Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book is the best tool I have found to aid in aquiring a solid and useful French vocabulary. It was well thought out, is very comprehensive, and has made my time spent studying French more productive. This is because I'm able to focus my studies on the most used words on the topics most important to me.
The authors claim the number of words needed to take part in simple conversations is 1200 to 1500. To assume an active role, 2500 to 3000. And to do so without having to ask "what does that word mean?", 5000 to 6000. Langenscheidt's "Basic German Vocabulary" judges the magic number to be 2000 words, in order to carry on everyday conversation or read a text written for the average native speaker (2000 words constitute 80% of words used in all written and oral communication). This book, Mastering French Vocabulary, seperated their nearly 6000 words into those to be learned first, numbering about 3000, and those to be learned later, numbering an additional 1943. They were organized into 35 thematic categories (which were broken down into further sub-categories) to make learning easier and more enjoyable (this approach worked well for me).
Some examples of the 35 categories used are: biographic information, appearance and character, feelings, making evaluations, shopping eating and drinking, clothing, fields of art, at work, politics, weather and climate, and colors and shapes etc..
Aside from the quantity of words, and the nice organization into seperate themes, the authors wrote out each word phonetically using the International Phonetic Alphabet, just as any quality dictionary would, but something most other vocabulary building tools fail to do. This was complimented by the best explanation of the french pronounciation of the IPA that I have yet to see.
The only criticism I have is the small number of example sentences used to supplement the vocabulary given. Langenscheidt's "Basic German Vocabulary" had at least one example sentence for each entry, and even the other foreign language books in Barron's Mastering Vocabulary series have a great deal more examples. The French version has a mere 1310 example sentences, which roughly means there is an example sentence for every sixth vocabulary word given. The current Mastering German Vocabulary: A Thematic Approach has 4,900 and the Spanish and Italian versions have about the same. The French edition is noticeable thinner than its counterparts, ...
I was disappointed when I found there was an example sentence for only one out of every six entries, and doubly so after I discovered the same publisher did such a better job with the other editions in the series. But its practical pronounciation guide and inclusive list of the most important french words, still makes it the best -French- vocabularly resource avaliable.
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This French word-power builder presents more than 5,000 words and phrases with translations into English. The feature that makes this vocabulary book distinctive is the way words are divided into themes, grouped together so that the foreign traveler or language student can find words related by subject. The subject themes include business terms, medical terms, household terms, scientific words and phrases, units of measurement, clothing, food and dining, transportation, art and culture:24 separate themes in all. The new second edition has been expanded and updated with increased vocabulary.
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