Just Listen 'N Learn French

Rating:
Summary: Be warned-you need the casette to use the book
Review: I bought the book, and when it arrived, I discovered that you cannot use the book without the tape. You cannnot just buy the tape, either. When I tried, I ended up with 2 sets of the book, and 1 tape set. Waste of money. Just buy the book/tape combo.

Rating:
Summary: Hope you have a tape player!
Review: I used this program in conjunction with a non-credit French course taught at my local community college. I think the program is very good because the recordings are obviously of real French speakers in their native situations. It is almost impossible to understand some of them; they speak so fast, the words are all slurred together. But I know that when I travel in France, I will be better prepared to understand native speakers, for having listened to the tapes over and over! Also, I like that they record even small children on the tapes, and that's encouraging, because they don't always speak correctly (I am not the only one!). My major complaint about the program is that it uses cassette tapes, which are very outdated! I had a hard time even finding a cassette player in my home, and I only have a CD player in my car. Its very hard to find a place to listen. Then, you have to keep rewinding the tape back to relisten, and its the pits to find the exact spot where the last unit or lesson began. If they put it on CD, it would be great!

Rating:
Summary: It's a great kit, but
Review: This is a great kit, a great way to get started on French, but it definatly isn't thorough. First of all, let me tell you that if you expect to take full advantage of this kit, you should have a partner or at least someone who speaks French. The kit doesn't let you practice enough with speaking the language yourself.

But, it does help you a lot with understanding the language. The conversations on the tape are authentic, which lets you hear French as it is usually spoken. It can be a little bit fast, but that just helps you to understand French better when you actually listen to a French person.

The kit also teaches you a little about other French speaking countries and their customs, which is great. Additionally, it also teaches you some about grammar, which is a must in any language.

I bought this kit(and the Plus kit, which I will start soon), as a way to get myself ahead in my French class I'll be taking when I get back to school. So if you're a student and planning on taking French, then this kit is DEFINATLY for you. It doesn't make you perfect, but it should make your first year of French much easier, since most of it will be a review...