Learning French? Read and listen to Free French eBooks!

An effective, free and entertaining way to learn or improve your French is to read French novels while listening to native French people narrating the text slowly and clearly. Read the eBooks with the help of Avisoft French eBook Reader. Simply pass the mouse pointer over the words while you are reading to display instant translations. Your comprehension and vocabulary will increase rapidly and easily.

Thousands of French eBooks are available for download free of charge. This software makes reading those and other text based eBooks a pleasure! Used in conjunction with free audio (talking) books you have excellent free resources to boost your French. This combination of reading the text and listening to the matching audio will improve your French skills enormously.

It doesn't matter if your vocabulary or grammar is very limited at the moment; you quickly pick up new words this way and get a natural feel for the grammar. It is also much more entertaining than many of the expensive, repetitious and dull French courses available.

This software also includes twenty four word games to help you pick up new vocabulary! If you don't feel ready to tackle a French novel, use the learning and practice feature in conjunction with the games to build up your vocabulary a little at a time. Learn the words you want and at your own pace.

If you enjoy reading novels or playing word games you will like this way of improving your French. A sample French text and mp3 audio is included with the software to help you get started. Hundreds more free eBooks and mp3 audios are available for you to download. This software will help you to learn and improve your French, whatever your current ability.

The software can read eBooks in plain text format, rich text, ePub and indirectly from PDF and MS Word.

You can also use the software to write your own documents. It has an inbuilt toolbar to enter accented French characters and a French spelling checker.

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Audio

Download the same books as both text and MP3 audios (all free of charge!) and you can listen to native French speakers reading the stories slowly and clearly while you follow the text. These free resources are an excellent way to improve your French listening and reading skills and to boost your vocabulary. Microsoft Windows Media Player has a feature enabling you to play the recordings back at variable speeds; so you can slow the speech to a pace you can cope with. You can also hear the enunciation of the French words better at a slower speed.

Use the reader on-line

If you have an Internet connection you can take advantage of the software's online features. The reader has links to several websites that provide free translations from French to English. Click the web button on the menu to automatically pass your current French word to one of those online sites for an immediate translation. Some sites may provide more detailed or alternative translations. You can even select an entire paragraph of text and get a Google translation of it with a single mouse click!

Use the reader off-line

Avisoft French eBook Reader can be used off-line. No internet connection is necessary because it has its own inbuilt French to English translation dictionary. This means you can read eBooks while travelling on the plane or train, at the beach or anywhere that doesn't have Internet connectivity. The reader is also ideal for people who don't have a fast internet connection or who have dial-up internet.

If you are learning French, some good source material can be found in online news articles. Google news has a French edition with articles by the leading French online newspapers and journals. You can copy articles and paste them into the reader to either read there and then, or to save and read off-line later. You could read the morning news in French while travelling to work on the train

A Mini Translator is included with the software

Translate words in web pages or documents without copying the text into the reader. The mini translator enables you to get an instant translation of words shown in any web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox etc) or in text documents such as Microsoft Word, Notepad etc. It will even work with other application software! The mini translator is a very flexible and powerful tool. It is also simple to use - just highlight or double click a word for an instant translation!

Practice your pronunciation

A voice recorder tool is included, so you can practice and compare your pronunciation to that of native French speakers.

Play word games

Several word games are included with the software. Use these to introduce and familiarise yourself with new French words or to practice spelling. You can easily create your own lists of French words to practice and use in the word games. Alternatively just play the word games using whatever words are in your current eBook.

The games will help improve your French vocabulary whatever your current level.

Customise the software

Depending on the size and shape of your screen, you can resize the windows and orient the book pane and dictionary pane side by side or one on top of the other. Set the background and foreground colours. Choose a font style and size that you find comfortable to read.

Manual translation dictionary included: French to English and English to French

Quicker than looking words up in a paper based translation dictionary simply type (or paste) words into the translation dictionary for instant translations. The Avisoft French to English dictionary has translations for 370,000 French words! This is one of the largest and most complete French to English dictionaries in existence. With a single click your word can also be looked up on one of the many online translation web sites too!

