Customer Reviews

Michel Thomas Speak French For Beginners: 10-CD Beginner's Program (Michel Thomas Series)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I took high school and 2 years of college french (B average). I knew some vocab and the simple present and past tenses, but was very insecure about my knowledge and pronunciation of the language. I always shied away from impromptu French conversations and felt stupid for not "getting it" after all that class time. But WOW--now I am always eager for a bit of conversation whenever I meet a French person or someone who knows the language. I actually understand the language. I am halfway through this program and already advanced beyond my classroom lessons. For the first time, I am confident and comfortable with French.

This course is truly extraordinary. I have been a student of French for many years and while possessing decent reading and vocabulary skills, I have always felt uncomfortable when speaking French. I have purchased many study aids over the years and none have really helped much. I have generally despaired that I would never attain my desired level of fluency. That was until I ran across an advertisement for Michel Thomas's course. Although I have some knowledge of the French language, I decided to start at the beginning, in order to progress through the entire course. Although skeptical at first, I really enjoyed each CD. Michel Thomas's teaching style is truly incredible. He breaks down pronunciation and elements of grammar in ways that I never learned before. His pacing is just about right (much quicker than Primsleur, but not too fast), especially for someone with a background in the language. The CDs already have me more comfortable constructing sentences than any of the collegiate or other coursework that I have undertaken previously. I look forward to each CD and the beginner course has proven to be very useful for both review and enrichment. I cannot wait to start the next series and I feel that by completing the full course and supplementary CDs, I will definitely attain my desired level of fluency. I strongly recommend this course for absolute beginners or for those students, like myself, who want to improve their skills in French.

I bought this program in hopes that I could learn a little conversational french. My boyfriend's family is French Canadian and it was awkward for me at family gatherings because I didn't understand what was being said. This program is easy to use. I listened in my car on my 30 minute commute to work. In 2 weeks I had completed the whole thing! There are 2 awesome review CD's and every bit of the program is interactive. It's not about memorizing....it's truly about learning. It covers the basics, it advances to a conversational level and it explains the sentence structure so you can create your own conversation and not just use simple sentences. My boyfriend will say things to me now that I actually understand and can resopnd to. If you purchase this program you won't be disappointed!

I came to this Amazon page to get details about these CDs that I've been recommending to someone looking for good beginning French instruction for her family. Years ago, I had spent a little bit of time listening to the CDs before heading off to France on my own; I was surprised and relieved to find that I was able to communicate with a fair amount of confidence and dignity, eliciting friendly and respectful responses from the French. It's not as if I could actually carry on a conversation, but I could at least figure out how to ask basic questions in a pretty comfortable and confident manner and to understand responses. He slowly and methodically teaches you how to think it out word by word without doing a lot of rote memorization. I gave his set of Spanish CDs to some friends who were about to spend a lot of time in Mexico, and they loved them - they bought the more advanced ones to continue.

I was surprised to see comments here about this not being real French. That got me to wondering whether I should be recommending them. So I did an online search to find out about Thomas' background. I was astonished. Not only has he lived in France, but he was in the French army in WWII; served in the intelligence corps; was in infamous concentration camps (one of which he escaped from); worked in the French resistance; he was even tortured for information by the Gestapo and French police, but didn't break down. He went on to be a lieutenant of the French Forces of the Interior, and commanded a group that destroyed telephone lines in coordination with the landing of the Allies in Normandy. And on and on and on - there's even a book about him by Christopher Robbins called A Test of Courage! So I think it's safe to assume that what he's teaching is real French - and this whole thing has inspired me to dig those CDs out again and really use them to learn more instead of waiting till the last minute when I'm off to travel again.

We've tried several methods for language learning. This promotes understanding, as opposed to memorization. It's a unique method where you learn along with two other students as Michel teaches them the language. We've done Italian and German using his method, and recommend it very highly.

This is a great CD set. Michel uses a variety of mnemonic tricks to get you to remember certain words, and on the first few discs gives the listeners a way to expand their vocabulary by giving them a series of word endings in English which tip you off as to whether or not the words come from French. Many words can be converted from English to French by merely pronouncing them in a French way, and Michel shows you how to do this. It's a neat trick, and when he gives you ridiculously long sentences to translate from English into French, you find it surprisingly easy. Even though the sentences are long, it's obvious that his selections are deliberately easy to translate, but that is exactly what the listener needs to build confidence. Unlike most language learning programs which bore you to tears by giving you only a word and translation, Michel actively teaches the listener, giving a history of the language and keeping your interest throughout.

