Review: Fantastique! A great guide to french for beginners and travelers!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 29, 2013
I purchased this book, as well as several others, in preparation for a possible trip to France in the next year.I have no prior experience with French, so I was really looking for books tailored to beginners. This one only cost a few dollars, so I decided to give it a go, and I was not disappointed! I wanted to come write a review to tell other travelers/beginners that this book is great for that purpose and to add it to their French language resources. Finding a reasonably priced language book has been a struggle for me, and I'd like to save others the time and trouble. The local bookstore wanted 10$ for a similarly sized book with almost the same content.This book is very beginner friendly and includes some basic, common phrases one may need to use when visiting the country or speaking to somebody in French. I really like that it included some of the basic grammar rules so that readers could avoid some common faux pas of the language. It starts with exploring common articles and their usage with nouns which makes the rest of the phrases easier to understand. I found the text easy to follow, and I was practicing phrases out loud before I knew it!It's also great for easy reference, as there are sections just for common elements such as months, numbers, and everyday exchanges. One can easily flip the pages and learn quickly how to say 'Hello, how are you?', check in at the hotel, or ask for directions to the museum or other destination. Shopping in France seems like it'd be much easier with this book in tow as well. There's even a handy English-French dictionary in the back that includes a lot of words. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how inclusive the dictionary was.Overall, I'm happy with this purchase and think it will be a great reference book for anyone trying to learn the language, as a refresher, or for travelers. Having it on my e-reader is great because it is portable and won't weigh down my luggage like some of the bigger French language books. I have not had any trouble transferring it to my device-it loads properly and looks great. I think if you have trouble with how e-books display on your device, you need to adjust your settings because I have yet to have trouble with any e-book I've purchased. I can easily view the book when I go out or while I'm lounging around relaxing and want to practice my French. Thanks to the author for creating such a simple, easy to follow French e-book for us beginners! Definitely recommend.