Painless French (Barron's Painless Series)

by Carol Chaitkin, Lynn Gore

American middle school and high school students--and for that matter, American adults--usually have difficulty learning and understanding the hard-to-pronounce sounds of French. This book was written especially for students of French who have been finding pronunciation as well as all other aspects of the learning process painful. They'll discover many interesting features and facts about French culture as this book's authors gently immerse them into the details of French vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, idioms, and conversational speech. Short exercises in those language details will help them measure their learning progress as they advance from one chapter to the next.

Genres: France, Nonfiction, Language

281 pages, Paperback

First published December 7, 2007

Reviews

[Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this was a pretty well-done book. I think it's probably best for people who can understand and speak some French but want to further develop their grammar and practise reading. I think the texts are probably too complicated for an absolute beginner. The text also focuses on proper pronunciation but, without audio to compare yourself to, I doubt that it would be super useful. I enjoyed how it talked about the history and culture of the Francophonie as well as France itself and it provided lots of examples to practise new grammatical concepts. It helped to clarify a lot of questions/issues I had about French grammar so I'd definitely recommend it.

[Dwayne Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good intro to French, including some cultural tidbits.

[Shaoola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish there was an audio part with it

[Steve Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy introduction into the base needs of conversational French language. Includes a healthy amount of grammar and vocabulary. What sets this text apart from others is the inclusion of plenty of history and cultural descriptions of Le Monde Française, which is just as important to understanding a language as translating words and phrases. It's worth checking out if you are starting out but not very useful beyond the grammar descriptions if you have a moderate understanding of French language. One issue I had was the placement of adjectives as almost an afterthought at the end of the book. The chapters seemed to be having a logical progression of difficulty then drops off sharply in the last two chapters.

[Sara Ghotb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it was definitely not painful! Mostly, the book is a collection of useful vocabulary and fun stories and facts about French celebrities and places. A basic understanding of French is recommended, otherwise there will be difficulties with pronunciations since there is no audio.

[Jeskah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not horrible, but I feel that it would have been slightly more difficult to understand if I had no prior knowledge of French.

[Vivien]

I did not finish this book, not because I found it unhelpful. I think this is a great resource that clarifies grammar and gives cultural insight, but I wish it came with a DVD with pronunciation, so you'll know how the words sound, and you'll get used to hearing French. An English translation of the French passages would also be helpful-am I translating right? I want to know.