Customer Reviews

SmartFrench CDROM - Learn Real French (Mac, Windows 7, Vista, XP)

5 star:		(4)
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This is an excellent program for learning to speak French the way it's supposed to be spoken. I used to speak as a child in school, but haven't spoken the language for many years. As my kid is learning French, I'm trying to help. School classes teaches the hard stuff, like grammar, etc., and not exactly how to speak/listen to the language. We tried a few other programs and were fairly disappointed until we got SmartFrench. This is an excellent program where you learn to speak, and as importantly, listen to real conversations, at different speeds. There are also text to refer to, as well as the vocabulary list for the CD materials.

One thing to understand though, that this program (Beginner level) does assume some basic knowledge of the language, and therefore not exactly for the absolute beginners. For the absolute beginners who never had any experience with the language, the also excellent SmartFrench - Introduction to French 1 & 2 CDs, also by Christian Aubert are more appropriate to start with.

Finally, this is not a program that teaches you to conjugate verbs and such. There are many books and others for French grammar. This program excels at the one objective, training your listening and speaking skills so that you can speak French like the French do. It's a perfect program if you've had some French in the past and want to brush up on speaking/listening.

Have fun!

The SmartFrench CD-ROM is a great product because Christian Aubert interviews native French speakers and they speak naturally, with run together sentences and words, dropped endings, hand gestures, facial expressions, etc. On the CD-ROM one can watch the videos, listen, read the scripts, read the translations, skip around, go from beginner to advanced, and tailor it to suit one's own learning style. The ONLY way to learn a language is to absorb the sound as it is spoken, and than to jump in and start speaking. By osmosis, one learns to speak, and this works, because it worked for me years ago in a French-speaking country. Grammar should come AFTER one can speak the language...not before. Courses that emphasize grammar kill the spoken word. (The letter kills, the spirit gives life) I think this is a great product.

I received my order of both Smart French CD Rom and the Smart French Intermediate & Advanced Level. I purchased both based on all of the positive reviews.

Well, having worked with the first set of lessons on the CD Rom and after visiting the Smart French website for practice dictation, I must say that all the reviews were right! This program is amazing and I have had the most enjoyable learning experience!

I am a college student of French and knew intuitively that there must be a different way to learn French besides the conventional 'method memorizing'. What's more, my grades in French have suffered because I have had to work against this intuition and against my particular learning style. Not everyone learns by memorizing, certainly not me. I learn through application, repetition, and association; as such, this program entirely corresponds to my learning style.

I love and am committed to learning French. I think that finding Smart French is something of a miracle for me. This program has already begun to build the kind of confidence I need to successfully comprehend French. Now I can major in French and not settle for a substitute major. Put another way, now I know that I do not have to give up my first love. I cannot wait for Smart French's additional projects to hit the market. For now, I am entirely satisfied with this product. Indeed, I am thoroughly overjoyed!

This software lets me set my own pace on learning conversational French. It is ideal for anyone who plans to travel and converse in French, rather than learning grammatical French. I still have a lot to learn, but for what it's worth... this is an excellent product for the price. Thanks, SmartFrench!