There is a famous saying “Communication is key”. I believe it’s 100% true. Communication is necessary in every aspect of our lives. Whether it’s at home, at work, or even on social media, communication is essential. One can communicate in any language. French, English, Spanish, German and so on.
When we say communication, we usually use the expression “effective communication”.
Basically, we need to know how to communicate. So how do we do that?
First of all, we need to have all the components:
1. Sender
2. Receiver
3. Message
4. Feedback
So what happens during a communication is that the sender delivers a message to the receiver then gets his feedback.
In order for the receiver to understand the message, he needs to understand the language used by the speaker.
To be able to fit in with people, you need to speak their language. The more languages you speak, the easier it would be for you to communicate wherever you go.
Learning a new language is always exciting, you get to have fun practicing new words, learning new expressions, discovering a new culture, having conversations with friends who speak the same language..
However, expressing yourself in a new language can be very challenging sometimes. You develop the idea in your head, but you don’t seem to find the correct way to make an understandable sentence in that language, it’s frustrating, right?
I remember when I started to learn French, I was able to understand grammar and the basic rules, but writing and spoken interactions were the big challenge.
So how did I develop a good vocabulary in French? The answer is simple, I started to read books.
II know what you’re thinking: “How could you read books at the beginning of your learning experience?”
Luckily, I found books for a beginner level that were perfect for me at the time!
In this article, I’m going to help you “Read your way to French “ by sharing my favorite books and teach you a couple of words in French to help you develop your vocabulary while you read this.
Let’s start by learning some words on the topic of reading:
| Français | English |
| lire | To read |
| lecture | reading |
| Un livre | A book |
| journal | newspaper |
| roman | Novel |
| Écrivain | writer |
| Éditeur/ éditrice | publisher |
| Citations | Quotes |
| Personnages | Characters |
So the first book I ever read in French is called “Le petit prince” (the little prince), a 93pages book for children, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and published in York, in 1943.
It’s a story of an aviator who just broke down in the middle of the Sahara desert. His plane being damaged, he tries to repair it to leave again and it is during the repairs that he makes the surprising encounter of the Little Prince; A strange little man with golden hair from another planet who tells him about his various adventures and encounters before this day.
It all starts with the little man saying: “S’il vous plaît… dessine-moi un mouton !” (Please… draw me a sheep!)
This book teaches us that the perception of the world around us is totally subjective and urges us to reflect on current situations of life that will undoubtedly change your vision.
Here are some famous phrases from “Le petit prince “to give you a little taste:
| Français | English |
| “Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.” | Here is my secret. It is very simple: you can only see well with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.” |
| “Où sont les hommes?’ reprit enfin le petit prince. ‘On est un peu seul dans le désert.’ ‘On est seul aussi chez les hommes’, dit le serpent.” | ‘Where are the men? ‘Continued the little prince at last. ‘We are a little lonely in the desert. ”We are also alone in men,’ says the snake.’ |
| “L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.” | “L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.” |
| “Faites que le rêve dévore votre vie afin que la vie ne dévore pas votre rêve” | ‘Make the dream devour your life so that life does not devour your dream’ |
| “Les toutes grandes personnes ont d’abord été des enfants.” | ‘All great people were first children.’ |
The next book is called “Les fables de la Fontaine”, which is actually a series of books, written by Jean de La Fontaine from 1668 to 1694.
For most books, the main characters in the stories are animals, however the stories teach valuable lessons to humans.
The books are a sort of poems, which makes them even more attractive for readers,
At first, you might think they’re children’s books, because of the animals characters, but once you start reading, you’ll realize it has more depth to it than it seems, and that it’s actually a philosophical book.
So let’s see some famous quotes of “La Fontaine”
| Français | English |
| Le temps est cher en amour comme en guerre | Time is expensive in love and war |
| L’absence est aussi bien un remède à la haineQu’un appareil contre l’amour. | Absence is not just a cure for hatredBut also a device against love. |
| Manger l’herbe d’autrui ! quel crime abominable ! | Eating other’s grass! What an abominable crime! |
| Le cœur suit aisément l’esprit. | The heart follows the mind easily. |
| La douleur est toujours moins forte que la plainte. | The pain is always less than the complaint. |
| La perte d’un époux ne va pas sans soupirs:On fait beaucoup de bruit, et puis on se console. | The loss of a spouse does not go without sighs:We make a lot of noise, and then we console ourselves. |
| Que la plus forte passionC’est la peur: elle fait vaincre l’aversion;Et l’amour quelquefois; quelquefois il la dompte. | That the strongest passionIt is fear: it overcomes aversion;And love sometimes; sometimes it tames it. |
There you have it, a mix of famous quotes that’s going to make you want to dive in French books right away.
There are plenty of other books in French literature that can help you improve your vocabulary while you’re learning French, feel free to share your recommendations with us in the comments box.
