SmartFrench: Beginner Level - Learn French from Real French People
by Christian Aubert
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Book Reviews of SmartFrench: Beginner Level - Learn French from Real French People
Book Review: Good as a supplement to classroom instruction
Summary: 3 Stars
Here are my impressions of the cd. First, to give you some background:
I will be heading to Paris for a week in September, and I thought it
would be nice if I could understand a bit of French and learn some
simple phrases. I do not speak any French. I have taken 7 years of
Spanish (I ordered your intermediate/advanced conversation audio tape
as well but haven't listened to it yet). My goal is not to become
fluent in french, but really to just know enough to get around while
in Paris.
So here are my impressions of the course:
1) I thought the overview of the alphabet and sounds were great. The
numbers were said a little bit too quickly for me to repeat after they
were initially said in French.
2) The first conversation is the only one I have gotten through at
this point. Since I don't have a french vocabulary basis, they made
little or no sense to me when I just listened to them. Also, it
would've been nice if there were 2 different voices speaking in the
conversations; because I couldn't tell when the first speaker stopped
and the second one started. I recognized some words verbs and words
because of their similiarity to spanish (e.g. Fumes), but I had
trouble following what was being said.
3) I'm not sure how I can use this audio course to meet my goal of
saying simple phrases in french. Yes, it will improve my pronunciation
and get my ear "tuned" to french accents, but unless someone strikes
up a conversation with me that exactly mimics what is said in the
audio course, I would be at a loss of how to respond.
All in all, I am sure that this is a good series; however I don't
think it's what I was expecting. Without learning vocabulary words and
verb structures first, i have difficulty constructing sentences. This
audio program would be a great supplement to a classroom course, but
I'm not convinced that I can learn french from these tapes alone.
Book Review: A review without all the B.S. and fluff
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay I'm going to just dish out the straight facts about this product without the fluff or the lies:
1. The cds come with a booklet. Download the cd to your ipod if you want to take it everywhere you go.
2. This doesn't teach vocab, doesn't help you magically have conversations on the streets of Paris. This is not Pimsleur/Micheal Thomas etc.
3. When the guy starts doing numbers, be prepared to just stop repeating because as soon as he gets to thirty or forty, he speeds up and you're left biting the dust. I'm not kidding. I skip it.
4. This course is EXTREMELY GOOD for pronouncing and differentiating certain sounds, such as the "u" in "tu" and "ou" in "fou". This has helped me tremendously and my tutor has definitely noticed a difference.
5. Not only is this course good for pronunciation, but for understanding speech. For example, why some words aren't said in daily speech or are clipped short...something you do NOT learn in a classroom setting. It helps with liaisons as well. It makes you see and understand why french in the real world sounds a hell of a lot different/confusing/faster than french in the classroom.
6. There are different conversations to follow and listen to, different voices, so you're not listening to one person and getting accustomed to their voice.
7. There's repetition that'll annoy you but repetition helps loads. He does a good job at pronunciating everything slowly and exaggerated so you can wrap your mouth around it.
8. Repetition is key, no matter how boring the topics on this cd are.
Overall, I rate this a four because I found that "The Sounds" section is extremely beneficial. It's the phonetics portion of this course and that's what a lot of intermediate and advanced students like to work on to sound more french. If you want vocab, try Vocabulearn or read a book in french (easy reader, Harry Potter), watch movies and check out TV5. If you want to converse or work on it, hire a tutor or find one on Skype.
Book Review: The best foreign language method -- and I've tried a few
Summary: 5 Stars
SmartFrench and SmartSpanish at first glance may appear unorthodox. Their method is so different from the "standard" foreign language teaching techniques that most Americans are accustomed to, that some people may be put off because it's not what they expected. But if you have an open mind and are willing to try a new approach, you will be rewarded.
For a motivated adult who wants to not just go through the motions, but really learn a language and get to the point of actually being able to converse and function in a foreign language, the SmartFrench series is vastly superior to Berlitz and most every other audio CD method I have seen.
