I have spent hours looking through Amazon's huge stock of Guidebooks and Language tapes and I am still bewildered.

I would appreciate hearing which guide book and/or language tape worked for YOU. I am not interested in just suggestions if you haven't read or used them personally. I need to know what actually works/worked for you.

I need a guidebook for Paris and language tapes (not extensive lessons) that will help me learn phrases in French and Italy. I want tapes not just books.

Thanks for your help.

My preferred guide books are still the Michelin Green Guides. They pack the
most info for the least size and weight. A lot of 'visual' guides are
printed on thick heavy paper, and provide a lot of things you can get free
anyway, like floor plans of museums. Other than that, you can go for themed
guides, such as walking guides, art guides, etc. I also printed out a copy
of Jack's Paris pages (www.jack-travel.com) and carried only the pages I
needed for the days walking. Some people even tear apart their guidebooks,
and only cary what they need.

My absolute number 1 choice is the BBC lanaguage tapes, which you can order
from www.amazon.uk.co or direct from the BBC:
http://www.bbclanguages.com/learning/french/default.htm. The original
series was called "A Vous La France", which I have and it is excellent.
This was replaced by "The French Experience 1", which is available with
book, tapes and video cassettes. These are full beginner's courses, but are
very oriented to French as it is actually spoken, and situations that all
travellers will encounter. Both have follow on, more advanced courses.

There is also an online beginners course which might be adequate for your
needs at http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/french/.

"Brahmama" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I have spent hours looking through Amazon's huge stock of Guidebooks and
    > Language tapes and I am still bewildered.
    > I would appreciate hearing which guide book and/or language tape worked
    > for YOU. I am not interested in just suggestions if you haven't read or
    > used them personally. I need to know what actually works/worked for you.
    > I need a guidebook for Paris and language tapes (not extensive lessons)
    > that will help me learn phrases in French and Italy. I want tapes not
    > just books.
    > Thanks for your help.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

I would recommend the Rough Guide series (www.roughguides.com). I've always
found them very informative.

"Brahmama" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I have spent hours looking through Amazon's huge stock of Guidebooks and
    > Language tapes and I am still bewildered.
    > I would appreciate hearing which guide book and/or language tape worked
    > for YOU. I am not interested in just suggestions if you haven't read or
    > used them personally. I need to know what actually works/worked for you.
    > I need a guidebook for Paris and language tapes (not extensive lessons)
    > that will help me learn phrases in French and Italy. I want tapes not
    > just books.
    > Thanks for your help.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Brahmama wrote:
    >
    > I have spent hours looking through Amazon's huge stock of Guidebooks and
    > Language tapes and I am still bewildered.
    >
    > I would appreciate hearing which guide book and/or language tape worked
    > for YOU. I am not interested in just suggestions if you haven't read or
    > used them personally. I need to know what actually works/worked for you.
    >
    > I need a guidebook for Paris and language tapes (not extensive lessons)
    > that will help me learn phrases in French and Italy. I want tapes not
    > just books.
    >
    > Thanks for your help.
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Best guidebook is Michelin Green. There is an edition for Paris. Best
language tape set is CyberVision.
For more on guidebooks, good and not so, see my page at
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap10/guide.htm
John Bermont
--
------------------------------------------------------
* * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/
------------------------------------------------------

Brahmama wrote:

    >
    > I have spent hours looking through Amazon's huge stock of Guidebooks and
    > Language tapes and I am still bewildered.
    >
    > I would appreciate hearing which guide book and/or language tape worked
    > for YOU. I am not interested in just suggestions if you haven't read or
    > used them personally. I need to know what actually works/worked for you.
    >
    > I need a guidebook for Paris and language tapes (not extensive lessons)
    > that will help me learn phrases in French and Italy. I want tapes not
    > just books.
    >
    > Thanks for your help.
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

I found Lonely Planet's Western Europe big and detailed and sometimes out of
date (this last bit can be a killer). Rick Steve's London, Paris, and Rome
were great guides, with good accomodations recommendations, but sometimes
the descriptions were too cheeky.

As for language, what's the problem. You seem to already know English.
--
Dan Stephenson

(remove nospam from email address to reply via email)

Language Tapes: I really like Fodor's Language Tapes for Travelers. They
are simple and easy to use. They are for traveler's and not especially
great if you want to learn a language to speak with regularity. I have used
the French and the Italian tapes from this series and found them much more
useful than other tapes and CDs that I bought and borrowed from the
library. They are also among the most reasonably priced sets of tapes.

debbie


Brahmama wrote:

    > I have spent hours looking through Amazon's huge stock of Guidebooks and
    > Language tapes and I am still bewildered.
    > I would appreciate hearing which guide book and/or language tape worked
    > for YOU. I am not interested in just suggestions if you haven't read or
    > used them personally. I need to know what actually works/worked for you.
    > I need a guidebook for Paris and language tapes (not extensive lessons)
    > that will help me learn phrases in French and Italy. I want tapes not
    > just books.
    > Thanks for your help.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Brahmama wrote:

    > I have spent hours looking through Amazon's huge stock of Guidebooks and
    > Language tapes and I am still bewildered.

    > I would appreciate hearing which guide book and/or language tape worked
    > for YOU. I am not interested in just suggestions if you haven't read or
    > used them personally. I need to know what actually works/worked for you.

    > I need a guidebook for Paris and language tapes (not extensive lessons)
    > that will help me learn phrases in French and Italy. I want tapes not
    > just books.

Unfortunately, the question about guidebooks will not produce meaningful
answers, as the choice is largely a matter of taste. I like the Rough
Guides for basic information, and Cadogan Guides for history, walking,
etc. I have a friend who loves Rick Steves; I don't like his guides,
but I can understand why my friend does. To the best of my knowledge,
all the travel guides provide useful information, and none of them are
useless. The only good solution is to visit a bookstore and take a look
at the options in order to find out what is best for you.

As for tapes, I suspect that any travel-oriented series would be fine.
If you just want to learn basic phrases, tapes that are meant to really
teach you the language will be less useful.


--
greg byshenk - [email protected] - Leiden, NL
hate spam?

One of the best language tapes I've used for tourist/conversational learning
is Italianissimo, from the BBC series.

As for guidebooks, it depends on whether it's your first visit to a place or
not, and what sort of detail you need. If it's my first visit or I don't
know a place well, I look for the Eyewitness guides. The extensive photos
give you an idea of whether you'd be interested in a particular place and
also help with orientation. The guides are not so good for restaurants and
lodging, however.

Brahmama wrote:

    > I have spent hours looking through Amazon's huge stock of Guidebooks and
    > Language tapes and I am still bewildered.
    > I would appreciate hearing which guide book and/or language tape worked
    > for YOU. I am not interested in just suggestions if you haven't read or
    > used them personally. I need to know what actually works/worked for you.
    > I need a guidebook for Paris and language tapes (not extensive lessons)
    > that will help me learn phrases in French and Italy. I want tapes not
    > just books.
    > Thanks for your help.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com