Michel Thomas Advanced French (5-Hour Course) (Bk. 1) (French and English Edition) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Michel Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0340886994 | ISBN-13: 978-0340886991

This recording follows on from the first 8-hour, all-audio course which has taken the language-learning world by storm. With no books, no memorising and no homework, Michel Thomas teaches the basic grammar of the language painlessly. Using the method he has perfected over the last 50 years, he now shares his secret with the world - and 'makes it simple' (Sunday Times). In only a matter of hours, he teaches what it takes years to cover by conventional methods, giving his students a comprehensive working knowledge of the language -- all the tenses are taught and practised; the position of pronouns is made easy, and Michel spends some time on the problems of translation, instilling in the students 'an enhanced awareness of their own language'. And he does all this effortlessly, 'effectively and easily' (Daily Star). By the end of the Advanced course Michel has covered all the structures and tenses of 'A' level and beyond. Grammar points and tenses only touched upon in the first 8-hour course are expanded to give the student a complete knowledge of the structure of the entire language. He points out the similarities of the vocabulary in English and French and gives his students the tools to guess the words they do not know, or think they do not know. Join two students as they learn in real time. Become the third member of the class and experience the excitement of learning a language as if by magic!

Editorial Reviews

Review

'a great way to learn; it's fast and it lasts' -- Daily Telegraph 'the nearest thing to painless learning' -- Times

About the Author

Michel Thomas has had an amazing life. Born in Poland, he spent his early years in Germany and then in France, where he studied psychology at the Sorbonne in Paris. When war broke out, he fought with the Resistance and suffered imprisonment in slave labour camps. At the end of the the war he joined the US liberation army and later settled in the US where he established his world-famous language school. For more than 50 years he has taught languages to the rich and famous and has become the world's most sought-after language teacher.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Hodder Education (September 24, 2004)
• Language: French, English
• ISBN-10: 0340886994
• ISBN-13: 978-0340886991
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,391,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect progression from Pimsleur III, November 17, 2005

By 

Thomas Hughes (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Michel Thomas Advanced French (5-Hour Course) (Bk. 1) (French and English Edition) (Audio CD)

Never having bought a Michel Thomas product before, I was pleasantly surprised to find a thoughtful, comprehensive and advanced French tutorial in the Michel Thomas product.

I have purchased Pimsleur courses, both the Spanish and French I, II, and III levels. And, I have cycled through the Pimsleur French I, II, and III, probably 8 or 9 times over the course of a few years. I found the approach that Pimsleur takes is good, but there is little explanation of what you are learning. It is mostly by rote... with the narrator asking to say something in French, then offering the French response after a pause. Frequently, the narrator will switch to asking the question in French, which always startled me, not really expecting it and the result was feeling like I made a mistake, or wasn't really learning, when the problem was that I was simply expecting a question in English.

The Pimsleur Course includes one booklet for each level. The books consist of reading exercises that softly parallel the course vocabulary, but there is no way to find a specific area to make it easy to find sections for review. I found that I needed to make notes while studying for this type of reference.

Michel Thomas, on the other hand, is a gentle and reassuring tutor, with an explanation for everything he is rendering. He includes very helpful mnemonics for helping to remember some of the subtle, non-logical tendencies of the French language.

I love his philosophy which is to relax and not TRY to remember, but to listen and have a conversation with him... and to take your time... the burden is on him to teach, not the student to learn.

And, the course includes a pocket-sized booklet that offers the gist of each lesson to make review of certain lessons, like using "will have, or would have" easy and accessible.

I find the Michel Thomas Advanced French a perfect progression from the Pimsleur III which is the highest level Pimsleur offers.

I wish you well with your learning.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent review of french verb tenses, December 6, 2005

By 

Herminator (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Michel Thomas Advanced French (5-Hour Course) (Bk. 1) (French and English Edition) (Audio CD)

I am a fan of the Michel Thomas language programs, having taken the Italian, German, and now the French in both the introductory and the advanced levels. The programs are excellent because they are simply fun to take, and having fun with a learning activity is half the battle towards mastering it.

The reason as to why this specific program is excellent, is that Michel Thomas offers interesting insights towards the structure of the language and more particularly the verb tenses themselves. From giving you mnemonics towards the structure of all conjugations in the form of "long box" and "short box" for each of the tenses, to a background as to how the tenses were formed in the first place ( for example the future tense in French and Italian were formed from the infinitive construction, plus the present tense of avoir..... Je parlerai) and the introduction of master keys, Michel Thomas gives you the mental anchors to progress and look up the missing pieces.

For languages particularly, I believe the key towards rapid progress depends on doing a little bit every day, listening to audio perhaps on your commute or on an MP3 when doing other activities. The first phase of language leaning would be acquisition of vocabulary and general language structure and the second, which is covered by this language course, is to master verb tenses. Understanding and using verb tenses puts you at least at 80% of mastery of the language I believe. The final phase is reading and vocabulary enlargement.

The format Thomas uses in these CD tapes is of two students participating in the dialog Thomas lead dialogue....." How do you day???. The improvement over his introductory course, is that the students here are better versed in the language and make the listening easier.

Overall an excellent course and highly recommended!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars couldn't be better, November 18, 2005

By 

G. H. S. Stone - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Michel Thomas Advanced French (5-Hour Course) (Bk. 1) (French and English Edition) (Audio CD)

Just as good as the course for beginners. This one is more difficult but then the level is higher. I can't explain of anything. There are no long breaks. The two students are very confident and in my view it is a bonus that he doesn't introduce 100's of new words since it is enough to deal with the grammar. Of all the courses I tried this one is simply the best. Anyway, I now speak French.