Learn French the Fast and Fun Way (Fast & Fun)
Learn French the Fast and Fun Way (Fast & Fun)
Updated with helpful facts and tips for international travelers, this new third editions of Learn French the Fast and Fun Way is suitable as language teaching book for adults as well as for older children. It instructs beginners in the basics of reading, writing, understanding, and speaking French. The book lightens language-learning routines with cartoon-style illustrations, language games, and puzzles. A set of vocabulary flashcards and a small staple-bound bilingual dictionary booklet are bound into the book’s spine and can be easily removed for supplementary use.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Fast and Fun Indeed
I thoroughly enjoyed learning from this book. I bought it so I can make conversational speaking in French for my coming trio to Montreal. It didn’t disappointm. I was able to learn the fast and easy way.
5 Stars Can’t understand any complaints about this.
I had two semesters or so of French in college years ago. This set has proven to help me pick up where I left off. If I had never had French at all, I can see that it would still be very helpful, though. Yes, it is for those who know only a bit of, or no, French. You really can learn in 15 min. or so a day, or learn more quickly if you choose to do so by going farther. It’s a great start, but don’t expect something very advanced at all and you won’t be disappointed. It uses different modes of learning to help one retain what is being taught. Very helpful. You may be able to check it out at the library first to see if you like it. That’s what made me want to buy it.
5 Stars The BEST Beginner’s course for learning French
I really enjoyed the layout of this program. I have invested a great deal of money in courses to self-teach myself French and Barron’s is by far the best. It came with 4-CDs so you get to HEAR the way the words are spoken and a 250 page book loaded with activities to help you learn…a winning combination! Granted, it could use some updating, ex. it still refers to francs and not euros and every now and then, the CD conversation is not EXACTLY as it is printed in the book, but that only happened like twice. However, the reason Barron’s wins out over the other book/CDs courses is their activity workbook. This is what really grabbed my attention and motivated me to keep going until I actually completed the whole book. A first for me! The workbook is like an activity book..8″x10″ in size(a BIG plus!)so there is actually ROOM to write your answers, unlike the book in Oxford’s “Take off in French” (5 x 7.75″ super tiny!) The chapters are about 15 pages each and have a theme (Getting to know people, Arrival, etc.) They each have plenty of audio or a dialog that includes a side-by-side english translation so you’re not flipping pages back-and-forth to make sense of it all (like Living Language’s “ULTIMATE FRENCH”–another small book that don’t even have room to write answers to lessons at all!) AND it has the pronounciation above the words. Chapters also include some grammar and/or verbs are introduced; and finally, there are some fun activities: puzzles, fill-in the blanks, word matching, etc. The answers are at the bottom of the pages…again, no flipping to the BACK of the book to grade your work. There are a couple of test as well to measure your progress. Overall, I found Barron’s Fast & Fun activity kits to be the best beginner’s tool for learning a foreign language. While visiting Paris, I’ve referred to some of the dialogs in this book to help me ask for something…who knew I would have to tell the maid to starch my hubby’s pants while on vacation?? Thanks for the help, Barron’s! Now, how about an Advanced version?
4 Stars Excellent value for those intimidated by learning French
I found this book to be an EXCELLENT resource for the beginning French student. It lives up to its subtitle fast and fun. In other words, it exceeds in its objective which is to give the absolute beginner the very basic grammar, vocabulary and phrases they need to develop confidence and competence in probable real-life situations. In short, it will not overwhelm even the most timid and is an excellent launch pad to further study. Is it comprehensive…. absolutely not…. but it delivers on a very good introduction to basic french.
Along with this book, I would also consider buying Easy French Step-by-Step. This is a book for the more serious student and includes vocabulary introduced by order of frequency used, grammar, graded reading material, etc. If I was only going to buy ONE book… this would be the one and it will last most people a long time. I also recommend…. Easy French Reader. This is a popular, inexpensive, entertaining and useful reader to help integrate knowledge.
A difficulty for many people with french is pronunciation. I have found Pronounce It Perfectly in French with Audio CDs (Pronounce It Perfectly CD Packages) to be very helpful in this area. Another good audio program for pronunciation is SmartFrench Audio CDs Beginner Level. There are several levels of these and they are all very good. The more advanced you get the more you will appreciate the organization of the information.
Last, but certainly not least…. I HIGHLY recommend French I, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand French with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Instant Conversation). There are many variations of this that contain more material, but this is the least expensive. Pimsleur was brilliant and if you really want to load things into long-term memory… dollar-for-dollar this will get the job done and improve your pronunciation and listening at conversational speeds.
Lastly, although it is QUITE expensive [[ASIN:B001AFD20E Rosetta Stone Version 3: French Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion] is a very fine resource. In my opinion, it’s worth the expensive because it works… it works quickly and it is one of the most painless ways to get a new language under your belt. They also sell Level 1 and 2 separately and as a set, but I don’t feel these are as good a value as the set. Also… I would try Pimsleur and seeing if you stick with it before you make this kind of investment.
4 Stars Fun, no-brainer French for beginners review
This is a cute book for beginning French students. As an intermediate French self-study student wanting to review some vocabulary and basic grammar, I found it very easy to go through. I finished the book easily in a few days.
It’s cute because it includes several humourous illustrations that allow you to associate words with their French equivalent. One benefit of this book is that it introduces you into basic conversation dialogues, which is a richer way to learn, as opposed to learning words or grammar only. There are also lots of exercises. I agree that this book eases you into grammar, but more serious students of the language should consider other sources for more background. (I like the Ultimate French Review Book, and French Reference Grammar).
Also, each word has a pronunciation guide printed above the word, which was useful since I didn’t have the tapes (so I cannot speak on the quality of the audio tapes). It wasn’t my favorite comprehensive book, but if you want a no-brainer beginning French text with lots of vocabulary, it fits the bill.
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