Instant Immersion French: "New & Improved!"

Rating:
Summary: There is no book. Great as a refresher.
Review: I am writing this review as someone who could already get by in French and has been fluent in Italian for many years. As I listen to these 8 CD's, I am surprising myself at how much French I've picked up and retained through the years (like "Le cheval est mort.") So it's a great refresher course.

I'm not sure how much I would get out of these CD's if I didn't already have some knowledge of French. Notice that I didn't say "book", because... there is no book.

With these CD's, you may become conversant, but you won't be able to read anything in French or be able to pronounce it. But if ALL you want to do is speak & understand when spoken to, not being weighed down by trying to spell things in your head may be a good thing.

Rating:
Summary: There is no book. Great as a refresher.
Review: I am writing this review as someone who could already get by in French and has been fluent in Italian for many years. As I listen to these 8 CD's, I am surprising myself at how much French I've picked up and retained through the years (like "Le cheval est mort.") So it's a great refresher course.

I'm not sure how much I would get out of these CD's if I didn't already have some knowledge of French. Notice that I didn't say "book", because... there is no book.

With these CD's, you may become conversant, but you won't be able to read anything in French or be able to pronounce it. But if ALL you want to do is speak & understand when spoken to, not being weighed down by trying to spell things in your head may be a good thing.

Rating:
Summary: this fills a gap
Review: I liked this package for what it is. Good practice in comprehension. The first CD really does a good job of teaching pronunciation. It goes through vowels, consonants, and combinations. Lots of examples are given. Then, the course goes through all basic vocabulary: numbers, days of the week, weather... You get to listen to conversations and then answer questions about what you understood. I think there is much gained when you are unable to cheat by reading a conversation on a page. This package works especially well for people already familiar with French and those who have a french text lacking an audio component.