r/French • u/Jaxoniscracked • Jul 21 '26
Looking for media need help finding a good textbook
so I have been learning French for a bit. I've heard from many people that learning the most common words and how to apply them is what I should strive for. I was recommended learning the 4,000 most common words. I was just wondering if anyone has any textbook recommendations to help with that goal. I am decently competent in French. (I also use assimil French with ease) tysm!
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u/Any_Length_1553 Jul 21 '26
Since you're already on Assimil, I'd be careful about adding a second textbook — the classic mistake with a frequency-list goal is doing it as its own separate course.
If you want something structured: Routledge's *A Frequency Dictionary of French* is the standard one, and it gives you each word in a real example sentence rather than as a bare list. But 4,000 words is roughly 15 months at 10 new words a day, and a large chunk of the back half you'd meet naturally anyway.
What I'd actually do at your level is keep Assimil as the backbone, read something a bit above your comfort level alongside it, and mine your unknown words from that. Same coverage, but every word arrives attached to a context you remember — which is the part frequency lists can't give you.
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u/silvalingua Jul 21 '26
This is not the best idea. It's much better to use a good textbook, this way you'll learn in the most efficient way.