The best part is that no matter what you get taught, Michel tells you over and over how simple each new thing is to learn, even if it's a "hard" verb tense or grammatical construction. He then explains it in a way which is not intimidating, and eases the listener in to learning to how to appreciate the structure of the language. This is in marked contrast to the brilliant Pimsleur programs, which are unbeatable with regard to learning pronunciation, but leave much to be desired when it comes to learning structure. The best way to go about it is to listen to Pimsleur to get the pronunciation down, then move on to Michel Thomas to learn the nuts and bolts of the language. Then, of course, go out there and start talking.

The only downside is that for most of the set, Michel sounds like he has the mic almost touching his lips, and you can hear the moisture of his mouth. It's a very liquidy sound, and the occasional smacking of his lips gets irritating. I'm sure this will turn some people off, which is unfortunate. As long as you're not too sensitive to it, it shouldn't be a problem.

Je voudrais parler francais. The previous comment is one I caught myself thinking, or saying to disgruntled relatives, many a time, albeit in the `vernacular'. Having wasted far too much of my youth with uninterested French teachers, whose insistence of tediously copying grammar repitions from a blackboard managed to teach me a grand total of nothing, I was rather sceptical when a friend recommended me Michel Thomas' CDs. All I can say is that my sceptical nature has received a harsh rebuke. Without a doubt, Michel Thomas has managed to prepare one of the easiest and enjoyable methods of learning a foreign language into his course. My French phrase has moved from the above lament towards the more positive, if not equally irritating, `voulez-vous parler francais avec moi?'Rather than waste time with grammar and the `fundamentals', Mr. Thomas invites the listener to instantly start speaking and gradually builds upon this, leading to the student being able to master complex sentences in a matter of minutes. I concede that this sounds highly unbelievable but I would urge anyone who wishes to improve their international vocabulary to quit the books (for the time being at least) and give Mr. Thomas' audio and vocal method a try. Bonne chance!

I was skeptical of buying any language CD program.

It had been 9 years since I was inside a French classroom. I took 3 years in high school, tested out of 101 and 102 in college, and completed 201 and 202 my freshman year.

Needless to say, my French was rusty. However, I was leaving on a 10 day trip to France on April 1st.

After reading the reviews, I bought Michel's CDs in late February. Wow! What a great refresher and I learned more useful expressions (and correct pronounciation) in 10 hours than I did in all the French classes I took. With the method Michel uses, you really feel like you're learning and are driven to stick with it.

I got by in Paris, Alsace-Lorraine and the Rivera with little problem.

If you're looking to brush up on your French or just want to learn it for the first time, buy this set!

On the downside, I feel if you don't have a basic foundation of the French language before listening to the CDs, you might be lost on the spelling of the words. I recommend buying a dictionary or grammar book as a printed reference.

I've never taken a lick of French in my life, but wanted to learn some when I found out my brother would be going to Senegal for 6 months as an exchange student I wanted to learn some of the language he would be speaking for half a year.

I was absolutely astonished at how quickly I was able to start speaking full sentences in French. Granted, I spoke carefully and deliberately, but I was definitely speaking and really understanding French. My brother, who has studied the language for 6 years in high school and college, was amazed at the pace I was picking it up. Michel's method really is that effective. It's amazing. While the vocabulary you get is somewhat limited, you make up for it by learning the structure of the language and how it operates, which you can fill in with vocab later.

I had to take off one star for two reasons. (1) The female student was really annoying. She was struggling to get it, and when she actually said something correctly her reactions were weird. Not a big deal, but when you're listening for 10 hours... (2) Biggest weakness of this course is that it does not help develop your ear. I found that while I could speak some complex sentences, I still had a very hard time understanding spoken French. I recommend Pimsleur to fill this gap.

Overall, amazing product.

I bought the 10 CDs (beginner set) and the 5 advanced CDs. I did finish all 10 CDs. I definitely like this course. I am not saying it is the best, but it is good. I would recommend listening to each CD several times. I do this even though I studied French for years. It works for me, at least, as he breaks things down for you, he is very knowledgeable about languges and linguistics, you feel like you are one of his students. He is talking to two students, and you have time to think and answer too. Thus, you feel like you are his third student. I do know French, so I disagree with the poster who said it is not real French. Anyway, this is a beginner's set. It is not going to focus on slang, all the common speech out there, it focuses on the basics. It doesn't focus on every way to say something in French and tries to connect similar things said in English to what is said in French. I am satisfied with the course. I recommend French CDs even for those who know French and studied it, because you can't really know a language until you hear it so much. Michel Thomas passed away two years ago. He was a special man who gave so much, and we are lucky he did not perish long ago in World War II, some of his family members were not so lucky. Merci mille fois. I definitely recommend this program. Michel was very much an intellectual, polyglot.