Rating: 
Summary: More Exercises Please
Review: "Ultimate French" is not an easy course book and I can understand some people's reservations. However, I have found it to be the most comprehensive and enjoyable book for adults who want to embark on a serious pathway to French language success. I began studying with the "Living Language" series (which I also recommend for drill practice) but eventually I wanted something that contained more than phrases. After exploring numerous options, "Ultimate French" was the only one which appealed to me and after purchasing the coursebook and audio cd's, I am more than pleased with my purchase. I echo other reviewer's dissatisfaction with the exercises after each chapter though. In fact, I emailed the publisher and suggested they provide a supplementary book just for exercises. Despite this shortfall, I recommend "Ultimate French" as a thorough introduction to the French language. I am looking forward to starting the Advanced course.
Rating: 
Summary: Ultimate French: Basic-Intermediate
Review: "Ultimate French" is not an easy course book and I can understand some people's reservations. However, I have found it to be the most comprehensive and enjoyable book for adults who want to embark on a serious pathway to French language success. I began studying with the "Living Language" series (which I also recommend for drill practice) but eventually I wanted something that contained more than phrases. After exploring numerous options, "Ultimate French" was the only one which appealed to me and after purchasing the coursebook and audio cd's, I am more than pleased with my purchase. I echo other reviewer's dissatisfaction with the exercises after each chapter though. In fact, I emailed the publisher and suggested they provide a supplementary book just for exercises. Despite this shortfall, I recommend "Ultimate French" as a thorough introduction to the French language. I am looking forward to starting the Advanced course.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: How do you fit "two years of college French" into such a small book? Only touch upon topics briefly. The CDs are even worse. Basically select parts of each lesson are read once on the CD with pauses for you to repeat. Each CD lesson corresponds to a lesson in the book and is less than ten minutes long. Since even a dedicated student would would have trouble doing more than one lesson per day, you're looking at 10 minutes of audio per day max. That just doesn't cut it for someone who wants to really learn a language. The book would make a decent supplement to a good audio course and the audio portion of this course would make a less than ideal companion to some good books. Combined you get a course that is severely lacking. For a great audio course I recommend the Pimsleur series.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for the beginner or someone who just wants to brush up
Review: I had a sudden desire to brush up on my French after taking three years in high school over a decade ago, so I picked up this book help me review. I found this book to be effective at teaching basic concepts while keeping my interest. The format is easy to read and organized well, the dialogues are never boring. I have other introductory French books which are less organized, difficult to read or follow, and have boring unrealistic dialogue. I tend to begin those only to stop part way through. However, Ultimate French is different. It helped motivate me to completion. I plan on starting the next book in the series, the Advanced Ultimate French book.BTW, I agree with the reader from Indonesia about the number of questions in each exercise. I feel I could get a better grasp of the concepts if there were more of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Do you really want to learn French?
Review: I've used different language sets to learn, or start to learn, a few languages and now have a clear idea of what works & what doesn't. Most sets are designed for the non-serious student who wants something "easy" or flashy. The problem with these is that you don't end up learning the language. Ultimate French is very high quality and even fun, but its method is not for the serious student. The drills are very weak. A series with audio tapes/CDs that works is the Foreign Service Institute lessons. These are also marketed by Barron's and the National Audio-Visual Center. I haven't tried Pimsleur, though.
Rating:
Summary: Do you really want to learn French?
Review: I've used different language sets to learn, or start to learn, a few languages and now have a clear idea of what works & what doesn't. Most sets are designed for the non-serious student who wants something "easy" or flashy. The problem with these is that you don't end up learning the language. Ultimate French is very high quality and even fun, but its method is not for the serious student. The drills are very weak. A series with audio tapes/CDs that works is the Foreign Service Institute lessons. These are also marketed by Barron's and the National Audio-Visual Center. I haven't tried Pimsleur, though.
Rating:
Summary: Just a thought
Review: Just bought it recently. "User friendly" for fresh beginners who haven't got a clue or ear for the language.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good, but not perfect.
Review: Okay, so there doesn't seem to be a "perfect" course out there, but there's a good reason for that. You simply cannot become "fluent" in a foreign language without regular interaction in that language with another person. That said, this course has many positives one should consider. It's lessons are designed nicely to teach some vocabulary, verb conjugation, grammar, common phrases, etc. The audio tapes & CD's are very helpful with pronunciation & getting your brain used to hearing the language. I must point out, however that it seems a bit advanced for the "beginner", so beginners may get frustrated & quit very quickly. My recommendation!: This program nicely complements the Pimsleur program. Pimsleur is unbelievably user friendly and gives you an incredible comfort level with the language very quickly. There is no frustation for the beginner. Living Language helps to explain grammatical structures & verb usage in a way that Pimsleur doesn't. First do Pimsleur (as many levels as you can afford!), then round out your learning with Living Language. Finally, go find a native speaker & practice, practice, practice!
Rating:
Summary: One of the better ones
Review: The best thing about this study kit is the CDs. I find rewinding tapes really annoying as I always need to hear a dialog several times before I graps the whole conversation. The text is quite interesting and the grammar sections are quite well-presented. I also like the fact that a list of vocabularies are introduced on the CD for each chapter. It would be better however, if the CD tracks are further divided into shorter tracks so that it is easier to review a sub-section of the chapter. (currently, a track covers the whole chapter) Overall, I think this is the best study kit with CDs. For Tape-audio courses, BBC's French Experience and A Vous A are excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Good introduction to the language
Review: This book and CD set provides an elementary foundation in French. The complaints others have made about the brevity of the exercises and dialogues are accurate; however, before people dismiss the Living Language series they should recall its purpose. If you want to get a basic understanding of a language without mortgaging your house, Living Language is for you. The Pimsleur progams that everyone speaks so highly of come in two versions--one with no written material for roughly the same price and another with a $300 price tag. Living Language set can easily be supplemented with de Sales' French Verb Drills and The Rosetta Stone Language CDs for additional exercises and hours of additional audio material.
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