Convert numbers to French text

Includes a handy converter for numbers from zero up to 999,999,999,999,999 into French text.

Use as a text / document editor

Create, edit and print your own documents. Standard text formatting features are included. The software has an integrated toolbar with accented French characters, so entering those characters is quick and easy. Check your spelling with the integral French spelling checker. This is a convenient way to write letters and emails in French if you have an English keyboard. Documents are compatible with common word processing software such as Microsoft Word.

Use as a study aid; annotate books. Lecturers and tutors can give copies of eBooks to their students with bookmarks at relevant places. Students can also add their own comments and bookmarks. These 'study books' can be passed between teachers and students as email attachments.

Type accented French characters à â ä ç é è ê ë œ æ î ï ô ö ù û ü ÿ À Â Ä Ç É È Ê Ë Œ Æ Î Ï Ô Ö Ù Û Ü Ÿ € « » … –

Easy to use

Comprehensive help documentation is supplied with the software, but you will probably never need to look at it! The software is very intuitive and you can start using it immediately.

Here are some free eBooks

To get you started, click this link to download a zip file containing more than 1000 free French eBooks! They all have matching audio mp3s available.

Registration:

Avisoft French eBook Reader does not contain any adverts, trojans, add-ware, spy-ware, viruses or any other malware. No third-party software is bundled with it. All the features are fully functional and it does not have a built in expiry date.

French eBook Reader can be downloaded and used immediately free of charge for personal use and does not need to be registered. However, if you find the software useful or want to use it within a business or other organisation you should consider registering it and paying a small donation. My family needs to eat and we have bills to pay like everyone else. Register now

If you want to use Avisoft French eBook Reader in an educational establishment, please contact me to discuss your requirments. A bespoke version of this software can also be created specifically for the needs of your business, organization, school, college or university.

History

My name is David Townsend. I am the developer of Avisoft French eBook Reader. When I started learning French a number of years ago I was told that a good way to improve your French is to read French books, magazines and newspapers. That proved rather tedious, continually looking up words in French to English dictionaries, especially as most verb tenses were not included anyway. I had previously developed some educational French software in collaboration with a (native) French teacher who specialises in teaching French to English people, so I decided to write this software to make the process much more pleasant. The French eBook reader has evolved enormously since the first version and now includes many other features and various games designed to help with the learning process.

The Avisoft French eBook reader has become very popular now, especially since sites such as www.litteratureaudio.com have started providing free audio books with matching eBook texts. They offer over 2,000 titles now! I have read hundreds of French books with the aid of this software. Everything from poems, short stories, classic science fiction stories such as Jules Verne's 20,000 leagues under the sea and around the world in 80 days. I've now reached the stage I only need to see the translations of obscure words. One word of warning though: Reading French books is highly addictive! Be prepared to be lost reading for hours on end!

Please tell others about this software. The more widely it is used the higher the likelihood that I will continue to support it and add new features. If you have any suggestions for improvements please contact me.

Internet Links:

Please feel free to add a link to the Avisoft French eBook Reader web page from your own website, blog or social networking page; preferably with some good comments about the software.

Windows XP:

Avisoft French eBook Reader Software is designed for Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Use the download link at the top of this page to install the software on Windows 7 and Vista computers. The software will also run on Windows XP provided it has Microsoft Network Framework 3.5 installed. This is free to download from the Microsoft web site: Click here to download Microsoft Network Framework 3.5

However, if you only have a dial-up internet connection the Microsoft Network Framework may take a long while to download. (It is approximately 231 MB). Users of Windows XP with slow internet connections may prefer to purchase the Avisoft French eBook Reader DVD which includes the Microsoft Network Framework 3.5 installation on it. It also includes an assortment of eBooks and corresponding audio mp3's

Avisoft Ltd. Company registered in England, number 3128640.

Avisoft is a registered trademark of Avisoft Ltd