64 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best on the Market, April 20, 2005
This review is from: Behind the Wheel French (8 CD Course) (French Edition) (Audio CD)
After a thorough review of 3 competing products (Pimsleur, Berlitz, Learn in Your Car), I personally chose Behind the Wheel French as the best overall value for the following reasons:
1. Ease of Use: By far the easiest and most enjoyable in this category. The multi-track system is so nice. Berlitz was immature, Pimsleur has only one long track, and Learn in Your Car went too fast for me to repeat.
2. Method: This is where Behind the Wheel French really shines. The method and sentence building techniques had me speaking original sentences in French after my first half hour into the course. No competitor came even close to this achievement. Also, it's easy to learn with Celine on the CDs.
3. Relevance: The material was super relevant, meaning 'useful' in everyday situations which included directions, travel, school, food, everything. What is great is that you learn to communicate in these areas in your own 'original' way and not just memorize a bunch of canned phrases.
4. Easy to Navigate: Super easy to jump from one category to the other using the tracks.
5. User Friendly: The other language courses I tried sounded and felt like 'language courses'. Behind the Wheel French seemed so natural that I learned to speak French without feeling like I was 'studying'. It was so enjoyable that I looked forward (and still enjoy) listening and learning from the CDs.
6. Appropriate Learning Pace: As I mentioned earlier, Behind the Wheel French had the learning speed just perfect for me. I was a beginner and now I feel that I am intermediate or better.
7. English Once, French Twice: The English is given once and the French twice. It is obvious that the instructor taught French at the university level and shares a deep knowledge of the subject with you in English while the native French speaker Celine teaches you 'real' French. Ideal combo.
I wish someone would have saved me the time, money and frustration that I experienced with other courses and had given me the advice that I'm giving you. If you really want to learn to speak and understand good basic French, Behind the Wheel French is for you.
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60 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Series, February 13, 2005
This review is from: Behind the Wheel French (8 CD Course) (French Edition) (Audio CD)
I am a second year french student who purchased this set to help with my pronounciation. This set is awesome! I was very impressed and I have seen improvements in my listening skills and speaking in just a few days. It's an extemely well put together set. The only warning is that the CDs may not work in extremely old CD players.
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Production, Tracking, Content! Very User Friendly, April 15, 2005
This review is from: Behind the Wheel French (8 CD Course) (French Edition) (Audio CD)
I loved the way I was able to 'skip around' efficiently with Behind the Wheel French CDs.
Unlike Pimsleur (which has no tracks at all), which I tried and later returned, you can move around from subject to subject on these wonderful 'user-friendly' CDs.
I loved the logical way in which the CD tracks were efficiently and professionally laid out.
It gives me the option of say.... reviewing directions or practicing the past, present or future. Even the idioms and folk expressions are easy to get to.
The voices are fantastic and the sentence building techniques and built in review make this course a five star keeper. It is the best I have found and I am now speaking and understanding a good deal of French thanks to this course.
As for appearance, I think the course 'looks' fine. Very professional.
For those who are hung up on appearance only, I suggest trying one of the hundreds of lousy French courses out there with more beautiful and shiny covers to look at while stumbling around trying to figure out how to learn French.
For me, I want a course that is fast, easy, and teaches you how to really 'speak' French.
Behind the Wheel French does all of this and more.
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