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French Without the Fuss (LL (R) Without the Fuss)
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - REfRESHINGLY GREAT!
Buy this bok if you want to actually enjoy your the task of learning the language (not just the accomplishment of having done so). My daughter (an affirmed non-language learning lover) and I (a language teacher for over 20 years) have been doing 5 pages of this book every day for the past month. The creativity of the exercises, humor of the dialogues and variety of the activities has kept us going. We are amazed at how much Fench we have learned in one month. The CD dialogues are very helpful with , we assume, authentic accents at a natural pace. My advice- Stop reading this review and GET THE BOOK! I've used hundreds of language texts for several languages over the years. This is the best I've ever encountered. I only wish they had one for teaching English as a second language.
Rating:  - Nothing special
The layout of this book really didn't work for me. I've taken spanish at school for many years, and I appreciate the way the classes seem to usually be laid out: a theme is introduced with a lot of relevant vocabulary, a lot of review, exercises, and reinforcement with the vocabulary, and an element of grammar introduced and practiced. French Without the Fuss seems to just take it's own path, teaching what it feels when it feels like it. Yes, there are sections of related vocab introduced, but not much of it at a time. The exercises aren't in depth and there aren't too many of them, leaving me wanting more practice or moving on without a grasp on everything I just studied. The book does do a good job with grammar, fully showing irregular verb conjugations, introducing other grammatical concepts one at a time and using them in the dialogs. I guess my major complaint is the lack of excersises for practice and the jumping around feel I get from using it.
Rating: - C'est Bonne et Magnifique!
My knowledge of French was limitied before buying this book, all i knew beforehand was a few phrases and numbers. But now i feel that just from going through 2 chapters of the book so far that i am truly grasping the language in a way that is fun, and very simple. The book doesn't make you feel intimidated, confused, or the least bit lost. And i think that's due to the fact that the author, or the narrator, of this book seems to know that the best way to learn another language is to do it at your own pace, no rushing or overwhelming you suddenly with something new. Great for beginners or people who already have had at least 2 or 3 years of French. And they also explain the grammar very well. Everything is just beautifully layed out, and there really is no fuss in learning the language from this book. Another great bonus about this book is how it's very modern, they have phrases that are actually used often by the French(so that way you won't sound like a textbook when you're actually speaking French), they have a dictionary in the back with the pronunciation (highly useful!), have an excellent appendix on verbs and phrases that "make you sound French" quickly, as well as neat and modern facts about the culture. It really does live up to its title, highly recommended.
Rating: - A very good introduction to the language
I had very little knowledge of French when I started reading this book. Then I signed up for a class and had to buy an inferior textbook, which really made me appreciate how good -French Without the Fuss- is.
It explains most of the fundamentals carefully and clearly in English, so that you can always understand what's going on. Informal sentence structures and words are taught alongside more formal ones. The pace of each lesson is slow enough that you can keep up as long as you pay attention, but at the same time you keep getting introduced to new words and expressions. The book also mentions a lot of small, tricky points that confuse beginners, like using the masculine possessive pronoun "mon" for feminine objects that begin with vowel sounds ("mon amie"). French cultural highlights are included.
The audio CD included with the book is lamentably short, with recordings of cheesy dialogues. But each dialogue introduces vocabulary and grammar gracefully, and although the actors manage to sound fairly natural, their pronunciation is adequately clear and slow. Track 1 has an irritating 30-second introduction.
I've gotten up to the third or fourth chapter, and although I found a few typos and was bored by some of the cultural notes, I feel like I've really mastered the basics of French grammar and have a decent grasp of pronunciation. I'm glad I learned my first French from this book, because if I'd read a different book I might have gotten discouraged at the very start.
Rating: - The Best!
I've gotten a few other French books & CDs, and this is the only one that keep me interested in learning. It has just the right amount of materials & exercises.
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