Solaread

Reading The Count of Monte Cristo in French: what level do you need?

How many words in every 100 of the original French text you will probably not know, at each French level from A1 to C2. Estimated over the whole book with Solaread’s own word-difficulty model.

Original title
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo
Author
Alexandre Dumas; Auguste Maquet
First published
1844
Length
About 478,000 words
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Short answer

For a French learner it is just right from C1: 4.1 new words in every 100. At B1 it is a little hard, 9.0 in 100. It is the third easiest of the 10 French classics we measured.

New words per 100, by level

Estimated over all 477,586 running words. Character names are left out. The labels follow Solaread’s difficulty scale: Easy means knowing 98 of every 100 words, Just right 95, A little hard 90, and below that Too hard.

The Count of Monte Cristo vocabulary in French, by level

At A2

  1. comte1599×
  2. abbé383×
  3. écrier353×
  4. franc360×
  5. vieillard242×
  6. mille465×
  7. cependant363×
  8. tandis166×
  9. excellence193×
  10. demeurer158×
  11. murmurer144×
  12. comtesse136×

The 12 words an A2 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 6% of the new words at this level.

At B1

  1. comte1599×
  2. abbé383×
  3. écrier353×
  4. vieillard242×
  5. tandis166×
  6. franc360×
  7. comtesse136×
  8. murmurer144×
  9. demeurer158×
  10. excellence193×
  11. quant141×
  12. élancer107×

The 12 words a B1 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 6% of the new words at this level.

At B2

  1. écrier353×
  2. abbé383×
  3. tandis166×
  4. comtesse136×
  5. élancer107×
  6. vicomte94×
  7. comte1599×
  8. vieillard242×
  9. armateur78×
  10. notaire105×
  11. pâlir77×
  12. geôlier77×

The 12 words a B2 reader is most likely to stop at in this book, with how often each appears. Together they are about 6% of the new words at this level.

The opening lines in French

Le 24 février 1815, la vigie de Notre-Dame de la Garde signala le trois-mâts le Pharaon, venant de Smyrne, Trieste et Naples.

Comme d'habitude, un pilote côtier partit aussitôt du port, rasa le château d'If, et alla aborder le navire entre le cap de Morgion et l'île de Rion.

Aussitôt, comme d'habitude encore, la plate-forme du fort Saint-Jean s'était couverte de curieux; car c'est toujours une grande affaire à Marseille que l'arrivée d'un bâtiment, surtout quand ce bâtiment, comme le Pharaon, a été construit, gréé, arrimé sur les chantiers de la vieille Phocée, et appartient à un armateur de la ville.

Open the free EPUB in Solaread and the words it marks follow your own level, with glosses in the language you choose.

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Questions

What French level do you need to read The Count of Monte Cristo?

For the original French text it is just right from C1, with 4.1 new words in every 100. At B1 it is a little hard, 9.0 in 100.

Is The Count of Monte Cristo hard to read in French?

It is the third easiest of the 10 French classics we measured. At B1 expect about one new word in 11; at B2, 5.2 in 100.

Where can I get The Count of Monte Cristo in French for free?

The original French text is in the public domain. Project Gutenberg has a free EPUB you can import into Solaread.

Read it with help only where you need it

Import the free EPUB. Solaread marks the words you probably don’t know, at your level.

Read this book in SolareadFree EPUB from Project Gutenberg