Fodor's French for Travelers, 1st edition (CD Package) : More than 3,800 Essential Words and Useful Phrases

by Fodor's

Release Date: 04 June, 2002

Edition: Audio CD

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A must if you're traveling to a French-speaking country!

Having had a year of French in college, I was concerned that this Audio book would be too basic for me, but I found out it wasn't! It does cover some very basic things (greetings, numbers, etc.) which would be more helpful for beginners, but it also covers typical situations in a trip (airport, restaurant, accommodations, etc.), for which the vocabulary and grammar may not be learned until advanced level courses.

It comes with 2 Audio CD's of about 70 minutes each, broken into 12+ lessons. The book has all the phrases/conversations in the CD's, plus some additional tips/info, as well as a dictionary section with vocabulary targeted for travelers. The book has 260+ pages and it is of very small size, so it is ideal for carrying it around in your trip.

I listened to the CD's while driving, though I recommend reading the corresponding lessons afterwards or in advanced to listening to the disc, as it helps to associate the spelling to the pronunciation. The CD's mostly have words and phrases in them, but they also have small conversations at a bank/restaurant/hotel/airport depending on the lesson. Each word/phrase in the disc is spoken once in English and then twice in French, so you can't miss it if you're paying attention.

I strongly recommend this item, even if you already have basic understanding of French, as it will help you communicate and get around in your trip!

thank goodness i saw this in the store!

i just returned from my first trip to paris. although i had two years french in college, that has been ~14 years and i was fairly concerned about being able to communicate well. i did some review work with conversational french tapes and was going to depend on that when a friend pointed this book out to me. i bought it to take along.

this book is a treasure trove of useful phrases and cultural information, a lot of which is not in the travel guides. the dictionary at the back was very useful, although i wish it had been a bit more comprehensive. between the dictionary and some college french, i was able to enjoy paris IN french, instead of broken english. i hope it brings you the same benefits.