I had to learn french for professional reasons, and surfed the web looking for self-teaching software. Fluenz french was the best product I found. I liked the pace at which it proceeds, I like the simulation of classroom instruction, and I like the structure of the drills. I found it a bit slow at first, but now that I am into it, I’m starting to get a grasp on the structure of french.
I should say, too, that the software is very well organized, and very easy to use. When I had a problem at one point, the user support group was very responsive and very helpful.
This is my first choice for a self-teaching language program. I am starting to supplement it with reading, in particular the easy french reader, and am thinking of doing something else to add to my vocabulary, but this is my core program.[keyword]learn+to+speak+french[/keyword][yahooquestion]learn+to+speak+french[/yahooquestion]
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This is one of the best books on beginner’s French, although ‘quickly’ and ‘easily’ are not the right words to use – French is certainly not a quick and easy language to learn. Both Spanish and Italian are much easier.
There are only two books on Beginner’s French I recommend, this Made Simple-book and French Demystified: A Self – Teaching Guide.
If you want to learn at a slower pace and not so intensively then Demystified is a better choice, this Made Simple-book is more intense, which makes it more difficult for some people.
They are equally good in my opinion and I enjoyed working with both: Demystified feels more laid-back and not so stressful, but Made Simple has more reading passages and a larger variety of exercises.
This book is an updated version of the older French (Made Simple Books). You may ask yourself whether it’s worth the extra money to get this new edition rather than the old one…well, I have both of them and I say: Yes !
Why ?:
> the book is a standard-sized textbook and not pocket anymore
> fonts are larger, making the text easier to read
> updated modern vocabulary
> more excercises
> the grammar is more thoroughly explained
> more reading passages
> the pronunciation guide uses a simpler system based on American English
> the story takes place partly in the US and partly in France – the previous books took place in the UK and France
The prospective buyer should note that the first 2-3 chapters will explain the pronunciation to you, but in the following chapters only certain words and phrases that deviate from the standards are shown with a pronunciation guide.
All the dialogues in each chapter are part of a story that runs through the book: an American businessman in New York who wants to learn French and go to France for a visit, he is being taught by Frenchman living in New York.
As you might have guessed, you build up a basic business-vocabulary with words such as: ‘office, buyer, client, shipment…’
But, you also learn every-day words like: food and drinks, telling the time, words for traveling, talking about hobbies etc.
Each chapter is relatively short and you should be able to go through one in as little as 30 minutes, excercises included.
This book follows a very effective design that worked well for me:
i) shorter chapters
ii) relatively short vocabulary lists in each chapter
ii) slower and more gradual coverage of grammar
The combined effect of all these is that I learned in a truly gradual manner, and because I could go through a chapter in just 30 minutes it didn’t feel like a chore to study with this book.
By the way, expect 6-9 months to complete this book, because it is equivalent to a one-year course at college or uni.
this is a well thought out language book. I found the pronounciations particularly helpful, and it is laid out really well (designed well) and the grammar is concise and easy to follow. I found this book a very beneficial part of my library of ‘learning french’ books. It’s one of my favourites.
this book does just what the title say’s. it is for anyone who wants to learn french fast.
I used this book for my review of French in preparation for a recent trip to Paris. I found it very well organized and thorough.
I took it to work with me each day on the train and was able to review a dialogue and chapter in a day or so over the course of about three months. It was very up to date, and covered the material logically and clearly. And the dialogues were consistently interesting and entertaining.
However, in spite of what the cover says, this is not a book for total beginners. I was fortunate that I already had a firm foundation in pronunciation, vocabulary and basic French grammar. But this book dives in quickly, and beginners would probably not find it so easy and should probably look elsewhere.
However, if you have already studied French in high school or college, and a quick review of the basics is what you are looking for, I am sure that you will find this book to be what you are looking for.
What I need now is a good review of Italian, for my yet to be planned trip to Rome and tour of Italy!
