Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4907 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 1 of 5 12 February 2012 at 8:57pm | IP Logged |
As the title says, could you recommend a good, readable French grammar? I know opinions will vary about what good and readable mean, but just let me know what you'd recommend, and why!
Also, taking up that Irish polyglot's advice to learn a phrasebook, could anyone recommend a good phrasebook to use? I'd prefer one with a CD.
I've been learning French for about 6 months (slowly), but have a family holiday in France this summer, so I want to kick it up to the next level.
Thank you!
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5563 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 2 of 5 13 February 2012 at 10:04am | IP Logged |
How about the Collins easy learning grammar:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Easy-Learning-French-Grammar /dp/0007367821/ref=sr_1_5?
ie=UTF8&qid=1329123701&sr=8-5
In the same series there is this slightly-bigger-than-a-phrasebook with MP3 download
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Easy-Learning-Dictionaries-
Conversation/dp/0007229747/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1329123737 &sr=8-9
or this CD based one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Gem-Learning-French-
Phrasebook/dp/0007358482/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1329123805& sr=8-10
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4907 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 3 of 5 15 February 2012 at 2:43pm | IP Logged |
Thank you Elexi. I flicked through the Collins grammar in a bookshop the day after I posted my request. It looked good, but I still wanted to see people's opinions.
Have you used any of these books? I was hoping for feedback about which books are useful and why.
One phrasebook I've been thinking about is the DK one, here on Amazon. Has anyone used it while travelling in France?
1 person has voted this message useful
|
magictom123 Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5591 days ago 272 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French
| Message 4 of 5 15 February 2012 at 7:33pm | IP Logged |
Madigrals magic key to French is floating around the net as a pdf file I believe. If you can find it, get it.
It's like a more in depth Michel Thomas course with 100's of questions. Very good in how it simplifies
grammar and expands vocabulary at the same time.
As for a phrasebook, doesn't Benny always use the Lonely Planet ones? I don't think they come with
audio though.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4907 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 5 of 5 03 March 2012 at 8:26pm | IP Logged |
Today I sat in a bookstore with Collins Easy Learning French Grammar, and BBC Talk French Grammar. It seemed to me Collins gave slightly fuller explanations, and uses more technical language (which I'm fine with). However, I bought the BBC grammar because it has a chapter on sentence structure.
1 person has voted this message useful
|