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THE BERLITZ SELF-TEACHER: FRENCH THE BERLITZ SELF-TEACHER: FRENCH BY TKE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE BERLITZ SCHOOLS LANGU~EES OF OF AMERICA, INC. GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK COPYRIGHT @ 1949 by THE BERUTZ SUiOOLS OF LANGUAGES OF AMERICA, MC. ISBN: 0-448-01421-1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or meciianical, induding photo- copying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from The Berlitz Schools of Languages of America, Jnc. 1976 Printing PRINTED IN THE UNTTEU STATES OF AMERICb. The oldest man in the United States undoubtedly remembers the time-worn joke about the tourist who returned from a trip to France amazed at the extremely high IQ of the French people. "Why," he exclaimed, "even little tots of three and four speak Frenchl" 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-and in no other way. That is how French tots do it, and that is how you learned English. You will succeed with the BERLITZS ELF-TEACHtEoR t he 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 BERLITSZE LF-TEACHiEs Rto 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 eacb vi THE BERLITZ SELF-TEACHER: FRENCH 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, however1 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 pantry! Put a sack over your head! 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 BERLITZS ELF-TEACHER, because they are confident: that, properly used, it can provide you with a flying start toward a warking knowledge of French-and an extra dividend of good, dean fun. ROUES OM PRONUilWCiATNON HAVEY W NOTICED that many foreigners, particularly Frenchmen and Italians, have some difficulty in learning to pronounce the English th? They say tink for think and dis for this. The reason is mat the ih sound does not exist in French or Italian. Until he sees and hears an English speaking person pronounce th, he cannot know how to arrange his tongue, teeth, and jaws to reproduce the sound. You may expect a similar experience in dealing with French pronunciation. In developing a phonetic system for this book, we have sometimes compromised with strict accuracy to gain simplicity, because, no matter how many symbols we dream up to indicate shades and tones of sound, you can still not be sure until you have heard the sounds spoken. Here are some tips on the more important French sounds: VOWELS: A E ~ I O U ah ay uh eh eh ee oh ew The ew is arbitrary; the sound of U is made by pursing the lips as if to whistle and saying EE. It may sound a bit "cute" at first, but you will get used to it. vii viii THE BERLITZ SELF-TEACHER: FRENCH NASALS: Our phonetics for the nasals are arbitrary and purely suggestive. Practice them now, being careful to keep your mouth open and your tongue motionless. Then: for AWNG-try to say AHN as in English; for AHNG-try to say AN as in English; for OHNG-try to say OWN as in English; for UHNG-try to say UN as in English. THE FRENCH R: This is best described as a dry gargle. THE LIQUID L: LL after I is what we call liquid. With only a few exceptions, pronounce the "ill" (sometimes "il") like the Y in G (before "e" and "i") and J: Pronounce like the "a" jn "ieisure"' or "pleasure". We represent it as ZH. Qu'est-ce que c'est? Kess kuh seh? What is this? Le crayon le livre le papier la plume Luh kreh-yohng luh leew Iuh pahp-yay lah plewm The peadl the book the paper the pen la boite la c16 lah bwaht lah klay the box the key Est-ce le crayon? Oui, monsieur, c'est le crayon. Ess luh kreh-yohng? Wee, muss-yuh, seh luh kreh-yohng. Is this the pencil? Yes, Sir, it is the pencil. Est-ce la boite? Ess lah bwaht? Is this the box? Non, monsieur, ce n'est pas la boite, c'est le crayon. Nohng, muss-yuh, suh neh pah lah bwaht,seh Iuh kreh-yohng. No, Sir, it is not the box, it is the pencil. REMEMBER: The difference between LE and LA. Tho= words that take LE are said to be masculine, and those that take LA are called feminine. 1 2 THE BERLITZ SELF-TEACHER: FRENCH THAT the word "not" is expressed by ne.. . .....p as, and that the verb is placed between them. Before a vowel, n' is used instead of ne. THAT c'est means "it is", "this is", or ''that is". la chaise la Iampe la table Est-ce la lampe? lah shez lah Zawmp lah tahbl Ess lah lawmp? the chair the Imp the table Is this the lamp? Non, madame, ce n'est pas la Iampe, mais la table. Nohng, mah-dahm, suh neh pah lah lawmp, meh lah tahb'i. No, Madam, it is not the lamp, but the table. le tableau la porte la fen6tre luh tah-bloh lah pohrt lah fuh-nehtr the picture the door the window le mur le plafond le plancher luh mewr luh plah-fohng luh plawn-shay the wall the ceiling the floor Qu'est-ce que c'est? C'est le tableau, la porte, le mur, eti. Kess kuh seh? Seh luh tuh-bloh, lah pohrt, luh mewr, etc. What is this? It is the picture, the door, the wall, etc. Trks bien, monsieur. Treh b'yahng, muss-yuh. Very good, Sir. un deux vois quatre *q uhng duh tnuah kahtr sank one two three four five Y HINTS on pronunaation: Words like non, plafond, crayon, uave a nasal sound; i.e., the on syllable is pronounced as though you were holding your nose. The nasal sound is suggested by adding "g" in the phonetic spelling. Do not pronounce it full-gr. The u between two consonants, as in plume and mur, is pronounced like "ee" with the lips plused as in whistling. We suggest this sound by "err",