This particular book is definitely not easy. It is for someone who knew a little French and needed a refresher course. It is not for someone who is attempting to learn the language for the first time, as it does not come with a CD. It is nice to see the pronunciation spelled out but it is not phonetic as in English, so makes it confusing. Good book for those who need a refresher.
This product merely says a french word and has you repeat it– boring and hard to get much out of–stay away!
I purchased this because I have an older version that I used a few years back and learned alot from it so I thought it would be great to get the deluxe version. However, to my dismay this new version does not work well at all. Many of the graffics will not come up, some of the speech recognition reviews say you are saying the wrong answer when you are actually saying the correct answer. I called support regarding these problems and I was told that the graffics that are not there were NEVER on any version and that is simply not ture. I actually have to older versions and I assure you that all the graffics work well and the speech recognition works correctly. I have a friend that purchased this same program and has the same exact problems so I know it’s not my disk only. I really love the french language and I have tried almost program they have out there as I really want to learn the best I can. I have tried the Rosetta Stone that I borrowed from a friend and I PROMISE this is not the best either. I truly think the very best out there is TELL ME MORE PERFORMANCE. It teaches you so much and has so many graffics, video’s, tests, drills, vocabulary, etc. when they say 2000 hours worth I promise that is the truth, and the speech recognition is out of this world, it is light years ahead of RS and the many other programs I have tried. I do have to say though that if you want a good program for little money that Learn to Speak French is a really good way to start out. If you don’t mind a lot of the graffics not working and the speech recognition messing up once in awhile you are certain to learn a solid foundation of the language from this program. And if you want the very very very best out there spend the money on TELL ME MORE PERFORMANCE you will love it and you will learn to speak french like a pro. I hope this helps you make the decision you are looking for.
We got this two days ago and my eight year old son is speaking French! He’s speaking beautiful French!!! I am completely astounded that we were both able to pick this up so quickly. We can have entire conversations already. The price for this is just shocking to me. So affordable! So worth it!
We haven’t even delved into all of the features included in this package yet, and we’re already well on our way to a firm grasp of this language. Listen to just one of the audio CDs even once, and you’ll be speaking French. Listen a lot and you’ll be a master in less than a month. It also comes with neato interactive software and a super rad instructional book.
Fantastic product! Thank goodness I didn’t spend $500 on Rosetta Stone language software! Maybe we’ll put that money toward a trip to Paris instead!
I sincerely appreciate how quickly Fluenz User Support responded to my concern about the delay in international delivery by sending another package right away via Fedex service. They were prompt, concerned, courteous, and I am looking forward to learning from this language program.
Thank you.
I prefer the teacher/classroom model of Fluenz to the picture-only model of Rosetta Stone. The teacher is excellent, and the workouts are very well designed. But….where are the words? (Ou est-ce que les mots sont?) The introduction of new vocabulary moves at a snail’s pace, the rate at which one would expect a middle school level French course to progress. A year ago I spent about 30 hours with a superb book (“French Step-by-Step”, by Charles Berlitz), and developed a reasonable vocabulary in about one month. The problem is that there was no audio to go with it, so as a result my pronunciation was miserable and I did not develop an ear for spoken French. Last year (before Fluenz) I tried to purchase a rail ticket to central Paris at the airport and, although my vocab and grammar were perfect, the attendant responded “Que? Would you prefer to speak English?” Thus, I needed a program like Fluenz to develop a better ear for the language. Fluenz has fixed these problems, but if you rely on Fluenz 1 and 2 alone, you can forget about holding a conversation, as you simply won’t know anywhere near enough vocabulary. As a result, you will need to supplement Fluenz French with some other vocabulary building tool. [Unfortunately, I believe that "French Step-by-Step" no longer is in print].
