Short Stories in French: New Penguin Parallel Texts
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Product Description
Product Description
This is an all new version of the popular PARALLEL TEXT series, containing eight pieces of contemporary fiction in the original French and in English translation. Including stories by Bolanger, Cotnoir, Le Clezio and Germain, this volume gives afascinating insight into French culture and literature as well as providing an invaluable educational tool.
About the Author
Richard Coward is a teacher of French at Eton College.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
He had just turned sixteen and had been given his second pair of roller-skates - of a design that was much superior to his first pair - by his parents in recognition of a particularly glowing school year. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
He had just turned sixteen and had been given his second pair of roller-skates - of a design that was much superior to his first pair - by his parents in recognition of a particularly glowing school year. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Not having learnt french since school (GCSE/GCE) I found the stories easy enough to get the general story line but complex enough to challenge and revise my knowledge of the language - and extend it. The parallel text is just fantastic you don't lose interest constantly having to look words up in a dictionary. Would strongly recomend this book for intermediates.
49 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The stories are very varied, interesting, rich and, in some cases, moving. But unless the reader is at an advanced level they are quite difficult to read and are "heavy going". So the book's description that it is suitable for students of French at all levels is misleading. For me it will be a long time before I can easily read it and that is if I don't sell it beforehand.
43 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This isn't a book for beginners. My French is post O level and taken more years ago than I intend to disclose. I started re-learning it by teaching myself 10 months ago. I can now read most of these stories using the parallel text to check my understanding and to argue with the translations - yes I'm that confident now. For some stories I needed more help than others... 'Apprendre à vie' and 'David' gave me no trouble at all but 'Tous Feux Éteints' was a struggle. I enjoy the fact that some stories are easy and others are difficult because I'm trying now to get used to different styles and pick up vocabulary so this collection of stories has really appealed to me. I love the parallel texts because I don't need a dictionary and I can use the translation for reassurance and as I say to argue with. I really recommend these short stories - I have several parallel texts and am always looking out for more. But this isn't for beginners - you do need a reasonable reading age in French - I think mine is about 12 or 13! So most of the time I know what's going on but complex structures and vocabulary do still confuse me. If you want to increase vocabulary and immerse yourself in the culture then these short stories are ideal. I love to read them on the train because I don't have to juggle with a dictionary and the prices are very good. Yes, I recommend this collection. Ahhh some extra words - there are no exercises with this selection and no vocabulary list - some parallel texts do have those. But this does have a very good introduction. As the editor hints at the denouements on some of the stories I would advise reading it *after* you've read the stories! There are twelve in all and of varying lengths... `David' is very long but some of the stories are just a few pages. I repeat - this isn't for beginners... you need to have studied to the equivalent of GCSE or O level to be able to cope with these. But they really are an enjoyable and varied collection. Actually, they're worth reading in English but the translation lacks that je ne sais quoi! ;->
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent!
I purchased this online from Amazon for my son who is doing A level french at college. It was cheaper by far than in the bookstores. Read more
Published 23 days ago by redscouse
French Parallel Text
This includes 'La Plage' by Alain Robbe-Grillet which is why I bought it. For me, the most beatiful and profound short story ever written, especially when you read it in French. Read more
Published 2 months ago by hickalum
Les nouvelles sont interessant mais la traduction est mal
I bought this book to help me improve my level of French fluency. The short stories are, in my opinion, interesting and varied. Read more
Published 5 months ago by James K
BORING
Really hard work, what I call writer's vanity,the reader's forced to read 5 pages to get single page of story and even then it's a very weak plot. Read more
Published 13 months ago by diane
Badly formatted on kindle
I bought this as an ebook on kindle, it is very badly formatted, the French and English texts just merge together with no break in some instances after a page and a half... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Annalier
Great for advanced learners
I bought this book to help me remember all that forgotten French learned at University ten years ago. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Duncan
Boring stories
Although the idea behind this book is brilliant, I would like to see stories included which are more interesting. Read more
Published 18 months ago by C. Morris
This review refers to this whole series of books
Penguin Parallel Texts are a distinctive and somewhat complicated institution. 20 to 30 years ago I read the then available ones in French, Spanish, Italian and German. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Fuficius Fango
Great book, should be more of these...
I've tried to get all the french/engligh parallel books available on amazon and this one is the best. There is another, its name I forget, that has stories that are older. Read more
Published on 5 May 2010 by Tenchi
Weird English!
I'll admit to being a relative beginner to the French language, however I live in France now and I find that this book is not for the beginner. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2009 by Peter Spence
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