Review
I consider this CD-ROM a marvellous rendition of a brilliantly simple idea. — Ian Jackson (Colleyville, Texas)I was impressed with your teaching methodology, particularly with the emphasis you place on the correct pronunciation of contractions. — Scott Tingley, One World Language Solutions, DallasI’ve tried them all and this one is IT!!! SmartFrench is by far the best. I wholeheartedly recommend it!!! — Joe Hogan, CBS, December 4, 2003It really gave my confidence a boost, and gave me hope that I actually can be fluent in this language. — Mary Pat Avery, Post Production Manager, Los AngelesSmartFrench has created a unique and effective way to learn. My last trip to France was an entirely different experience! — Ju [Read More...]
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The hardest–and certainly most crucial–part of learning any language is how to properly speak and to understand when others are speaking to you. You can certainly learn every last word and grammar rule in the French language, to the point that you can read the complete works of Victor Hugo in the original French, but if you can’t understand when a Parisian asks you what time it is, you might as well not speak any French!
With each lesson, you are slowly taken through an excerpt of an interview with an authentic French person, some of whom are highly prominent individuals in government, fashion, etc. while others are “regular people.” This diversity of interviewees is one of the highlights of this program, as the Achilles heel of many audio programs is that there may be just one or two speakers, usually one male and one female. In this program, however, you’re provided over ten male and over five female speakers, giving you a much wider range of voices and speaking styles. Furthermore, the interviews are all very informal, so instead of the nameless male voice of another program speaking sentences in a typically over-enunciated and “proper” (ie. unrealistic) manner, you’re seeing and hearing French people speaking like they do when they’re just lounging around the house.
The layout of the program is very basic, but effective nonetheless. (I’m always willing to trade flashy animations for effective instruction!)
There are a few hiccups in the program, though they are quite minor. A couple of times when Mr. Aubert is going over the text, especially when it’s the section of the lesson where he’s pausing about twice a sentence, he sometimes skips a sentence. This led to a little bit of confusion, as I was of course expecting a completely different sentence, but it only happens a few times, and he goes over every interview several times, so even if he accidentally skips over a sentence in one section of a lesson, he’s undoubtedly already said it for you in an earlier section or will not miss it in the next section (as I wrote above, it almost universally happens only during the stop-and-start sections–he quite obviously just lost his place a few times).
Another small issue is that the English translations could use quite a bit of polishing. For some of the lessons, I found it actually more confusing to read the English translation than to just try to figure out the French! But since this is a program to help you with your French and not to teach you English, it’s of negligible concern to me.
In all, I wholeheartedly recommend this program. It’s deceptively simple and effective in improving your listening comprehension. There are a few issues that exhibit an unfortunate lack of polish, but they are small defects in a very effective program.
If you want to be like the majority of Americans who have taken a foreign language in high school or college and can hardly decipher a word of conversational French then Smart French is not for you. On the other hand, if you feel that the value of learning a foreign language is to understand NATIVE speakers and hear the language as it is actually spoken then Smart French is a MUST buy. This program will completely demystify the art to French spoken language–and it is an art. When I heard my first lesson I honestly felt betrayed by my other programs–why didn’t they simply tell the truth about French pronunciation like Smart French does? That is why if you have had years of instruction or not even one French lesson this program will benefit you.
You get a booklet with the written dialogues, the alphabet, and helpful pronunciation tips. You also get a a CD software program which effortlessly takes you through a rich library of interesting conversations. You can watch the video and audio together or listen to the audio alone. The secret to Smart French is that it breaks it down for you–lesson by lesson. One of the most important things in learning a language is to utilize your listening skills–something that had always terrified me until Smart French. Go through each dialogue step by step and you will lose your fear and finally gain the confidence to trust your ears. Then pick up your old language books, tapes, and French movies and you will be amazed when you finally understand the speech patterns. I highly recommend this program–ENJOY!