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Michel Thomas Foundation Course: French (Michel Thomas Series)

Author: Michel Thomas
Publisher: Hodder Arnold
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł69.99~~
Buy New: Ł30.97
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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

130 reviews
Sales Rank: 428

Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 3.1

ISBN: 0340938919
EAN: 9780340938911
ASIN: 0340938919

Publication Date: September 29, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: IN STOCK - NEW & SEALED - IMMEDIATE DISPATCH

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 130

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bostin ! December 5, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

i've just started this and it is a very enjoyable course,the reason it works so well is the two other students learning with you and the woman is probably a plant because she is worse than me at remembering.I wish there was one like this for thai.

5 out of 5 stars

Genuinely Excellent November 12, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Absolutely love this course! It really works & is a joy to learn from. Can't say fairer than that!

5 out of 5 stars

Great confidence booster and easy listening November 6, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

If, like me you are starting out with very little knowledge then this first course gives you a painless way of improving your French language and confidence. Michel Thomas has a great teaching method. He immediately takes the onus off you to lean and puts it on himself to teach. Just listen to these CDs a few times and you will take it in. Also because it is audio based you can learn when in the car or in the bath. The other advantage is that you will be surprised how much you can adapt the specifics that he teaches to help you expand your knowledge. I hate learning from books so this was a great way to improve my French. These CDs have improved my confidence and given me a base to learn from more traditional methods. The only limitation is that Michel Thomas concentrates on spoken French and consequently my written French is much weaker. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to learn or improve their French language.

4 out of 5 stars

Not for everyone, but if you like Michel Thomas you WILL learn. October 2, 2007
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

Having read some of the previous reviews, I think there are some reasonable criticisms. However, he does NOT tell his students not to think, he tells them from the outset not to TRY to memorise! He wants students to think through each sentence he gives them, but the effort of trying to memorise words, lists, etc. can be disharmonious to confidence and learning. I agree, since with his method, I have been surprised how easily I have recalled words when prompted, with little effort - it becomes intuitive. Another criticism is the recording quality, from a sound engineer. My son is doing media studies, and now criticises every TV program for the camera work! I expect a sound engineer to find fault with a recording, but for me, the dialogue is clear, the words are easily heard and recognised, and the mono recording is fine: I don't need stereo for this, and it means tranferring onto my Real Player on PC hard drive, or my MD walkman (or iPod) takes up less memory!

The accent problem was again, not a problem for me. I'm a linguist, and I could pick up that his accent is not pure French. BUT there are many accents across France (or Belgium or Quebec, etc.), AND very few English learners will pick up a French accent anyway, at least not in these few hours. I plan to live in France, so in time I'll discover the nuances of my local accent. For this course, it shouldn't be an issue. Though Thomas obviously has lived in France some time as he gives you proper pronunciations I never learnt at school (and I flunked French BADLY there!)

Thomas DOES give you confidence from the outset. He explains how many words are the same as in English, just with different pronunciation, then starts with simple, common words in context, no complex grammar. At the start of CD2 (yes, after one hour!), he asks you to translate a 17-word sentence into French, and if you've listened, you can do it! Voila!

Cons now: though I enjoyed the course thoroughly, my wife found his voice boring, and just couldn't get into it. C'est la vie, one man's meat... it's not for everyone.

The gaps between his prompts and the students' responses are quite long (to allow for the slow learner), meaning much of the 8 hours actually is silence. Since you should pause the CD anyway to think and respond, these gaps are too long (this is the reason I didn't give 5 stars). Something addressed in the Advanced course, where 6 hours of recording actually teach you more material, and in the 'Language Builder', it's just Thomas with no gaps at all, so 2 hours has a lot.
If you pick up as quickly as I did, you WILL find the stumblings of his subjects over simple sentences a bit frustrating - you'll want to move on.

This IS a spoken French course, and though he does spell out words for you, the simplification of grammar that aids the learning here, means that if you require to understand the complexities of grammar, or written French, you'll need to supplement this, but since it is only to get you confidently speaking French, for me it does 'exactly what it says on the cover'! This course will make you fluent as a tourist and a bit more. For more complex conversation, you'll need to follow with the advanced course (if this one works for you).

5 out of 5 stars

You will learn in spite of yourself September 5, 2007
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

Load this onto your ipod, go to sleep every night just listening, or whilst commuting/on the bus - hey presto you learn French.
This has worked for me.