Customer Reviews

Vocabulearn French Complete (Vocabulearn(r)) (French Edition)

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

 

 

These CDs cover a substantial amount of vocabulary, with each level including nouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, and phrases. Each CD is organised by grammatical class, but within that the order of the words seems to be random. While most of the words are for common, everyday things and situations, there are some unusual choices - if you've ever wanted to know how to say "to blackmail" or "coordination is a natural ability", it's in here! The French woman's pronunciation is very clear although she occasionally gets a bit shrill, and the pause between the English and French is long enough that you have time to try and think of the word yourself before it's repeated. I personally would have preferred the background music to be constant rather than playing only some of the time - the music made listening to a steady stream of unrelated words far less boring. Overall, this is a very good product for boosting your vocabulary from functional but basic to a more sophisticated level.

I own both the earlier version of Vocabulearn, without music and this one which is music-enhanced; and I like this one better. The Baroque music, which plays in the background and is intended to enhance your focus, concentratin and retention of the words, doesn't run throughout the recordings, but comes and goes. The reasoning behind this, when they were creating these recordings was that if the music is played all along, you may drift too deep into a trance (I don't think that's bad for learning, though), and that it would be better if you stay closer to the conscious level.

Trying to consciously remember all the words as they are poured out may be too much, but you can have the recordings also play in the background while you're doing other things. It will help to impress them upon your subconscious mind and you may just find yourself enjoying increased comprehension when you read French, listen to radio programs or watch French movies; and then you'll eventually find yourself using these words with greater ease.

Each level contains 1,500 words and it will definitely help you to rapidly increase your vocabulary

This product contains around 12 CD's, packaged rather conveniently in a CD wallet. The CD's contain a list of French words that are translated in English and vice versa. The words are also on the accompanying leaflets so you can read what is being said. At certain points some background classical music kicks in which is actually quite pleasant and helps to break up the monotony a bit. Oh - did i say monotony? Yes, this is why I only give this product 3 stars because simply listening to nouns (and the occasional phrase) being said can be a little tedious. This is really learning French by osmosis, but a slow osmosis, so you need to be able to set aside quite a bit of time if you are going to expect any results. So while I do believe this package is useful for the intermediate or higher learner who has the grammar downpat and simply wants to exband their vocab, for someone who wants to learn a lot of French very quickly this product is probably not the go. Of course if you really want to improve you need to go to France, but that's going to cost a little more than the $30 for this package.

This product does exactly what it is designed to do. It boosts your active vocabulary in the target language. If you already speak another romance language, or if you have studied French previously, this product will help you to gain a higher level of comprehension. Most products are designed for beginners and the expectations are kept at a minimal. Also, I am a foreign language teacher and I feel many professionals would disagree with the format of not classifying the vocabulary by theme. But, I find the random words to be a better challenge for people that will be experiencing exposure to the target language in random and varied settings. These situations don't always fit into perfect vocab sets...(ex: going to the airport - shopping - checking into a hotel). I recommend this product and intend to order the Spanish version for my students.

I would first like to state that the company that manufactures Vocabulearn, Penton Overseas, is currently no longer having their CD's or cassettes on the Amazon website. Therefore, you will have to purchase Vocabulearn as overstock from other merchants on Amazon or as old copies that someone is interested in selling. You could buy the downloadable versions from Amazon, but the booklets that have the transcripts of the words are not included. And it is essential to have the booklets so you can see how the words are spelled and then sound.

Vocabulearn is an excellent tool to build your vocabulary in listening to a foreign language. It is a random listing of words. Some groups of words are pronounced in the target language, and then the English version is given. The process is then reversed with the English words given first, and then the target language words are given next. Vocabulearn does not teach you any grammar, nor does it claim to teach you grammar. Vocabulearn is best suited for a person that has had a course of study of a foreign language that is equal to some high school or college. It serves as a compliment to your studies. You have to know the basics for this product to be beneficial. Nouns have genders. The genders of nouns have to match up with the gender of adjectives. Conjugated verbs vs. infinitives ect.

The one problem with the Vocabulearn series is that there are too many words on one track for a person to listen to and to retain. Therefore, you have to tailor your studies. Learn the first 10 words by listening to those 10 words many times until you master the sounds. Then move on to the next 10 words and repeat the process until you finish the disk. This is easy to do if you play your disks on your computer. However, it is not easily done if you own the cassettes because you will eventually damage the tapes.

I own the complete versions of the French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and Russian of Vocabulearn. I highly recommend Vocabulearn to anyone who wants to hear the sounds of frequently used words. Later, you can then start listening to podcasts in a foreign language, and you will know that Vocabulearn had helped you with listening to the podcasts.