Complete French Beginner to Intermediate Course (Teach Yourself)

This 1st paragraph is an update. Just went on Google Play store for Android to download the Teach Yourself app. Once downloaded find your book by visually searching for the book cover. Provide your email & a password. Or reset your password if you don't remember it. After this it will allow you to download the 160 Tracks onto your electronic device. ... Voilà. Prendre plaisir!Spoiler Alert--- This book should not be used as your only resource. Instead use it to make sure you are on the right track and moving forward in your language learning journey. As others suggested, you may want to use YouTube videos, podcasts, translation apps, your personally made flash cards, and authentic materials written in the target language to support your journey. Consider this book as a concise summary reference and or review of the points you may desire to learn.I'm not even sure why I bought this book, maybe just to have in my collection of other French language learning resources. Or because I have used other "Teach Yourself" products in the past. Yes, some TY books may be more through, while others are lacking. At any rate, try not to pay full price, incase you are disappointed. This is one of the better ones because it has colored headings, clear charts, bold type print of main points & newly introduced vocabulary terms; colored drawings, colored photographs, and smooth textured pages. So you will probably want to consider keeping it handy for a refresher, if nothing else. You will need to take your time with this text, self learning a language is about discovering things important to you, and on your time frame. It's about what you want to specifically know about the language, and the accent you individually want to acquire may be different than what someone elses is seeking. Regardless, it takes time to self learn. Francophones are all over the world, with different cultures, dialects, and different ways to say the same things. So you may easily get annoyed if the accent, or words you are looking for are not within the scope of this text and accompanying CDs. If you take your time, when everything is completely covered and understood, the authors suggests that you will be at B2 Level in understanding and communicating basic French. That should open a few doors! There is also a "simple" app you can download, that goes along with the book to help review what you learn. However, you may prefer other language learning apps better. All in all, this product is the best $5.00 investment (a used purchase, also included using my Amazon Prime rewards & points discount) that I've ever spent on French learning resources.I feel this is a great "starter" resource if you want to just get into knowing what learning French is all about. For example, on pages 86 & 87, in section 8.3 of the book, It directs you to the CD track to listen to how each alphabet letter is sounded in French. Then in Section 8.4 it proceeds to point out in color the names of the individual accents marks and how it's name should be pronounced as you spell a word. (I especially needed this info because I kept forgetting when & how to say the correct accent name as I wrote things down.) Then it takes you on a quick, but deeper dive for practicing this point.Are there errors in the book? Almost every language learning product has some errors. Your goal should be to learn the language well enough to spot the error; understand why it was likely made; and to know if & when it's acceptable or not to make the error yourself. Even the best speakers in your natural language make errors. As long as no one is injured from it & you can still happily communicate your desires & thoughts, that's what's important.I purchased this product in "like new, very good condition". It was definitely not "used"; there were no marks, no highlighting, no visible spine or cover damage; only a little crack within the inside plastic packaging as if it may have been handled roughly during shipping. The 2 CDs were unopened. I placed them in my laptop CD drive. The track endings are labeled like Track01.cda. I'm not sure what cda means, but they do play clearly with the installed Windows 11 Media Player app on my laptop. Several sections from the book will/ may be included on a single track. But so far the pronunciation is very clear. Just take your time. I have found other TY audio products seemed to jump or skip parts. But you can always type missing information into a translation app and listen to a phrase repeatedly, if something appears missing or you don't understand. I personally use a translation app extensively, all day long.My goal with this product is to use it as a outline or syllabus make sure I'm learning the main points and then moving forward. If there is something I don't understand, that's okay, I can tag it to be reviewed at a later date. (Sometimes all the lightbulbs don't all come on at the same time, but there is enough light to move around the room. Get what you need and move on.) Also I mainly wanted to put the tracks on my phone, computers & tablets just to use as a reminder & review later. Yes, I would recommend it to those just starting out or trying to refresh themselves with relearning French. Take as much or as little time as you need.I wish you success.

I received the book; it was in good condition and had barely been written in. Good value and eco-friendly alternative.

This is a good product that combines listening, speaking, reading, and writing. I do wish that the cd had pauses for me to answer.

As described. Arrive on time

Not up to mark

This course gives you two tools to approach yourself to French language: the book, to read and try to adapt yourself to the writing style, and; the audio CD's (on this case 2) helps you to listen the entonation and rythm that are used with "nasal" sounds, propers of French.I recommend to buy this course and take it easy! Anybody doesn't learn a new language in a month.About Complete French, I am satisfied. The book have 25 chapters, each one have an explanation about the chapter (in a friendly way), then there are a vocabulary builder, conversations to listen, and practice.I'm starting and I'm really progressing.Au revoir!

Excellent self-learning resource. Worth taking your time and really absorb and build on the exercises. Deceptively good book

I'm extremely pissed off with this product! The comments are absolutely right in that dialogue just rambles off too quick. Yes, you can hit pause... But this product feels SO RUSHED! Compared to the "Complete Hungarian" that I have from the Teach Yourself series, this "Complete French" is not impressive. Firstly, the book for French is much thinner- I bring this up because with the Complete Hungarian (that I purchased nearly 5yrs ago) the lessons start you practicing the alphabet, vowels, and other practice words to get you to prounce the words correctly, but also warm you up to start speaking the language. So, naturally, I thought the Complete French would do the same. No. It just starts, it doesn't have you practice sounds, it DOESN'T GO OVER THE ALPHABET, SPECIAL VOWELS OR HARD TO PROUNCE FRENCH SOUNDS like the notorious french "r" which is pronounced more like "air" but you're rolling the "r" at the back of your tongue. I am so disappointed. I really want to learn French, so I will make do with what I have, but if you do get this, I highly recommend also supplementing it with "Learn French with Alexa" on youtube. She's brilliant and her lessons really help! I can't express enough my utter disappointment considering how thorough the Complete Hungarian is, on top of which, the Hungarian talks immediately about Hungarian Culture, the French just drops you in and, again, feels rushed and all over the place. And by the way both the Hungarian and French are marked as beginner to intermediate so why this series doesn't bother with warm ups, pronouncation, or good practice words, I don't know..... I don't want to learn with a crappy bastardized accent, I want to speak proper French! Anyhow... Purchase at your own disgression, just be prepared to do a lot of outside research and study if you truly want to learn.