This course began as a reading course in French for my students of Classical Languages (Latin and Greek). As the lessons progressed, my students wished to continue with their study of French. I continually added more materials to help them progress to communicative skills in the language. Though I have a near-native fluency in French, my bilingual daughter joins the course in the upper levels to add the fluent sound of modern French.
This course began as a reading course in French for my students of Classical Languages (Latin and Greek). As the lessons progressed, my students wished to continue with their study of French. I continually added more materials to help them progress to communicative skills in the language. Though I have a near-native fluency in French, my bilingual daughter joins the course in the upper levels to add the fluent sound of modern French.
The course, accordingly, is not a casual introduction to tourist French. There are many such courses already available in many forums for that. It does not promise a mastery of the language in just a few months, let alone a few weeks. This is a thorough treatment of French grammar.
I built the course upon old French book (now in the public domain and linked for download), which was revolutionary for its time in that it taught real, spoken French and not the literary French often considered to be the standard.
If you work through the lessons slowly and do all the exercises in the book, you will acquire a solid foundation for future study of French, one that will lead to a confident proficiency in the French as it is spoken and written today.
The lectures are based on this excellent 19th century French grammar book. Some of the vocabulary is a little out-of-date. The French no longer use quill pens and ink wells. But the traditional approach to teaching French through grammar and practice seems infinitely superior to the aural/oral inductive methods used today. An added benefit is that the text includes readings about French culture and history that not only reinforce the grammar and vocabulary but will also give you a useful introduction French culture through the ages.
Did I mention that the book is free?
Also, if you have troubles downloading it from the Udemy site, the direct link to where I first found it is:
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