Hi guys,
I%26#39;m visiting Paris first week of Septmeber and would like to know some independent bookstores where I can buy books on learning French. I%26#39;m not talking about the Pimsleurs and Rosetta Stones, etc but cheaper and authentic books made in France.
Thanks!
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I didn%26#39;t see many in Paris (and I looked). There are of course juvenile materials in French, which are very helpful for learning, including books written for French kids on French grammar.
I don%26#39;t know of any monolingual French books on learning French for adults - they%26#39;re all written with at least some instruction in some other language (English for example).
College bookstores will have good textbooks (that%26#39;s what I studied before going), we have no independent bookstores near us - and I don%26#39;t know of any independent bookstores online (except the ones brokered through Amazon.com or www.abebooks.com, but I don%26#39;t know that their search engines are going to help you much.
Online instruction and college grammar books - that%26#39;s a good non-Rosetta stone approach (although I think that approach is good too).
I personally found the online lessons suggested here (like Annenberg) to be much more helpful than any text. One needs to learn to *listen* to French more than anything else - books aren%26#39;t much help there.
Oh - and there are free podcasts in French on Itunes and you can get Radio France broadcasts on the web or for Iphone if you have one - very good listening experience and straight from France.
The podcasts are great - there are many different kinds.
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Thanks Cookie. English is ok too. I speak and understand French at a fairly decent stage. But the part I%26#39;m struggling is that the literature we get here is either too basic (Pimsleur, how to say the time in french) or way way too complex (18th century French literature using Tenses that no one uses today). So I%26#39;m kind of looking for.... how shall we say %26quot;advanced beginning%26quot; text books to buy in Paris. Perhaps the Sorbonne area has bookstores you%26#39;re referring to?
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As you live in Dallas, why not ask the local Alliance Francaise?
www.afnorthtexas.org
10830 N.Central Expressway, Suite 152
Dallas, TX 75231, United States
(972) 733-0844
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Try Attica:
http://www.attica.fr/
106 bd Richard Lenoir, 75011 Paris
Tél: 01 55 28 80 14
Ouvert mardi-samedi, 10h00-19h00
Métro: Oberkampf ou Parmentier
Bus: lignes 46, 56 %26amp; 96
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I highly recommend Gibert Joseph, their foreign language department is brilliant!!!!! Look for the FLE (France as a Foreign Language) at the foreign language floor.
The address is 26, boulevard Saint Michel
Two excellent publishers for FLE books are
Cle International www.cle-inter.com
Hachette http://www.fle.hachette-livre.fr/
You can download their catalogs as well as a list of shops worldwide that sell their books.
There is also a good FLE section at Fnac shops in Paris.
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If you absolutely must buy a book to read in French, just buy one of the %26quot;Petit Nicolas%26quot; stories. They are very easy to read and I%26#39;m not so sure they really are just for kids.
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If you want authentic %26quot;French as a second language%26quot; books, look for the %26quot;Mauger Bleu%26quot; series of books (I-IV), the original text of the Alliance Francaise and other schools. The pictures are really dated (France in the 50s) but these books are strong on grammar and correct syntax and usage. If you really understand all that is contained in books I and II, you%26#39;ll have more than a sufficient base upon which to build solid language skills. These books are only in French but written at a level commensurate with one%26#39;s progression starting with %26quot;Voici une chaise%26quot;.
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Of course do not overlook the excellent on-line resources such as:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/
www.learner.org/resources/series83.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
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Finally, all of these resources are wonderful but the only effective way to learn a language is to speak.
I recommend joining one of the French meetup groups available throughout the world:
http://french.meetup.com/
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Groups specific to Dallas:
http://french.meetup.com/308/
Organized by Gavin who is an excellent French speaker and overall friendly guy. He%26#39;s always looking for additional members at all skill levels
http://www.meetup.com/Speak-French-in-Plano/
Also organized by Gavin, a group which meets every two weeks in Plano.
http://www.dallasaccueil.com/
A group organized specifically to welcome French ex-pats who are new to the metroplex. Many of these people are looking for locals to help them with their English and are willing to spend 50% of their time willing to help us learn French. It can be a wonderful way to learn not only the language but a bit of French culture. Membership is open to interested locals. DA does sponsor monthly conversation groups which speak 50% of the time in English and 50% of the time in French.
There is a Dallas group of French speakers who meet every week for dinner in a members home and have done so for many years. The only requirement is that you must be conversational in French and must agree to host other members for dinner at your home. I don%26#39;t know if the group has a specific name (I%26#39;m sure it does) but anyone interested should send me a PM and I%26#39;ll put you in touch with the right person.
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I should have mentioned how I improved my English..I started learning English in school at 10 but of course we spent more time learning the English grammar in French than reading and speaking English.
At that age I was already reading the great classics from famous French writers and started reading--in French--books by famous English and American writers (from Sir Walter Scott to James Oliver Curwood).
I changed school at 13 and the librarian in the new school was shocked that I had already read Balzac, Flaubert, Camus, Gide, Mauriac, Steinbeck, Poe, Austen etc. etc. and was also reading crime stories as %26quot;light entertainment%26quot; (my Dad was a former detective)
At that age I started reading the originals -in English- of some favorite books. It was very very hard at the beginning and I had to check the dictionary dozen of times by page but, because the stories were already familiar, somehow I found it easy to go through a book.
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The BBC language courses are very popular with adult education classes in the UK -they are well-structured and there are supporting textbooks.
If you%26#39;ve got some facility in French, the TV5 website is worth a look. It%26#39;s less methodical than some books, but there is a huge amount there, with current spoken French, transcriptions, comprehension exercises and so on ... and it%26#39;s free.
tv5.org/TV5Site/…accueil_apprendre.php
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I bought a graduated series of high school textbooks that I found to be very useful. I acquired these used on e-bay at very reasonable prices. Unlike the formal grammar lessons I recall from my school days, the modern approach seems to be more narrative and focused on every-day activities, including travel and cultural information about French-speaking countries. I learned (or re-learned) a lot in a short period of time although, as has been pointed out, this approach does little to improve one%26#39;s listening or speaking skills. Nonetheless, I found my rudimentary reading skills to be helpful during our recent trip to Paris. We encountered a significant amount of written information (much of it in museums) that was presented in French only, and it was satisfying to be able to understand and appreciate at least some of it.
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This is all really helpful. Thank you all very much!
The problem that I have is that living in Dallas is that it%26#39;s not easy to find too much of French stuff. Sure, we have an AF that%26#39;s quite far away from home, and with work and the daily routine and stuff, it%26#39;s hard to go there.
What I was looking for is books with audio stuff, kind of like the Living Language series - their Advanced French book is amazing and taught me quite a bit.
Thanks for the advice 3conils
robertzimmerman - will check out Attica.
Ohad - thank for the links
Sarasto - thanks for all that information. I%26#39;ll send you a PM with my information and other details.
Diz - where can one get the BBC language series?
Poverty_Bay - I think you hit the nail on the head of my problem: my reading and writing are fairly ok. It%26#39;s the listening and comprehending bit that I have problems with.
