The Berlitz Self-Teacher -- French: A Unique Home-Study Method Developed by the Famous Berlitz Schools of Language

This book is wonderful. Even if you know no French and are willing to work diligently and speak out loud, (which admittedly isn't easy!) you will find sooner rather than later, you'll be able to converse, en francais as it were. The lessons are simple and direct, well structured and the answer keys are accurate, I would also recommend parents to buy this for their school kids and a copy for themselves and join the fun. The structure of the book will also help you when you have completed it and ready to move on to an intermediate level of reading and speaking! Amusez-vous bien

A French teacher recently told me when buying French study books to avoid the new ones, because they have lots of text in the margins, charts, splashy colors, etc. but not as much substance as the older ones. I replied that she must have had this book in mind. It was originally published in 1949, yet it cuts to the chase and will have you up and running with conversational, everyday French quite quickly. I also think the phoenetic pronunciation system is much more accessible to the English-speaking tongue than any of the more recent ones. I highly recommend this, esp. given the price!

I have a minor in French. My love of the language began in elementary school, leading to three years of French classes in high school and continued study in college. This book is excellent for beginners as well as those who have advanced exposure to the language. This book is visually appealing: it complements any formal course of instruction. It serves as excellent "reinforcement" review for those who wish to 'come back' to the language after years of disuse.

I have used the Berlitz Self Teacher and lot's of other books to learn French. I must say that the Berlitz Self Teacher is the best book out there. If you follow the instructions provided you will be able to speak French well, and with more practice become pretty fluent.But you have to speak out loud and at the end of each lesson, finish the Thinking in French exercises and form more questions on your own based on the material in the preceding Chapter.If you do that, and it will take some time and effort, you will discover, that this method works!!!!!!This book uses a better method than French Made Simple, Living Language French, Express Track to French and many others. I have used them all.After I finished this book I went to Europe on vacation, and I was able to communicate very well in the language.This book actually teaches you to become fluent in French, not just to speak Phrasebook French.

Preparing for a recent trip to France, I bought several books and audio tapes on French. The Berlitz Self-Teacher was by far the most helpful resource. By spelling each French word out phoenetically each time its used, it eliminates the tedious cross-referencing time required by other books. The quizzes at the end of each chapter (along with corresponding answers for each question) were extremely well-executed and helpful in learning the language. The illustrations were also very useful for the more visually-minded among us.