Top Tools for Advanced French Students
Most language experts agree that immersion is the best way to learn a language, and this is doubly true for advanced French speakers. Upon reaching an advanced level, it's essential for students to use authentic, French-only materials whenever possible: a grammar book with explanations in French, a French-only dictionary, and plenty of audio of French spoken at normal speed. The following resources are written by (and often for) native French speakers. I use nearly every one of them daily.Savoir Dire
A complete course on French pronunciation and phonetics, with detailed
explanations of each French letter and sound, a comparison of American English
and French sounds, and much more. If you want to improve your pronunciation, this is the book to use. French only.
Le Bon Usage
Originally published in 1936, this is the bible of French grammar - the most thorough French grammar book that exists. It has been republished more than a dozen times and is a must for fluent speakers. This is the book that native speakers refer to when they want to understand or explain some aspect of French grammar. French only
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Cours d'analyse grammaticale
If you're running out of ways to improve your French, consider
grammatical analysis - figure out antecedents, relative clauses, and much more. This book is arranged
logically and is a great tool for advanced French speakers. French only.
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Bescherelle : La conjugaison pour tous
Subtitled « Dictionnaire de 12 000 verbes, » this is best French verb conjugation reference, bar none. Instead of wasting space with hundreds of identical conjugations, Bescherelle has pared down the conjugations to the bare minimum: one page each for regular -er, -ir, and -re verbs; a page apiece for passive and reflexive conjugations; and then 77 pages of irregular verbs. Once you memorize these 82 patterns, you can conjugate virtually every French verb that exists. French only.
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Le Petit Robert
With the notable exception of Le Grand Robert (a veritable encyclopedia of the French language), Le
Petit Robert is indisputably the best monolingual French dictionary, with nearly 60,000 entries. The
detailed definition for each entry includes pronunciation, etymology, historical uses, register, regionalities, and
- my favorite! - example sentences from literary and historical sources. This is the dictionary that native
speakers rely on, and what I recommend whole-heartedly for everyone, particularly advanced and fluent French
speakers.
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Collins Robert French English Dictionary
This is the largest and best bilingual dictionary, with more than 2,000 pages. Entries include slang, regionalisms, and expressions. There's also a useful section on "language in use," with vocabulary and expressions grouped by categories such as suggestions, advice, business correspondence, and much more. In my opinion, this is the only option for fluent speakers and translators.
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Thésaurus Larousse
I think thesauruses (thesauri?) are my favorite reference books, and I couldn't
live without this one when I write in French or translate. What I do is look up English words in my
bilingual dictionary, and then look up the French word in this thesaurus to
make sure that the one I found is the most accurate. Very
nicely indexed, includes almost 900 subtopics. A must for translators and
writers.
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French or Foe?, by Polly Platt
An indispensable guide for anyone planning to live or work in France. With case studies and plenty of humor, Ms. Platt adroitly explains why other cultures have such a hard time dealing with the French. If you travel to France without reading French or Foe?, you may end up wishing you'd never gone. In English.
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La Haine / Hate
This is an incredibly riveting story about racism in
France as well as an excellent source of French slang and familiar pronunciation. If you
can understand this movie without reading the subtitles, you're either French or
fluent! French with English subtitles.
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