Les Portes Tordues/The Twisted Doors: The Scariest Way in the World to Learn French! [French]

by Kathie Dior

Book Overview

Les Portes Tordues (The Twisted Doors): The Scariest Way in the World to Learn French! is an exciting book and audio CD that teaches French by capturing and immersing students into an intriguing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: French
• ISBN: 0971022712
• ISBN13: 9780971022713
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Dior Publishing
• Length: 163 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.5" x 0.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The best parallel book ever! Great tool to learn French. Fun..educational..interesting..once you sta

Children and adults alike will be fascinated by the story...great to learn from and learn effortless and enjoy it greatly.

Very Well Crafted

I just wanted to join the list of people singing the praises of the Twisted Doors. It is easily the best foreign language tool I have ever come across! Having made several false starts trying to teach myself various languages, I am finding that reading (and hearing) French in the context of a story is the best mode of learning for me. This French reader is unique in that the text is specifically designed to build the reader's vocabulary and grammar in a seamless progression, AND it contains a full line-by-line English translation, in addition to basic end-of-chapter reviews and a thorough glossary. Considering its purpose as a learning tool, the story is plenty gripping, and no less enjoyable for its campy elements. Moreover, the CD narration guides the reader through a nice variety of pacing, emotion, and intonation, and my wife and I have quite a good time attempting to imitate the characters' voices. Obviously, the reader will not emerge from The Twisted Doors as a fluent French speaker, but this book lays a tremendous foundation in vocabulary, grammar, and written and spoken comprehension. After spending several weeks with DK's "15-Minute French" and then with Rosetta Stone, I have entirely stopped using both since purchasing The Twisted Doors. I only wish there was a sequel!

Neat French Combo

I am planning a trip to France, and so I purchased this book (or actually my boss did) to help me brush up on my French. "Les Portes Tordues" book and audio package is proving to be very helpful. I am now on chapter 24 of the book (there are 46 chapters) and I have been able to re-learn much of my long lost high school French. A few things to note: the book is self-explanatory, easy to follow, and yet constantly challenges the reader. The audio itself is an indispensable compliment to the text. And last, the book has a very nice glossary. Even if you can't deduct what a word means from the bilingual text (which is rare), you can always look the word up in the glossary at the back of the book. Because of this, the book is self-containing. You can therefore conveniently take it anywhere, even on the plane, as I plan to do.

Refreshing and effective method for learning French!

This bilingual book was a gift - and what a great gift it was! It has actually inspired me to want to study French. Everything about the book is aimed at making the learning experience entertaining. The mystery itself is very engaging and the audio CD completes the experience. There are even graphics that introduce many of the chapters. The result is that the book and CD keep you glued to the mystery. And of course, you are not allowed to go on to the next chapter if you do not pass the chapter test! That's the hitch of the book. So, you do whatever it takes to pass the chapter test. The beginning chapters start off with just a few lines. You can compare the French with the English translation easily because it is not overwhelming in length. A list of French vocabulary words and a grammar section are extracted from the story. The chapters then become longer and new words are introduced. I noticed that a new word is often repeated in subsequent chapters so that you have several opportunities to see it in different contexts. The grammar sections themselves consist of verb conjugations (past, present, future), or learning new idioms, object pronouns, etc. The audio CD is a marvelous companion to the book. The speaker has a beautiful French accent that is not too difficult to understand. As instructed in the preface of the book, I listen to the audio CD as I read the French story, then I learn the chapter and grammar sections, and then I try to close the book to see how much I can understand on my own. I listen to the CD often, and even put it in my car stereo as I go to work. It is so rewarding when I realize I can understand.

Fun French with a twist

This is the best French book and audio CD I've come across in years. It has a unique approach to teaching French. I love it! The audio CD is wonderful and narrated very clearly by native speakers. Basically, you can study and then follow the French story and listen to it at the same time. I've learned lots of expressions and tons of vocabulary. The grammar sections teach you conjugation of different verbs, lots of idioms, etc. The mystery keeps you going from chapter to chapter -- a brilliant motivator. I thank the author for such a fine book!

Good listening practice

This book is pretty unique in that it's an audiobook aimed at learners. There are plenty of audiobooks out there of course but they are not necessarily aimed at learners. I have one, Le Petit Nicolas by Goscinny (illustrations by Sempé, read by Brigitte Lecordier) that is excellent, the stories are better than Le Portes Tordues, but the pace of the reading is pretty rapid and hard to follow. The reading of Le Portes Tordues is very clear and at a moderate pace. Which is good, because the value of this book is to provide listening practice. (The grammar lessons and exercises, while good, are pretty perfunctory.) The sound quality is good. The readers sound like they are having fun. The main character has a nice voice. It's pretty good I think. I'm half way through it. I'm finding it useful in my goal of learning French.