How to improve your French reading, grammar, and pronunciation skills

A Short Course in Reading French (by Celia Brickman) helps you improve your French reading skills and master French pronunciation and grammar

This textook teaches the basic rules of French grammar, reinforcing its lessons with exercises and key practice translations

Reading French Course Paris

A systematic guide, the volume is a critical companion for university-level students learning to read and translate written French into English; for graduate scholars learning to do research in French or prepping for proficiency exams; and for any interested readers who want to improve their facility with the French language. In addition, A Short Course in Reading French exposes readers to a broad range of French texts from the humanities and social sciences, including writings by distinguished francophone authors from around the world.

The book begins with French pronunciation and cognates and moves through nouns, articles, and prepositions; verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; a graduated presentation of all the indicative and subjunctive tenses; object, relative, and other pronouns; the passive voice; common idiomatic constructions; and other fundamental structures of the French language.

Improve or perfect your reading skills

Chapters contain translation passages from such authors as Pascal, Montesquieu, Proust, Sartre, Bourdieu, Senghor, Césaire, de Certeau, de Beauvoir, Barthes, and Kristeva. Drawn from more than two decades of experience teaching French to students from academic and non-academic backgrounds, Celia Brickman’s clear, accessible, and time-tested format enables even beginners to develop a sophisticated grasp of the French language and become adept readers of French.

About the Author

A native of Montreal, Celia Brickman earned her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago and is the director of the Hyde Park Language Program, where she has been teaching French to graduate students and others for more than twenty years.