Oxford First Learner's French Dictionary Paperback – 13 May 2010

As a French tutor, and with grandchildren aged 9 and 11, I have been able to asses the effectiveness of this excellent First Learner's French dictionary from the OUP. My 11-year-old grandson struggles with a classic adult dictionary because of all the abbreviations whereas this beautifully clear dictionary gives the classification of the word (noun, pronoun, adjective etc) in full alongside each entry together with "masc" or "fem" as appropriate.It is absolutely full of useful information with each entry so that, for example, the word "lundi" for Monday tells you how to say "last Monday, next Monday, today is Monday, on Monday, on Mondays" the last two often being wrongly translated even by experienced French speakers. It also points out that days of the week do not take capital letters. On the same page under "lycée" there is a little coloured box explaining exactly what "lycée" is in terms of French schooling.The typeface is clear and friendly (Trebuchet or similar) and colour coding is used to great effect. The two sections are divided by a whole series of double-page spreads on topics with illustrations (eg the body, the weather, shopping, etc). This is followed by a brief verb section giving just three tenses: present, past and future. The verbs which take être in the past tense are flagged in their entries.False friends (faux amis) are also flagged up so that "sensible" in English gives "raisonnable" for the French and the French entry "sensible" which means sensitive, draws attention to the fact that this is a false friend.This is by no means a comprehensive French-English dictionary, nor does it need to be for early learners, but it is a well designed and very user-friendly dictionary which I would have no hesitation in recommending.

My eight-year-old daughter is finding this book rather useful at home. Neither of her parents are much use at speaking or understanding French and the only dictionary we have is a minute font-sized pocket edition with tissue paper thin pages ... effectively useless for a child.My daughter has taken this book to school and he teacher tells me it is better than the dictionaries they are currently using. It really is so easy to use with a decent sized font and child-friendly language and colour coding. I (we) like that it opens flat with a wipe-clean cover.My daughter is now educating mum and dad; she has her nose in it most days and it's also improving her command of the English language.Excellent.

Marked as for learners aged 7-11 but in reality this is great for French language learners of all ages who are at beginner and low intermediate level. Quite a lot of the words come with examples which helps. The large font size and colour coding are also useful (English is in blue, French in red - throughout). The centre section has popular topics (animals, colours, clothes, weather, etc) - plus a small (20 or so) verb table section.A solid learner's dictionary.

A delightful and very user friendly bi-lingual French/English beginner's dictionary. Designed specifically for children aged between 7-11 years, its appeal will be much broader and it will prove helpful for all ages. Great use is made of colour to ease search, with French words printed in red and English in blue. Practical examples of usage appear throughout with additional information on culture, grammar and correct register scattered here and there. The central themed section is attractively illustrated to offer great background facts. It also contains handy verb tables. Overall, it is an attractive, slightly more than an ideal starter dictionary which will encourage use and browsing. A quality paperback production which feels nice in the hand and is a credit to the OUP.

This is an excellent dictionary, not just for key stage two but also for secondary school children in years seven and eight. It's well thought out with the typical pages that you would expect to find in a dictionary but the words are in colour with the definition in black. The first half is French to English and the back half is English to French. It also has some illustrated pages, with words on topics such as friends, sports, hobbies etc. There are also six pages listing the main verbs.I have an eight year old daughter (year three) and an eleven year old daughter (year seven) and they both use this dictionary.