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THE [IBIHJIIK SELF-TEACHER 1 FRENCH ifjMirifiMiKiKîMiirasiinHH BERLITZ says: Îfyou speak English you can speak French — the naturalBerlitz way," \ A UNIQUE HOME-STUDY METHOD DEVELOPED BY THE FAMOUS BERLITZ SCHOOLS OF LANGUAGES The Berlitz self-teacher, French / "~ "•"iiiiiii NEW COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA (SF) "^V^ ^ r{^ PC 2129 .E5 B43 1949Language >^ Berlitz Schools of \ of America. self-teacher, The Berlitz French #14622 #14622 Berlitz Schools odf Lanûaês o± America* The Berlitz self—t eacher» French / by the editorial staff of the Berlitz Schools of Languages of Americaf Inc. New York : Grosset G Dunlapt cl949« viii, 286 p. ill. 21 cm. : ; ^14622 Replacement Book $ • . !• French language Textbooks for foreign —speakers English. 2. French langu—age Conversation and phrase books English. I. Title 24 MAS 94 378169 NElCxc 49-7856r873 .•vîim,,..,'Vw^T.) m? jïê^ê' THE UBRARY NEW COLLEGE OFCALIFORNIA SO FELL STREET 6AN FRANCISCO.CALIFORNIA 94102 THE BERLITZ SELF-TEACHER: Ljn THE BERLITZ SELF-TEACHER: mn BY THE EDITORUL STAFF OF THE BERLITZ SCHOOLS OF LANGUAGES OF AMERICA, INC. GROSSET&DUNLAP Distributed by Putnam Publishing Group f COPYRIGHT © 1949 by THK BERUTZ SCHOOU or LANGUAGES OF AMERICA, INC. ISBN: (M48-01421-1 ^ All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo- copying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from The Berlitz Schools of Languages of America, In& 1984Printing re ^ SecondImpression r PRINTED IN TIIE UNITEDSTATES OF AMERICA Q[KlTK@i)[lJOa@[t^ The oldest man in the United States undoubtedly remembers the time-worn joke about the tourist who returned from a trip to Franco amazed at the extremely high IQ of the French people. "Why," he exclaimed, "even little tots of three and four speak FrenchI" This ancient witticism points up the very profound principle of language teaching upon which the Berlitz Schools of Languages have based a 71-year growth—from a one-room studio in Providence, Rhode Island, to a globe-circling institution with over 300 branches. In a word, you learn to speak a language by speaking it—said in no other way. That is how French tots do it, and that is how you learned English. You will succeed with the Berlitz Self-Teacher to the extent that you speak. Do not deceive yourself into thinking you have "arrived" when you find yourself able to read or translate the French text. You master French only in the degree to which you can express your ideas in it. The ability to interpret the thoughts of others is only the first step. One way of using the Berlitz Self-Teacher is to pair off with someone else, or to organize a small group. After reading over the lesson in advance for meaning and pronunciation, each student then reads aloud, direct from the French text. The lesson is divided into convenient portions by agreement among the students. After each THE BERLITZ ELF-TEACHER: FRENCH vi S Student has practiced reading aloud, one of them assumes the role of instructor and questions the others from the exercises called "Thinking in French." When all can answer these questions without hesitation, each student should invent ten or twelve new questions, based on the same or preceding lessons, and then put these questions to the others. Afterwards, answers to the exercise questions should be written out and corrected from the keys in the appendix. When a group of you are learning together, do not succumb to the "community-sing" temptation. Each student must speak indi- vidually, so that he can hear himself and the others, and profit thereby. Make no mistake, howeverl This book is designed primarily for the student working alone. He must do exactly what pairs or groups do, covering each operation for himself. If you are embarrassed by the sound of your own voice, hide in the pantryl Put a sack over your headl No matter what form of defense mechanism you set up, see to it that you speak out! Do not mumble or whisper. The authors have enjoyed preparing the Berlitz Self-Teacher, because they are confident that, properly used, it can provide you with a flying start toward a working knowledge of French—and an extra dividend ofgood, clean fun.