Merde, It's Not Easy to Learn French: A Story In Easy French with Translation Volume 1 (The Merde Trilogy) Paperback – January 26, 2019

I have been studying French for about five years. After a very long break I decided to return to my studies but made some changes. I had been reading books that were far beyond my ability. It would take me days to read one page and I don't even think I really got the true meaning of the words and phrases. I decided to take a step back and start using books within my range of comprehension that I could more easily understand, enter the Merde series. I read through a few pages, underline unfamiliar words, make flashcards to practice, and then read again. I am making good progress with building vocabulary, finally learning my numbers (I was always confusing 6 with 16 and 3 with 13, no more). I'm sticking to my reading now because I'm actually enjoying the books rather than struggling. Great luttle series that is helping me stay on track to become more fluent in French.

This is a really fun book! I bought the next two after I finished this one. The English translation in the back makes it so easy to figure out words you don't know, and as the story is mostly conversation, you can pick up useful phrases. I found I picked up past tense just by reading this book. I had high school French, so I understood the idea of conjugation, but honestly, putting sentences together was still hard. By reading these books, I have leveled up on my French to intermediate. In the second book, I started reading the English and trying to translate it to French and then checked myself by looking at the French. I also read out loud to practice my spoken French. We are headed to France soon, so I look forward to using some of what I've learned. I'll update if I had success!

I am taking a French class with the author, France Dubin, and she introduced me to her books. I'm so glad she did! I found "Merde...Vol. 1" a perfect complement to studying the grammar and practicing conversation. The characters in her books are like the people you know- including myself! The situations are very relatable, which makes all the new vocabulary very relevant. I'm surprised and delighted to be able to find a book that I can actually read, understand, and learn from that is funny, current, and helpful. My husband and I both totally enjoyed this Volume and are eager to read the others that follow. We travel to France yearly to visit our son and grandchild and these will be a great aid to us in adding to vocabulary useful in day-to-day situations. She even snuck in grammar reviews in very fun ways and includes a nice mix of tenses to get you on the road to more fluency. In a word (or two), C'est parfait!

Introduces a few new words while being simple enough for a beginner to get the story.

Finally, an introductory book, written in simple French with quick translations available as needed, and designed for adults! The vocabulary is not extensive but just what you need to wander Paris, alone or with a friend instead of an organized tour – shop the street markets, take the metro to the places you always wanted to see, don’t act or be treated like an ugly American. French people are prepared to accept you, maybe even like you, if you try to speak their language and observe certain simple conventions of civility that may be a bit more formal than ours, and this book is a great start. I wish I had had something like it when I began seriously trying to learn to speak French at age 43 – a single woman, an empty-nester, and ready for a few adventures. Spend time with this book, maybe take an adult-ed class (for an introduction to French pronunciation), save up, and rent an apartment in Paris for a week. At 70+, I look back on 8 fun vacations in France. Bon voyage!

I’ve always wanted to read a book in French - but usually, within a few pages I already have a long list of vocab and it seems too much to take on. This book is ever so enjoyable- relatable - READABLE! Even for someone relatively new to French.Dubin has a super way of engaging the reader ( student ) . It’s easy to pick up, hard to put down.. but because of how she wrote it.. you can stop and start without losing your place. No reason not to be able to read at least a few mintues a day - if not much longer! Strongly recommend to anyone dipping their toe in the pool of reading a book in a second ( or third ) language. . Just super !

I highly recommend France Dubin’s books for adults who want to learn, review, or refresh French. I am grateful to the author for giving me a way to teach French in a fun, interesting, and easy way. Her books allow the students to read and practice French in the real context of a journal written by a woman they can relate to. As they read about her daily life and funny adventures in French class and at home they become successful learners by using real language in their own journal.If you only remember boring textbooks filled with arduous grammatical exercises and monotonous dialogs please give these books a chance and you will rediscover the joy of learning French.

I am almost done with this book. It is a fun little story about a gal in Paris learning to speak French, and she gets frustrated with her inability to speak and understand it quickly. Sound familiar? Sounds like me, but I don't live in France (yet). Anyway, the book has little exercises to help you learn along with the main character. I like that. It's fun. Apparently this is the first in a series to be published by this author. I can't wait for her next book to come out. I do wish there was some audio available, like some French books available for sale. I recommend this book to beginners to advanced beginners.