I personally think it’s kind of lame when you don’t change your name. When you get married you become a FAMILY, and not changing your name sort of contradicts that (in my opinion). I guess what bothers me most are the convenient excuses like being so tied to your identity with your maiden name and not changing it b/c of professional reasons. Things CAN be done to keep the career, publications, etc. that you have already established for yourself. I think that in most cases it is really not that difficult. Yes, it’s weird for a while adjusting to your new name. Yes, there is some nostalgia for your maiden name. It’s all part of the normal process of adjustment. Call me old-fashioned, but that’s just MY OPINION on the matter.
We talked about editing a bit at breakfast today. Apparently they were close friends as much as professional colleagues, which must have made for interesting conversations. I guess for me the question has to be whether the editor is doing it for professional reasons, or personal ones – does he really care about the shape of the book, and the author's unique voice, or is he only focused on pushing his own beliefs?
again I will say you are entitled to your opinion. If you personally do not want to be involved with women’s studies classes or programs then I do not believe you should. I am not advocating that any of these classes be required for ALL students as part of the core program or curriculum. What I am saying that as a student who is paying tuition I have a right to have the kind of education I want and to decide the major and minor I am interested in and not have this dictated to me. We need diversity in the academic world and trying to fold everything into a few departments works against that ideal. Just because someone does not want to be involved with the program does not mean it should not exist. Temple is a liberal arts univeristy which means that students should have a wide range of programs to study from, not marginalzied classes within a department. I am not placing people as feminists or non-feminists, in fact if you read my witing carefully you will see I am just advocating that the women’s studies program stay a program and have their own academic recognition and space. I am not asking for anything more than we deserve as students at a liberal arts university.
As a curriculum writer for a local school system, I know how many eyes look at our math assessments before they go to the publisher. Today, I was again astounded to find a typo as I gave a test to some students. We can only do so much… we remind ourselves that we are human, I guess. I do think that people should proofread and have at least a second person look at writing being created for professional reasons. However, some just don't get it!
Knowledge doesn't necessarily translate to skill. I see where Ted is coming from, but I would guess the masses would benefit more from a language program that doesn't translate but helps a learner acquire the language through skill and practice in real life situations. It develops an internal grammar like we learned for our first language. Metacognition comes in at a later time. A person doesn't have to explicitly know the grammar and rules of language to use it well and communicate clearly.
Just shaved my dog for the first time. I dint think I'll consider dog grooming as a career choice
aw babe, how lucky you are! just to be in that situation, to be able to see that man your in love with regularly.. although i know it must really suck not being able to go out on dates :/
if your sure he likes him back, then hint to him how your feeling, act flirtatious around him? maybie wait till he is in a better physical condition, but use this time to buiuld up a relationship, that way, once he is no longer your patient, you can ffeel confident in starting a relationship with this man?
hope it all works out for you babe, sure itt will(: xxx
can’t argue that Jackson-Hamill wasn’t anyone’s first choice as a PPV main event.Fair point.
(macs aren’t there yet in my opinion – still too much PC competition)
Imho, people who are in this kind of situations try to protect their public image regardless of the truth. Not that i can blame him for this, but…it's so sad.
Science can make mistakes but i don't think that it can find so much cocaine in someone who never used it.
We'll see what happens. I read in french articles that they are waiting for the “cross-check” analysis. I'm afraid i can't explain better what this thing is.
Btw do you remember of Martina Hingis? Did you believe she was innocent? When she said that she didn't want to sue the federation, to me it meant that she was guilty.
I'm sorry to say this, but it's obvious.
If you think you're right, you sue anyone who is destroying your career and defaming your person.
Most CA schools are underfunded. In my middle class district, the 600+ student middle school has no VP, no nurse, virtually no foreign language program, few aides, poorly maintained facilities, 1/3 of a tech guy, 1/2 of a counselor… Many elective classes have 40-50 students. It is such a shoe-string operation. I have little doubt that more money wisely spent would help raise achievement in my school –start by hiring a VP and improving discipline (=more learning). But do I begrudge the Oaklands for receiving more per pupil? No. Achievement there, while still low, would probably be lower without the extra dollars.
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