SmartFrench: Beginner Level - Learn French from Real French People by Christian Aubert
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Book Reviews of SmartFrench: Beginner Level - Learn French from Real French People
Book Review: Supplemental & Foundational
Summary: 5 Stars
You'll notice that the most exuberant reviews for this product come from people who have studied French previously or who are concurrently studying other courses (such as Pimsleurs, like me). That is the approach I would recommend -- with SmartFrench as a supplement. However, I'm sure you could use this as your sole primary course -- as long as you grasp it's counter-intuitive nature.
It is not a "survival" course which teaches you the basic phrases to get you thru your upcoming vacation in France. This is a foundation course to be used near the start of the long process to language proficiency.
Instead of individually-translated words with guidelines to string them together, this centers on a series of recorded extemporaneous conversations by the narrator and other French natives. A booklet has an English translation of the conversation but not word for word translations -- you're given the gist.
In effect, this duplicates your experience as an infant when you absorbed English from the people speaking around you, getting meaning from the context.
But before you hear the actual conversation, the narrator (a native Frenchman) does something very clever. He recites the upcoming dialog veeerrrry sloooowly -- sounding it out so your mind can tune into to the exotic sounds of French -- sounds you could hear as infants but which were discarded as you mastered English. Then he recites again while you repeat after him, training your vocal apparatus to approximate those exotic sounds.
These exercises I think accounts for those reviewers who said that they began hearing spoken French more clearly -- altho they didn't necessarily understand all that was said. It happened to me.
Altho the dialog is written out in French, you aren't to look at the booklet until the third go thru. When you do, you'll quickly notice that much of the written form is glossed over in speech (just like in English), so you learn not to rely too much on the written language if conversational skill if your goal.
I don't yet know if you can develop the skills to extemporize in French from this course alone. There are a few reviewers here who claim to have done so, but it isn't clear whether had the benefit of other courses, too.
I know of a couple other language courses that slow down the speech, too. One is a survival course with a limited number of phrases (google for 'languagesonthego') and the other teaches vocubulary ('Before You Know It'). I can't comment on their worth. But from my exposure to SmartFrench, I think that it will give you a solid grounding if your goal is mastery of conversational French -- or even the less ambitious one (mine) of ignoring the subtitles when watching French movies.
FYI, there is a survival product called SmartFrench For Travelers that I'm not familiar with.
Book Review: If I could give this program 10 STARS I would...
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally, an audio program that TRULY teaches you how to learn French! I have tried many audio programs, and Smart French is certainly the best of all that I have tried. Smart French is also affordable compared to the overpriced Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur programs which didn't work for me. The native French speaker in this program, Christian Rassinoux, is very encouraging and speaks slowly and clearly. It is a pleasure to learn French with this program.
I am a classical singer, and Smart French has helped my pronunciation more than anything. Of course, this program would be excellent for all beginners wanting to learn French quickly, efficiently and accurately. It would also be excellent for actors or musicians desiring to sound like an authentic French person.
These are the reasons that Smart French works:
1. In Smart French, Christian Rassinoux speaks slowly and extremely clearly so that you can speak aloud as you follow along. His voice is very calming and pleasant to listen to. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Many programs are abandoned either because the speakers voices are unpleasant or because the program goes too fast. It is fun to return to this program. I cannot stress how important this is. No program will work unless you want to use it.
2. The program comes with a helpful booklet that he encourages you to use later on in the program AFTER you have learned to pronounce the words by listening. (He doesn't want you to get distracted by the way French is written). Learning by ear is critical for the French language. After learning French by ear, the booklet ultimately becomes a bridge to understanding the crazy way French is written as opposed to how it is spoken.
3. The Smart French approach to learning French is logical, well paced, and compassionate to beginners. After using Smart French I thought to myself how obvious their brilliant program is. If their approach is so obvious, it amazes me that other programs have overlooked this. He even teaches you the often-overlooked simple things such as the alphabet, and counting.
4. The French language is full of nuances and liaisons inside the mouth and throat. Using your lips correctly is also important. This is the only program that I have tried in which I feel like I am learning to sound like a native French speaker. The nuances, liaisons and position of the mouth finally make sense!
5. The interviews with five native French speakers are helpful. It is important to hear the language spoken by more than one native French speaker--after all, that is what it would be like if you were on the streets in Paris.
For those of you who will buy this program, you will be very happy that you did.
Book Review: SmartSpanish CDs
Summary: 5 Stars
I started studying Spanish 20 years ago when I was a union organizer for the Roofers. I took some college correspondence courses. A few years later I left that job to work as a pipefitter.
When I quit organizing, I decided to continue to study Spanish on my own. I bought all the typical educational tapes, the ones where you repeat a
sentence after the voice on the tape. I started reading Spanish nearly every night, to increase my vocabulary. I read one or two Spanish novels a month, depending on how much time I have.
