Customer Reviews

Speak in a Week French Week 1: See, Hear, Say & Learn

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I am brand new to French. I did not know ANY French when I bought Speak in a Week (I have a new neighbor who is a pastor from Haiti who speaks French, Spanish, Creole & English and have always liked the idea of learning to speak French). I'll admit I was grabbed by the title (even though I realized there are at least FOUR Speak in a Weeks).

When I received it by mail I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book is a very well designed multi-spiraled book similar to a small recipe book. It is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and strong enough to endure my childrens handling/rough wear.

The book itself has cartoonish/animated-type people/pictures illustrating the phrases being learned. This is a very cool way to disarm the difficulty of learning a new language.

The booklet comes with a CD companion (like anyone could possibly think of learning a language on paper???) The CD voices (English is female; French is male) are AUTHENTIC FRENCH. The female voice starts by stating a phrase once in English. Then the male voice states the phrase TWICE in French with a small space for you to state the phrase yourself. The audio is paced very well to allow you to speak normally. No rushing.

I found the actual phrases taught to be ABSOLUTELY just what the beginner needs:

Lesson 1 - Greetings, Intros, Goodbyes

Lesson 2 - Basic Phrases & Common Expressions

Lesson 3 - Locations, Genders, Likes & Dislikes (SINGULAR)

Lesson 4 - Locations, Genders, Likes & Dislikes (PLURAL)

Lesson 5 - Need, Want, Have & Some

Lesson 6 - Need, Want, Have & Possessives

Lesson 7 - Adjectives, "Ours"

Lesson 8 - Prepositions & Conjunctions

Review (Extensive & Comprehensive, Small Phrase-based Conversations)

EVERY phrase/word in the lessons has a pronounciation guide underneath the words. Very helpful, but the CD audio is best. I'd only recommend the prounounciations if you don't have the CD running.

The booklet also comes with a very large Glossary organized by themes (Days of the week, weather, clothing, everyday necessities, colors, foods, household items, travel essentials, and tons more).

It took me about 5 weeks, mostly driving in my car, to get through the CD and lessons. At this point, I've probably mastered the first 4 lessons. The level of difficulty jumps when you get to lesson 5. Stick with it!

Probably the best testimony I can give is that I was introduced to some French-speaking people at church a couple of weeks ago by my neighbor. I simply said in French: "Good Morning, how are you? I'm fine, thank you. My name is Paul." They snapped back after these brief introductions and surprised me by saying, "You speak French! You speak French like a NATIVE, not as an American."

All of my French-learning adventures had just paid off.

P.S. My kids have wanted to learn Spanish, so I bought the Speak in a Week - SPANISH. It is IDENTICAL in every aspect to the French material. Every page, every phrase and word. My kids love it and insist on practicing their Spanish in the car all the time. Here's to knowing 3 languages!