Customer Reviews

Learn in Your Car French, Level Two [With Guidebook]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Penton Overseas has done it again! Here is a French course designed for commuters. Like the guy who reviewed LEVEL 1, I'm also on the road for two hours every day. Please note: you must have a 30 min or greater time slot to use tapes effectively.

Level II gives a lot of practice repeating French sentences/phrases. It also has excellent spoken review of verb tenses. (I, for one, had forgotten how some of the verbs were pronounced: travaillaient?) If you studied French in school, you can't go wrong with the LEARN IN YOUR CAR series. If you have no French at all, I would suggest a more traditional course with a workbook.

P.S.: I got level I from my public library. It was too easy for me, so I went straight to this level. (Level II was NOT available for free!)

P.P.S: If your main interest is enlarging your vocabulary, these folks offer VOCABULEARN. I loved it!

I have other french tapes but have found the phrases to be too specific for daily use (ie Where can I go windsurfing?) and geared primarily to the tourist as opposed to someone who wants to study the language itself. These tapes are much more informative from a grammar perspective.

This tape is a great continuation of the Learn In Your Car - French Level 1 book/tape. I found it very clear and easy to follow. My normal trips in my car are usually only 10 or 15 minutes and these tapes worked really well that way. I used my rewind button a lot to back up and play the same lesson several times until I learned it then proceeded to the next lesson. These tapes are designed to be used without a text, so they work great while driving, but a text which shows all the text of the tapes and the grammar rules is included. I found the text very useful.

(Adjusted review) As a subliminal practice while driving the car, this CD collection is fine to hear correct pronunciation and to develop my French ear. However, I found some phrases a bit inane for my personal use. These phrases can be repeated along with deliberate shifts in vocabulary and parts of speech to create a greater oral practice with my own accumulated vocabulary. I appreciate having something with me while driving to keep my French ear honed while learning composed phrases. As a result in the shift on the way I have been using the CDs, I'd like to change the rating from three to four stars. Unable to do so, I am making my star rating in words.

I took French from 7th grade through freshman college, and when I FINALLY got to go to France, I picked up the first two sets in this series (at that time on cassette). It really brought back what I knew -- buried somewhere in my brain -- and I did just fine in Paris on my own, and with my American friends' (who live in Brittany) friends. When I came back to the states, I took Evening at Emory classes, which were grand, but not always easy to do, working full-time -- and expensive! So I went back to listening in the car and now have the entire set on CD -- and since I'm going back (I hope) next summer, I continue to listen to them -- and to learn! Merci beaucoup!