I recently started to work on big, overtime constructions jobs. The past
year I have been on big jobs in Texas, where at least half the workers on
the job speak Spanish. Some speak both English and Spanish, but a lot of the workers speak only Spanish.
I quickly discovered a few things:
One, I had a great Spanish vocabulary. I am like a walking Spanish
dictionary. I'd say I've a bigger vocabulary than 80% of the Spanish
speaking guys on the job. Spanish speaking guys often ask me for the most
correct Spanish word for certain things.
Secondly, I discovered I couldn't understand anything spoken in spanish. There is a lot of slang, but that wasn't the problem. When somebody said something, or when I listened to someone talking on a spanish TV program, a spoken sentence or paragraph sounded like one long, hundred sylable word. It all ran together, I pick up a work here or there, it sounded like it always did before I learned any spanish.
And thirdly, when I spoke spanish to anyone, it was as if I were looking words up in the spanish dictionary and talking, slowly, haltingly.
These cds were like the missing piece of my spanish education. I'm not even done with the first set yet, since I am working 7 days a week, 10 or 12 hours a day. But shortly after starting listening to the cds, playing them over a few times, my listening comprehension increase dramatically. This is really a major turning point for me. The more I can understand by listening,the more spanish idioms and slang I learn. Now, turning on the TV and watching a spanish movie is a learning experience for me. Listening to guys talking at work is a learning experience, since I can understand them. I am now conversing much more on the job, with much more confidence.
Again, I believe these cds were the key. What a great product. I wish I had them years ago. Though I have the Spanish CDs I am posting this review here because I believe listening comprehension is an important key to learning any language.-Greg
Book Review: The best foreign language method -- and I've tried a few
Summary: 5 Stars
SmartFrench and SmartSpanish at first glance may appear unorthodox. Their method is so different from the "standard" foreign language teaching techniques that most Americans are accustomed to, that some people may be put off because it's not what they expected. But if you have an open mind and are willing to try a new approach, you will be rewarded.
For a motivated adult who wants to not just go through the motions, but really learn a language and get to the point of actually being able to converse and function in a foreign language, the SmartFrench series is vastly superior to Berlitz and most every other audio CD method I have seen.
I am a native English speaker who learned French and Spanish as an adult (in my twenties). I can now say that I am fluent in both those languages, but I also spent a lot of time and sweat in inefficient study that, looking back, could have been much accelerated. I only wish SmartFrench and SmartSpanish had existed then.
I've tried a wide range of methods, including traditional in-person language schools. I took five years of German in high school and college, and while I got excellent grades and my grasp of vocabulary and grammar was good on paper, if you drop me into a German beer hall I have no idea what people are saying -- and that's the problem with the way most foreign language is taught. I "know" German, but I can't speak it. If that's your goal, SmartFrench may not be for you. But if your goal is to get quickly to the point where you can actually converse in a foreign language, then I can't recommend this audio product highly enough.
SmartFrench doesn't follow the traditional academic pattern. If you judge it by that expectation, you'll be disappointed, and I think this accounts for the negative reviews. It does something much more valuable -- teaches language the way the brain is actually wired to learn language. It may feel unfamiliar at first, but if you stick with it, you'll see results that will actually pay off, and probably quicker than you expect.
Book Review: Learn to distinguish spoken words
Summary: 5 Stars
I've searched and searched, read reviews of products after products. I then tried SmartFrench and it was exactly what I needed! Just amazing.
I spent a little over 2 years learning French as a hobby (to kill time during my commute). I had tried Pimsleur, FrenchInBoston, LivingLanguage, a couple of books, and internet sites like french.about.com. I then watched a kid's DVD movie by switching the audio to French. I was a little ticked off that I could barely understand the conversations. Once I turned on the subtitle in French, I could then understand most of it. Obviously, I was lacking listening skills.
SmartFrench, unlike other popular teaching methods, it teaches how to listen to the spoken French just as it is used in real conversations. Many other audio programs, you have someone reading a script in French. The sounds are quite different when someone is talking French compared to someone who is reading French.
After going through the beginner and intermediate lessons, I watched the DVD movie in French again. WOW, what a difference! I could understand so much more ... of course, I still have to increase my vocabulary to understand the full movie. I then went back to the Pimsleur Volume III. You see, Pimsleur, as many have noted, they don't teach the written French. The ending lessons of Pimsleur contain French dialogues at full speed. In many occasions, I could not figure out the divisions of the words if I were to write down the conversation. And now, thanks to SmartFrench, they are all very clear.
I no longer need to be buying more French audio lessons to improve my listening skills. I will be fine as long as I learn a few new words a day in order to fully understand a movie or conversation in French. Thank you, SmartFrench!!!