I am a native English speaker who learned French and Spanish as an adult (in my twenties). I can now say that I am fluent in both those languages, but I also spent a lot of time and sweat in inefficient study that, looking back, could have been much accelerated. I only wish SmartFrench and SmartSpanish had existed then.
I've tried a wide range of methods, including traditional in-person language schools. I took five years of German in high school and college, and while I got excellent grades and my grasp of vocabulary and grammar was good on paper, if you drop me into a German beer hall I have no idea what people are saying -- and that's the problem with the way most foreign language is taught. I "know" German, but I can't speak it. If that's your goal, SmartFrench may not be for you. But if your goal is to get quickly to the point where you can actually converse in a foreign language, then I can't recommend this audio product highly enough.
SmartFrench doesn't follow the traditional academic pattern. If you judge it by that expectation, you'll be disappointed, and I think this accounts for the negative reviews. It does something much more valuable -- teaches language the way the brain is actually wired to learn language. It may feel unfamiliar at first, but if you stick with it, you'll see results that will actually pay off, and probably quicker than you expect.
Book Review: Use to supplement other methods of learning
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently moved to France for a short-term job, and unfortunately I studied Japanese in high school and Spanish in college. No French. So I had about 6 weeks to cram before moving to France; Smart French was luckily just one of the items I purchased.
The primary problem I have in learning French is that words on the page and the slow speaking of most French CDs do not help you understand people on the street, or in the next office, or anywhere. Spoken French is fluid, many letters are left out, and many words are linked. This is where SmartFrench is helpful.
If you are starting from scratch on French, like I was, I highly recommend getting a good beginning French book, a good set of beginning French CDs, and studying for a few weeks before listening to SmartFrench. Then, once you know some words and sentence structures, start listening to SmartFrench so you know what things will sound like when you hear them in real life!
The CDs are well-produced, and move at a pace that does help you to quickly follow the 'real-life' situations. It stops in places to explain why things sound the way they do, and points out general rules. You can use the enclosed booklet or not to follow along or read the translations, I have found benefits to doing it both ways. SmartFrench gives you a very honest view of what it will be like to hear french spoken on a day to day basis, and for that alone it is worth getting--otherwise you will think you know a lot of vocabulary, and feel incredibly lost when you must follow someone's directions or answer their questions.
Bottom line, I recommend this as a supplement to other methods of learning French. Do not use it as your first step in the process of learning French, but don't neglect to use it early in the process either. Once you have a little bit of knowledge, it will help you know better how to read to yourself and what to listen for in conversations.
Book Review: A fantastic system for learning French
Summary: 4 Stars
You won't find a better way to learn French and learn it quickly than SmartFrench. I took 2 years of French in high school and two in college but couldn't speak it or understand the spoken language. After a week or so of Smartfrench, I had learned more than I had during years of formal training. I can't evaluate the system for someone with no knowledge of the language going in, but for those with some rudimentary understanding of grammar and verb conjugation, you will pick this up with lightning speed. The ability to listen to a variety of native French speakers (and to have the French text and translation when you want them), to hear them use typical French expressions that you will quickly find yourself using, to hear how they form sentences in everyday conversation, is simply invaluable. As you listen and repeat (and you should listen over and over), you'll begin to notice that, just like with English speakers, some Frenchmen speak better French than others; the young student, for example, speaks more casually and with more slang than, say, the diplomat or the art dealer. With this ingenious system, you'll be exposed to all manner of speaking habits, all of which you can copy, or not, and will find yourself automatically absorbing all the nuances of the language you cannot learn in any other way. Other than living in France, of course.
I gave the system four stars because there is room for some improvement with the product. Not with the concept, just the execution. There is some needless repetition of basic ideas, although some may like this. Personally, I would prefer more discussion on advanced topics (I purchased beginning through advanced), like the subjunctive mode (of verbs) and some of the odd phrases you'll encounter that don't seem to make any sense. But, other than some fine tuning, this is a fantastic product and I can't recommend it highly enough.