Teach Yourself French: A Complete Course for Beginners

I have used this in German, as well as in French and will use it in Greek. Made me fluent enough to actually carry on simple conversations, get directions, make purchases and read signs and newspapers. Fantastic package. Easy to use and effective if you spend a half hour for 6 days a week for 6 weeks. I have worked on Russian using other options and my money was not nearly as well spent as with Elisabeth Smith. Fantastic.

I found this course absolutely excellent - one of the best Teach Yourself books I have used. It is best suited to those who have some shaky remnants of French remaining from school. If, like me, you have to know what every single word means, you will need a decent French dictionary as well, because they are not all in the vocab at the back. This book would be too fast-paced for a total beginner.

'There is no way in hell you'll learn how to speak french from this book' i'd agree with the statement there is no way in hell you'll learn french from JUST this book, but with tv monde and french radio you should be set, i was able to pick up the language quick enough with this. but compared to the other titles in the teach yourself series it lacks structure, it leaves important grammar that is essential to understanding earlier lessons right up until the end of the course. It also introduces a lot of words without any translation which means that you have to do a lot of flipping through the dictionary to find the meanings. but it is ok and it is the best in it's category in the lower price range.

I used the "Teach Yourself: Beginner's French" book and cassettes first, which made it easier to use this more complex follow-up book. I think this is what made this book easier to follow, given the complaints others have listed in their reviews. I think the two should be used in conjunction, and I am satisfied with the results, although I credit some of that satisfaction to having already been exposed to a Romance language, Spanish. Overall, I think this book is worth the money, considering how expensive many other learn-at-home programs can be.

I found it to be easy to understand and very helpful. It's great way to start out. I've gone through many of the french teach yourself type books and I found this to be the most well put together to date.