Hugo Language Course: French In Three Months

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic -- even for beginners!
Review: I've never studied French before, but I plan to go to Paris next year, and I decided to try to learn some quick French. I picked up this book thinking I'd get a handle on some key phrases, but I got so much more! I tried to spend an hour or two each day working on the vocabulary and grammar, and now I can speak fairly decent French only after two or three months! Granted, I think it does take more than the recommended hour per day, and this book is for those with real determination to learn the language. If you want to just know the key phrases, this book is probably not for you. However, I definitely would recommend the Hugo language books, and I plan on tackling Italian and German next!

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for the analytical minded
Review: The writers have done an admirable job in compacting the French grammar into one 250-page book and four audio cassettes, which makes this package very cost-effective for the minimalist buyer. The set aims to take the absolute beginner to everyday conversational and light reading level, while providing a solid foundation for further study. The structure of the course is very logical: Grammatical rules are explained, followed by sample sentences demonstrating their usage, and exercises, the solutions of which are revealed in the Appendix.

The book is comprised of 12 chapters, the first of which introduces the reader to French by a pronunciation guide. Concentrating equally on everyday topics, such as commenting on the weather or telling the time, as well as grammatical structures, it culminates in topics as complex as the past historic tense and the subjunctive in the final chapter. Each chapter introduces about 100 new words, resulting in a 1200 word vocabulary at the end of the course. All words are conveniently listed in a dictionary, French to English as well as English to French, in the Appendix.

The book is a paperback, which is probably the only undesirable quality of this set. Foreign language books tend to get a lot of wear when used as a reference overseas, and a paperback does not help maintain their lifespan for the next trip. And one caveat about the three months promised in the title: This ambitious goal is realizable only if the reader devotes at least a couple of hours a day to the course. Studying for less than an hour each day will most likely extend the schedule to a year.

Students who are already familiar with a second (ideally a Romance or Western European) language, and feel confident about picking up another through studying the grammar should definitely consider this set. On the other hand, people who enjoy to assimilate a language with an abundance of pictorial examples will probably not be pleased with this method.

Rating:
Summary: All you need to learn French quickly.
Review: This book took me from 1 year of high school French (10 years ago) to proficient conversational French in a very short period of time. I never even needed to listen to the cassette. This book doesn't waste time on the details of the language. Instead it focuses on practical, every-day usage of the language. If you are truly motivated to learn French, this book is for you.