Living Language French: Daily Phrase & Culture Calendar: 2012 Day-to-Day Calendar (Living Language (Calendars)) [カレンダー]

Great desk calendar for those learning or brushing up on French language skills. Bright and colorful it is easy to use. The DVD included helps pronuncation, I carry it in the car too.

If you want to learn a foreign language to speak when travelling in a foreign country, I found it's great to have memorized some phrases to have on the tip of your tongue. When I went to Paris, and had never spoken French except in French class, it was great to have a few phrases remembered from exercises when the server at our hotel restaurant asked us for our room # to bill our room and I could say, "Notre chambre n'est pas prete maintenant." Our room is not ready now. Ah, she smiled. Whew!

It's hard to remember all the correct articles and words for in, on, near, by etc. so to have some correct phrases ready to go is a huge help. A waiter at Les Deux Magots said I spoke French quite well--if he only knew it was the drill of the phrases by Mme. Santoni. That's where this calendar comes in. It has lots of phrases that would be useful to memorize. I'm going to review them cumulatively so by the end of the year will have over 300 phrases on the tip of my tongue. The phrases fall in the beginner to intermediate category.

For example in January, some of the more helpful phrases that are featured in this calendar:

*I'm sorry
*Are you hungry?
*She's thirsty
*I can't find my luggage
*My suitcase is green
*Where is the departure gate?
*Where is the exit?
*Go that way.
*How do I get to the train station?
*Can I take the bus?
*I would like a round-trip ticket
*How much does it cost?
*I don't have any money.
*You need to change your dollars into euros.
*What is the exchange rate?

In subsequent months, there are expressions helpful for staying at a hotel, eating at a restaurant, directions around town, help with the computer, shopping and driving. A few days a month there's a page on a cultural item such as background on an artist or other item of interest.

At the end of each month, you could tear off the pages for the month and use them as flash cards. The back of each page is plain so you could write the phrase in english to drill yourself, and see if you remember the phrase by turning the card over. You can separate the pages into phrases you know, and ones you want to work on at the end of each month or the year. As an educator, I love having learning in daily digestible amounts. This calendar provides that.

The calendar is printed on recycled or FSC-compliant legally harvested timber. It's in black and white. This would make a great gift for a student learning French or for yourself if you plan to travel. There are not pronunciation guides for the entire phrases but there are for key words in the phrase at the top of each page. This is best used along with a course as additional enrichment. You're getting over 300 flashcards of useful phrases for about $10.00. I think I'll get the Italian version next year.

This is a nice little desk calendar, with contemporary words and phrases used conversationally. Back sides are blank, so these make good note pads as well.

My only peeve is that each page lacks any information about verb conjugation. For verbs, the word of the day is listed in infinitive form which often differs rather significantly from the form it is used in the example phrase. Students of the language would benefit greatly if there were a brief note indicating the conjugation.

We hope the publisher is listening.