Mastering French, Level 2: 12 Cassettes (Foreign Service Institute) [Audio Cassette]

Foreign Service Language Institute (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0812079183 | ISBN-13: 978-0812079180 | Edition: Book and Cassette

The most advanced and comprehensive self-teaching course in French available anywhere, this Level Two program is recommended for those who have already progressed through Mastering French, Level One. Both programs were developed by the Foreign Service Institute, which trains U.S. diplomats in foreign languages. Those who master Level Two will find themselves speaking their new language with an eloquence that rivals native speakers.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; Book and Cassette edition (September 18, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812079183
• ISBN-13: 978-0812079180
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.6 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,178,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Books on Cassette > Languages > French

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific variety of drills reinforces grammar points, November 6, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Salem, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering French, Level 2: 12 Cassettes (Foreign Service Institute) (Audio Cassette)

Mastering French, Level II, is for those who understand and accept that one must work to learn a language. I have been through it twice and find that my grasp of tricky syntax exceeds that of those who were unwilling to 'drill' (which is how language is learned). I would rather utilize Mastering French's variety of drills offered here than have only one drill per subject - which becomes boring. The hours of taped French offered on the 12 - 90min. tapes allow you to fill your ears with the language in an effective and interesting way.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good content; misleading packaging, July 21, 2005

By 

Maria B (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering French, Level 2: 12 Cassettes (Foreign Service Institute) (Audio Cassette)

Barron's has re-packaged the public domain Foreign Service Institute program and has done very little with it other than that. The sound (from tapes that are like 50 years old) has not been cleaned up; no helpful additions to the text have been made. They put friendly (and misleading) text on the outside of the package, and interspersed some information about "French culture" along with the audio drills.

If you have wondered why so many features of French grammar appear not to be covered by Level 1 and Level 2--it's because Barron's has not bothered to package the second half of the program! You can get all four levels from Multilingual Books online...they have re-mastered the audio cleaning up the sound and putting it on CD. However, they charge quite a lot more than Barron's for each level, so if you don't mind a bit of low-quality sound, you can save a lot getting Levels 1 and 2 from Barron's. (Okay, it's not all bad--I just had a horrible time with the last few tapes of Level 1--they were barely intelligible, and unfortunately it was the section dealing with numbers--an important part!) But be sure to continue on with Levels 3 and 4 to get the complete program.

In my opinion, you'll be best off using this series after you're pretty familiar with French grammar (and vocabulary) but are sometimes hesitant in constructing sentences. I agree with the other reviewers who said that fluency = not having to think about what you're saying. And extensive verbal drilling is an efficient way to achieve that. The only way you'll have the patience to go through the tedious drills is if you believe they will work!

You may want to have a French grammar reference with you as you go through the drills. The drills for a particular (explained) concept often include other constructs which have not been explained. You'll get used to saying them correctly without knowing why, but I personally like knowing the formal "grammar rule" for various constructions because it makes it easier for me to remember them later. There is a French <-> English lexicon in the back for words that were used in the exercises, which is quite helpful--so no extra dictionary is necessary.

When doing the drills, you MUST interact with the tape/CD (say the sentences out loud), or it will do you much less good. (By the way, the book is also apparently sold separately from the audio, which would be absolutely useless--the key is the audio portion.) You should go through each drill enough times that you can do it without the book, without thinking, and without hesitating. (If the drill is on a concept you already know well, this may only be one time.) Hint: get a tape player with a counter.

This series is useful, and the two levels by Barrons are a good bargain if you realize what you're getting, but I give it one demerit for the misleading packaging and the suboptimal audio quality.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Path to Fluency, February 1, 2000

By 

Herb (West Milford, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering French, Level 2: 12 Cassettes (Foreign Service Institute) (Audio Cassette)

Grueling at times, yes, worth it, absolutely! The only way to become fluent is to become so used to saying something that searching for the right words or grammatical syntax is no longer necessary or at least not as much of a chore. The drill approach is the best without a doubt.

Be prepared to pull your hair out, but the results come quickly and tend to stick longer than with other conventional language instruction packages.