercises she provided, were not enough. I really couldn't understand why at the time, but for me it was a jumble. She interjects small anecdotes from her own life, I guess to make the book less formal, and I was trusting that since she taught French at a high school and I think a university that she had a set manner of getting the information across, but the whole time I had that book, I didn't progress at all. I think I did learn that j'ai with a verb meant the past simple, and I think I understood a little bit the past progressive, but for me the book really had me confused for months. I actually felt like I must be stupid since I could not get it. However, there are other books, grammar books which presented the language much clearer, which were much more useful to me when I finally had the sense to stop trying to learn with this book. I even bought miniature travel translation books for Czech and a travel guide for Thailand which were not language books (the Czech had useful phrases and a dictionary) but they were much more useful (for helping with their respective languages) than this book to learn French.

[Gracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to learn french, although I have no idea why. This book has been really helpful in explaining everything and does an excellent job of spelling everything out phonetically! I have come to appreciate it very much.

[AF]

leafed through the 4th ed from library--will require more free time to commit to this as it seems a worthy tool!

[Nurshafiqa · Rating 3 out of 5]

clear and pretty much helpful, i just can't get myself to read the whole book word for word though!

3 stars.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice way to get a quick summary of French. It must have done something, because I can now understand some basic conversation stuff and the majority of what I've read in passing.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trying to brush up on my high school French before my trip this fall -- so far, it's been helpful.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revision for my French class. Nothing new just need to review more subjunctive!