Old French : A Concise Handbook

Rating:
Summary: Very Good with great detail, yet easy to understand!
Review: A very helpful handbook for the learner of Old French or the linguist interested in the evolution and dialects of French, I found it was written in a very easy to understand yet extremely detailed format. It starts off with a good description of the sounds of Old French and how it changed in different periods. The bulk of the book then goes into great detail of the grammar of the language at that time, using great vocabulary for examples and exercises. The grammar sections are arranged in a way so as to start off with simple, commonly used parts of speech and eventually covering everything to irregular verbs, nouns, etc. The final section describes the different dialects of Old French. There are references to the development from Latin to Old French throughout the text. I think this is an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction
Review: This compact paperback offers one of the best introductions to the Old French language available.

What makes it particularly valuable to beginners is that it does not presume a prior knowledge of Latin or even modern French, and the exercises (to lessons 1 through 10) have the answers in the back of the book. Valuable feedback for those learning on their own!

It starts with an introduction to the sounds and standard (Francien) orthography. This is followed by a series of graded lessons, sixteen in all, with vocabulary and drills. Later lessons include many sample sentences, with English translations, illustrating points of Old French syntax. The last lesson treats Old French dialects. The book also includes several appendices, the most helpful of which gives most of the forms of irregular verbs in different tenses.

The only drawback that I see is that there are only 3 short reading selections included. But if the student has diligently mastered the grammar in the base lessons, he or she should have a solid base on which to build.