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

Just the steak....without the sizzle!!!! I agree with a previous reviewer that there is a reason why a 60 year old text has held up so well over the years. The instruction is intuitive and builds logically. The pronunciation is transilliterated to facilitate pronunciation. Each leçon is approximately 3 pages long. A certain activity is described in about 50 sentences. Each sentence is in French, transilliterated French, and English. Subsequent sentences build upon the prior ones. At the end of each leçon is a self test of about 15 questions, with answers. Each leçon might take 10-15 minutes, depending on your skills. Effective study sessions can be multiples of that duration of time. Each chapter also has a "Note to Student", where important explanations are given. Concise...convenient....easy...and fun!!!!This text is also a wonderful adjunct to any other French course(s) you might be using. I believe that there is a tendency to use the latest, most expensive, most hyped language course methods out there. While we all learn differently, a daily, conscientious approach is required, regardless of the course (or cost). My experience with Amazon has been that the most highly rated products do not disappoint. Many of the popular language courses today harp on immersion, as opposed to vocabulary and conjugations. They claim that your first language was learned that way. While I do not disagree, and concur that throwing you in the deep end will force you to learn to swim, the adult brain does learn differently than the child's. Sometimes we need to know WHY it was said like that. Buy, use and enjoy this gem!! You will not be disappointed. Bonne chance!!!!

Great condition

This is a good starter book for trying to learn French, they only had 1 left and it was a good price, the new one and the hardback are way too expensive, thanks for having a used one that does the same thing

I've just received my copy of this book(Berlitz Self-Teacher French) and I'm very very excited! To start, I've been studying french for quite a while already, and this is really just a way for me to practice and repair holes in my vocabulary, where ever they may be. I originally learned french in high school and am now beginning self-study and this is one of the many resources I will be utilizing.Firstly, I did not expect this to be a paperback. I didn't dock any stars for this because it obviously states 'paperback' at the top the page but this was one of my first orders from amazon and I didn't really look for that type of information. And because I'd never seen a paperback copy before I didn't think they made them.Well they do! I ordered this book from the amazon store(or whatever it's called) about 2 weeks ago and received it in good time and packaged wonderfully. My personal opinion about other people stating 'this book is old fashioned' is to say 'yes, it is. But it you have a base of french knowledge already going into learning, or if you are a very thorough beginner with multiple resources than that's okay!' This book isn't useless just because it's old, you just have to be aware of that flaw and work with other resources in order to have a more well-rounded knowledge of the language.So far I am very happy with my new book, but that's to be expected. I never buy anything without a 'see inside!' glimpse at the book and you'd do very good to make sure that this style of learning appeals to you before you purchase your own copy. Also, I think another reviewer mentioned this but I found out about many different language programs, including Berlitz, through ProfASAr on youtube (: he does a thorough explanation of this product as well as many other similar products and I think everyone interested in thorough language learning(and especially polyglottery) should check him out.

Beginner friendly. Establishes vocabulary/rules and uses them with the chapter. Subsequent chapters builds on previous chapters, allowing for a natural learning process. A quality introduction to French.

One may learn to converse in French i 4 months, using the Berlitz system.Merci Beaucoup,David Lumsden

My wife and I need to learn French for trips we are taking, but the phonetics were killing us! The Berlitz selflearner is a life-saver there, it really helps to see not only the meanings of the word, but also how to actually say them! Although the texts are not new, French is not a quickly evolving language, so I found no problems with the structure and words in the lessons compared to the real world. Some of the slang is obviously not included, but if you stay with the formal, this works exceptionally well. This has been an excellent supplement to our formal French lecons.

Haven't read it yet. Yellowed pages. 14 more words required. Are you kidding me. Word word word word word word.

I like that this book has phonetics to help with pronunciation.

Excelente livro para rever conteúdos e aprender coisas novas. Muito fácil de utilizá-lo.

As a family, we love how this book is laid out. Very different from the other French books we have purchased.

Un libro peculiar. Antes de usarlo hace falta aprender leer las letras en francés. Para sentirse más cómodo. En general un libro para practicar, no tiene dibujos de color o algo así, pero tiene su gracia gracias a su forma de enseñar.Contiene 41 capítulos. Yo intento hacer un capítulo por día o cada otro día.Lo combino con otros libros, películas en francés, audios, videos, etc.

Love this book, got it in very new and good condition. Its good for very new learners and especially for common daily aspects. Good book for lazy or slow learners like me.