Reading books in a foreign language

"Lire des livres dans une langue étrangère"
French C1 writing exercise

Killian and Rose, who are not native French speakers, are chatting about reading books in French.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to finishing [doing]", "very first", "challenging (=difficult)", "a semester", "extra (adj.)", "to misunderstand everything", "daunting", "at times", "a nuance", "a stylistic turn", "complex", "to feel that you...", "a linguistic skill", "especially by...", "an idiomatic expression", "to give an insight into...", "a way of [doing]", "to experience the world", "to sound like you...", "to plan on [doing]".

Written by qualified French expert Céline Pickard PGCE, BA
Last updated: 2024-04-15

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

  • I’ll show you where you make mistakes
  • I’ll keep track of what you need to practise
  • Change my choices if you want
Start the exercise
How the test works
You’ll practise: Le Présent (Indicatif), Adverbe, Le Passé Composé (Indicatif)

Here's a preview of the text for the writing challenge, when you're ready click the start button above:

- I have just finished reading my very first book in French. - Oh, really? And did you find that challenging? I remember having tried to do the same thing years ago when I was studying French for one semester at university. My tutor had told me that I needed extra lessons because I had misunderstood everything. - Yes, it was quite difficult and daunting at times. The language's nuances and stylistic turns can be complex. However, I feel that I've improved my linguistic skills, especially by learning new idiomatic expressions. It also gave me an insight into French culture and history. Lastly, I discovered another way of experiencing the world. - It sounds like you really enjoyed this book. - Yes! I am now planning on reading a book in French several times a year.

I'll be right with you...