french books... any experience?

blairt
Thu, 22 Feb 2007 14:33:17 +0000

i’m self-studying French w/ Rosetta Stone and i remember everything and I just love it. And while Rosetta Stone incorporates grammar into its program w/ grammaticaly correct sentences (the natural way, how we are w/ english… ie, i was around proper english my whole life and then when it came time to study grammar i was fine because i understood what “sounded right”). anyway, i’m pretty sure i should work more with more sentence structure and reading/writing (elemetry level right now, but i am progressing at a suprising rate) to prepare for a third level french course in september '07.

most of the sentences i’m acquainted w/ now are like “L’avion vole.” (The plane flys.) and “Les filles court apres le garcon” (the girls run after the boy)…which is pretty basic stuff, but i’ve only done 2 sessions so far. anyway, i have French Without Toil (it’s a vintage, outdated book but it’s basically just dialogue w/ translation and pronunciation…you’re supposed to read each short conversation and understand each word and slowly acquire the communication skills), and also found Easy French Reader, which is basically short stories/dialogue w/ interpretation and vocab… i also have a textbook, French for Mastery, but it’s a bit… eh, boring and seems incomprehensive to me.

i want a really good French grammar book that basically says “in French, this is different, and that is different, and you need to watch out for this, and that is a common mistake, and here are some practice questions.”…anyone have any experience w/ a comprehensive intro to proper french structure? something simple and straightforward for a self-teaching beginner to reference and learn form/practice with? what textbooks have you been succesful w/ ?

also! anyone know of a novel that an elementry learner could read (w/ a dicctionary on hand, of course) w/o a lot of confusion or trouble? or any forums where you can ask questions regarding proper french structure, etc.?

sorry if i rambled.