The Ultimate French Review and Practice (Book+ CD-ROM) (UItimate Review & Reference Series),   ISBN:9780071492423

Customer Rating: 

French is my third language. It's always made me a bit nervous, considering inversions, negative sentences, passe compose, etc. This book answered all of my questions with clear explanations and excellent exercises. The comparisons of French to English helped me create connections between my third and native languages. The verb charts in the back of the book are very handy! It is nice that this book is geared towards 21st century adults, complete with updated technological references (e-mail, internet) AND "grown up" situations (getting fired, applying for a job, etc). The cultural notes, interwovened with the activities, were fascinating and *did not* distract. This book "pushed" me to further my studies of the French language. Merci!

Customer Rating: 

I teach French and Italian at a private college preparatory high school. This is an exceptionally good French Grammar book. It functions as a repair kit for grammatically challenged students. The grammar explanations are clear, and the exercises are abundant. I use it as the main textbook in my advanced classes.

Customer Rating: 

This book is a great review especially for stuff that I have forgotten. My school textbooks seem to give me a greater amount of examples but would recommended to anyone who has a good foundation in French already.

Customer Rating: 

The book itself is not bad if you want to review French grammar, especially verbs. The major downside if you have a Mac is that the CD-Rom only runs on Windows. Lame. If I had read the small print, I never would have bought this. It's 2009; Apple is not some obscure computer company. I can understand not making it compatible with Atari or Commodore 64, but Apple? The publishers really should have made the CD-Rom playable on Mac.

Customer Rating: 

I bought this book a couple of weeks after moving to Paris. Having taken 1 year of high school French and struggling through the college requirements, I arrived in Paris being able to say my name and that i was American (not the two best sentences to know in Paris!). I had basics (avoir and etre), but there was just SO MUCH missing. I found this book to be a very practical tool for real French speaking and French life, not just textbook French. The text is very instructional as the lessons are very concise and easy to understand, each one building on the previous. There is also an index where you can look up necessary vocabulary, and the sayings and expressions in the last chapter of the book are extremely helpful. Lots of good grammar but also vocab, and some cultural info. I've recommended this to many English-speaking friends who moved to France and need a refresher course. That said, you do need SOME knowledge of the French language before beginning this book - it starts out basic but it's not for a complete beginner. Bon chance et bon courage!