Le groupe français 2016 - 2023 Les Voyageurs

[Carmody]

Anyone interested in a test from le Robert?

La Certification Le Robert
La seule certification globale en langue française : orthographe, grammaire, expression et vocabulaire

Orthographe: Le Robert lance aussi son examen pour mesurer son niveau de français

TEST Sur les modèles anglais du TOEFL et du TOEIC, l’éditeur des célèbres dictionnaires lance la certification Robert qui permettra d’évaluer ses compétences dans la langue de Molière…

But on looking into it, it does not appear to have any sites in the USA for taking the test.

[arthaey]

one book that is often recommended for beginners which I very much enjoyed was Petit Nicolas [Amazon.com]. These are funny short stories about a schoolboy that always seem to involve fighting and tears at some point.

I've only read the first chapter/story of the first book so far, but I enjoyed it. It seems to be one of those stories that has events kids can understand & identify with, but with funny or satirical interpretations of adults & society for adult readers to enjoy too.

As for its level, I'm coming at from haphazard grammar study + my conversational Spanish + just jumping in and puzzling it out. I did a survey of the first chapter, and it's already 90% known words, and 95% comprehensible with educated guesses from context.

[Fortheo]

Since a lot of you are mentioning beginner books, I've got some to share.

These are all childrens' or young adult series that were translated into French. They're great because each series has around 40+ books, so you have plenty of time to get used to the language patterns and vocab.


La Cabane Magique (the magic tree house):





I know of 48 books in this series that were translated into french. They're short and easy, probably accessible to A1-A2 students, but you'll learn a lot, not just about french but about various subjects because they're fun educational books for children. Also, I'll just make it clear that none of these are picture books, despite the fact that the covers kind of make it seem like they are. Here's a brief summary from the back of book one: "Tom et Léa remontent à la période du Crétacé il y a 65 millions d’année, et explorent pas à pas un monde peuplé de créatures bizarres et gigantesques, jusqu’à ce qu’ils se retrouvent face à un tyrannosaure, un animal particulièrement féroce, et soient sauvés par un Ptéranodon. Tom trouve aussi un médaille d’or portant la lettre « M »"


Chaire de poule (goosebumps):



This one is good for people at the end of, or nearing the end of Assimil. I still read one from time to time and I'd say they're perfect for helping A2 level students get to a solid B level. A lot of people like to jump into Harry potter, but I found Chaire de poule to be a better fit for me. Also, there's at least 70 books in french, so if you like it, then you'll have your fill for a long time. Here's a very brief summary of book 1 La malédiction de la momie: "Gabriel s'est perdu dans une pyramide. Sa cousine Sari, qui était devant lui, a mystérieusement disparu. Mais Gabriel a l'impression de ne pas être seul..."



Animorphs:



In terms of language level, I'd say it's slightly more difficult than Chaire de poule, but not by much. I still read some of these books because I'm invested in the characters and they help boost my confidence. There's 48 that I know of in French. Here's a brief summary from amazon: "Ils ont tous un pouvoir extraordinaire : celui de se transformer en animal. Et d'eux cinq dépend le sort du monde. Mais ils ne peuvent vous dire qui ils sont. C'est trop risqué...."


I owe so much to these books, especially Chaire de poule and Animorphs, so I figured I'd share them with those who don't know about them yet.

[DaveBee]

Just got a new toy: French-English visual dictionary.

Flicking through it, I was reminded of one of the odder french names I've come across.

chauve-souris > bald mouse > bat

I can see a bat being a type of mouse, but surely the distinguishing feature of that mouse is that it can fly

[tastyonions]

I like "le cerf-volant" (flying stag) for kite and "le nid-de-poule" (hen's nest) for a pothole.

[DaveBee]

I like "le cerf-volant" (flying stag) for kite and "le nid-de-poule" (hen's nest) for a pothole.

Nid-de-poule/pothole is lovely.

[tuckamore]

one book that is often recommended for beginners which I very much enjoyed was Petit Nicolas [Amazon.com]. These are funny short stories about a schoolboy that always seem to involve fighting and tears at some point.

I've only read the first chapter/story of the first book so far, but I enjoyed it. It seems to be one of those stories that has events kids can understand & identify with, but with funny or satirical interpretations of adults & society for adult readers to enjoy too.

As for its level, I'm coming at from haphazard grammar study + my conversational Spanish + just jumping in and puzzling it out. I did a survey of the first chapter, and it's already 90% known words, and 95% comprehensible with educated guesses from context.

Le Petit Nicolas books were my first books in French and I highly recommend them. I read them last year after completing about half of the passive phase of French without Toil. I admit that I relied heavily on the dictionary function in my Kindle for the first third or so of the first book. But, once I knew what 'coups de poing' meant, the rest of the books were smooth sailing. After reading the 5 Le Petit Nicolas books and getting about 2/3 through French without Toil, I move onto adult fiction, fairly painlessly (Marc Levy, Fred Vargas). My first book after Le Petit Nicolas was Si c'était vrai by Marc Levy. The first chapter was rough for me, but after that it was fine (and about half way in, it got extremely easy when I recalled seeing a movie with a very similar story line).

[DaveBee]

I admit that I relied heavily on the dictionary function in my Kindle for the first third or so of the first book. But, once I knew what 'coups de poing' meant, the rest of the books were smooth sailing. After reading the 5 Le Petit Nicolas books and getting about 2/3 through French without Toil, I move onto adult fiction, fairly painlessly (Marc Levy, Fred Vargas). My first book after Le Petit Nicolas was Si c'était vrai by Marc Levy. The first chapter was rough for me, but after that it was fine (and about half way in, it got extremely easy when I recalled seeing a movie with a very similar story line).

The dictionary lookups with Petit Nicolas definitely had a common theme to them: se battre, gifle, lutte, coup de pied...

[eebeejay]

For beginner books I've been using a lot of books from La collection Ma petite vache a mal aux pattes from Soulières Éditeur and the Noémie series by Gilles Tibo from Québec Amerique. 6-8 years old seems to be where my reading level is right now.

[DaveBee]

Duolingo explains adjectives: propre.

ma propre voiture — my own car
ma voiture propre — my clean car

I knew propre could mean 'my own'/clean. I did not know it's position relative to the noun determined the meaning.