COF Senior Member United States Joined 5837 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 1 of 11 13 December 2008 at 6:00pm | IP Logged |
Can anyone suggest a good French course, that has a good amount of vocabulary, and
doesn't try and avoid explaining grammar. For one of the most studied languages in the
world, there really is a lot of rubbish out there in terms of French material and the
majority of it seems to be aimed at the holiday, phrasebook market, for people who
aren't interested in actually learning the language, merely learning enough to get by
and stop learning once back from holiday.
Really, I'm looking for a pretty comprehensive course that will get me to a good
standard of French. I tried "Teach Yourself French" once and I must say that course is
awful, as the reviews on Amazon will also confirm.
Thanks
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josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6452 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch
| Message 2 of 11 13 December 2008 at 7:37pm | IP Logged |
Check out Assimil's New French with Ease; it's an excellent course. It gives grammar in notes throughout the course. If you want to tackle grammar more directly while working through Assimil, pick up the Ultimate French Practice and Review book. It's quite good as well.
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mgr.graham Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5979 days ago 15 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English*, Latin Studies: Spanish, Ancient Greek, Indonesian, Malay
| Message 3 of 11 13 December 2008 at 10:12pm | IP Logged |
The older 1970s Teach Yourself French (yellow and blue cover) is much better if you like the grammar/translation method. The sequel "Everyday French" is also quite good. It is full of extracts from classic French literature. Good luck!
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Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 6154 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes
| Message 4 of 11 14 December 2008 at 12:05pm | IP Logged |
French for Reading by Karl C. Sandberg
It won't teach you pronunciation, but by the end of the book you'll be reading Voltaire in the original. It's pretty thick but can be completed fairly quickly if you work intensely.
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tryna36 Triglot Groupie United States Joined 6075 days ago 56 posts - 58 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Russian
| Message 5 of 11 15 December 2008 at 11:42am | IP Logged |
French In Action is a great program. The videos are free online at www.learner.org. I
would suggest getting the textbook and the workbooks. You can find the audio that
accompanies the workbooks online. I completed the entire course about 2 weeks ago, and
I am quite happy with my level. You can supplement this with a language exchange
partner, reading newspapers, listening to music, and watching movies.
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tpark Tetraglot Pro Member Canada Joined 7052 days ago 118 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English*, German, Dutch, French Personal Language Map
| Message 6 of 11 15 December 2008 at 11:50am | IP Logged |
The Michel Thomas French course explains a lot of the grammar very clearly. Assimil French with Ease is good, and you'll learn a lot from that course if you work through it. The French in Action course seems to be pretty good, but I really didn't use it as a primary learning resource - I looked at the videos and the book. The videos are good, but the book has all kinds of useful vocabulary in it. "Chez Nous" is the textbook that we used in our French class, and it describes a lot of the basic grammar. We had some special custom "Mount Royal Edition" that was poorly bound, so it fell apart after a year or so. The "french.about.com" site has detailed information on French grammar - Laura Lawless has done a great job, and her site also has other information about French culture, expressions and gestures.
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luckyboy1300 Diglot Newbie Philippines Joined 6573 days ago 17 posts - 18 votes Speaks: Tagalog*, English Studies: Spanish, French, Japanese
| Message 7 of 11 16 December 2008 at 2:54am | IP Logged |
Nothing better than the "Holy Grail" of all French courses out there, just grab the whole FSI French basic course, the most comprehensive course you can find, and it's free. www.fsi-language-courses.com. You can also start with the french phonology if you're having trouble with pronunciation. You can also add French in Action into the mix since FSI can get boring and dull but hey, good medicine tastes bitter.
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zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6378 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 8 of 11 16 December 2008 at 7:55pm | IP Logged |
You should definitely get
Teach Yourself Instant French -
If you've never learned a language before, this would be a nice spring board into the
language. It's what I did and it set me on a path of loving the language.
Then get Assimil if you can afford it.
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