French learning materials for a complete beginner

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Alfred200303
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French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby Alfred200303 » Mon Mar 06, 2023 1:20 pm

I would like to learn to read french, primarily for classic literature. I am currently fluent in Danish and English, and perhaps B2 level in German. I would like to study 1 hour every day, and I do not have any budget limit. Currently I am thinking of buying a handful of self-study books and completing them in succession. Perhaps these:

Assimil French Without Toil

70's Assimil French With Ease

Berlitz Self-Teacher

Cortina Method

Does this sound like a sound first step? Do you think I would then be able to moving on to bilingual texts after completing these courses? I have had a lot of success with english/german bilingial texts, but that was on the basis of seven years of german in school.

Thanks for the advice in advance (:
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby lavengro » Mon Mar 06, 2023 3:50 pm

I do not have any advice about any of that material as I used other materials, but just to let you know, Cortina French material (text and audio) is available for free legally at https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/cortina.html
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby tastyonions » Mon Mar 06, 2023 4:23 pm

I'm not familiar with Cortina but apart from that it looks like a solid list.
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Mar 06, 2023 4:31 pm

Alfred200303 wrote:I would like to learn to read french, primarily for classic literature. I am currently fluent in Danish and English, and perhaps B2 level in German. I would like to study 1 hour every day, and I do not have any budget limit. Currently I am thinking of buying a handful of self-study books and completing them in succession. Perhaps these:

Assimil French Without Toil

70's Assimil French With Ease

Berlitz Self-Teacher

Cortina Method

Does this sound like a sound first step? Do you think I would then be able to moving on to bilingual texts after completing these courses? I have had a lot of success with english/german bilingial texts, but that was on the basis of seven years of german in school.

Thanks for the advice in advance (:
Is there audio available for French without toil? Whatever courses you choose, I think your first course at least should have audio. I did like the Assimil course though, they currently seem to sell the physical books with CDs or MP3 USBs.

I agree that bilingual texts are a good tool. :-)

If money is not limited, perhaps you could look at attending a class too?

EDIT
As you have German as an option, you might want to consider PONs courses too. One of our forum members, Sonja, was very impressed by them.
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby Arnaud » Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:39 pm

DaveAgain wrote:Is there audio available for French without toil? Whatever courses you choose, I think your first course at least should have audio. I did like the Assimil course though, they currently seem to sell the physical books with CDs or MP3 USBs.

French without toil is the first generation: Chapt 1: Bon voyage ! (audio is available)
French with ease is the second generation: Chapt 1 : Où est le métro ? (audio is available)
French (with ease series), is the current generation: Chapt1 : Comment allez-vous ? The audio is available in CDs, usb stick and MP3s to download on the Assimil site.

There is "french by the nature method" on YouTube: it's not read by a native (I can hear a slight accent) but it's sufficient if your aim is only to read (the pdf is on archive.org)
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby miket12 » Thu Mar 09, 2023 9:58 pm

You may want to consider the Great Courses french course. If you live in the US many library systems have a subscription to Kanopy which lets you watch the video for free, and you can order the workbook for $10 from them. It is supposed to be the equivalent of the 1st year of college french. A review is in the thread https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =19&t=6059
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby sirgregory » Fri Mar 10, 2023 12:50 am

Your proposed program is similar to the one recommended by deka glossai. (The video below if for German but the same program and same materials could be used for French.)



Berlitz Self-Teacher is an old series with question-and-answer drills. But there's no audio for it and not a lot of explanation so I wouldn't start with it. Once you've got a good handle on the pronunciation it would work as a follow-up if you want more exercises (one of Assimil's weak points). If you like drills, you might like the FSI French Basic course.

Assimil and Cortina are similar in style: dialogues with a parallel translation and notes. You've listed three courses (two Assimils + Cortina) that all follow this format. I assume you have a strong preference for this style? If not or if you are not sure, you might want to explore other materials.

If you want something with more grammar, you might consider the old generation Teach Yourself. I think it would be pretty effective if your primary interest is reading. If your German is up to it you might look at the Langenscheidt courses (I have not tried them but they seem to have a pretty good reputation).
https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 19&t=17253
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby Carmody » Fri Mar 10, 2023 1:30 am

This might be of interest to people.


The Nature Method for Learning Foreign Languages - What is it & Why isn't it Better Known?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dETMksMseqc
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby gzt » Mon Mar 20, 2023 1:35 am

I would just note that the FSI French phonology course is pretty excellent, it's two weeks of work but it'll get you started on the right foot for listening and speaking.
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Re: French learning materials for a complete beginner

Postby jeffers » Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:13 am

Alfred200303 wrote:I would like to learn to read french, primarily for classic literature. I am currently fluent in Danish and English, and perhaps B2 level in German. I would like to study 1 hour every day, and I do not have any budget limit. Currently I am thinking of buying a handful of self-study books and completing them in succession. Perhaps these:

Assimil French Without Toil

70's Assimil French With Ease

Berlitz Self-Teacher

Cortina Method

Does this sound like a sound first step? Do you think I would then be able to moving on to bilingual texts after completing these courses? I have had a lot of success with english/german bilingial texts, but that was on the basis of seven years of german in school.

Thanks for the advice in advance (:


Depending on your approach/philosopy, you might want to add something a bit more grammar heavy. Hugo French in 3 Months is an excellent little book which does a good job of covering the basics of grammar more explicitly and in more detail than the Assimil courses.

EDIT: you can still get the full version with 3 CDs, but it is a lot more expensive than the new edition, which is just the textbook, and you use the Hugo audio app to listen to the sound files for free.
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