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Good - if used as a supplement.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 256 / 263
Date: May 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Let me start off by saying that I am a native English speaker, and I am also an ESL teacher. I purchased this program so that I could use it to supplement my classes and give my students some extra practice. It has its up points and down points. Let me explain what I think of this program from a teacher's point of view. THE GOOD: 1) Like other "Learn to Speak" titles I would have to say that its strongest point is helping students learn vocabulary and pronunciation. It has some good vocabulary lists, a gauge that allows students to see how their recorded pronunciation compares to a native speaker, and wonderful simulated conversations that allow learners to practice English in a very life like manner. 2) It has several cultural movies about cities in the United States. They are very enjoyable and teach students about geography, history and U.S. culture while allowing them to practice their listening skills. 3) If students want to study something other than the lessons included on the four CDs, they can download additional lessons from the Internet. It is very easy to do, takes about ten minutes, and there are several topics to choose from. THE BAD: 1) The dictionary is good for nothing except helping students to pronounce words. Since this program is entirely in English, there is no translation for the words. It really is quite a useless dictionary! 2) You can't print anything! I thought it would be nice to print out the words and expressions so that students could take them home to practice them, but alas, you cannot. 3) The program (including instructions) is entirely in English. Don't get me wrong, there are many benefits to this, but if a student is using this for self-study I don't think they will get far before tiring of trying to understand all the English instructions. (For Spanish speakers I would suggest "Hablemos Ingles" from this same company.) 4) This program really is for lower level learners (first and second year.) My advanced students enjoyed the cultural movies, and found the simulated conversations novel, but the rest wasn't helpful to them. 5) If you already have version 7.0, then don't bother upgrading to this one. Only the simulated conversations are better. The movies and lessons seem to be the same - only organized a bit differently and in a more confusing manner. OVERALL: This is a good program if being used to supplement a current course or to give learners extra practice. I wouldn't recommend it for self-study because lower level students might have a hard time with the English instructions, and more advanced students would find it too easy. Definitely don't upgrade from version 7.0! If you are thinking about getting this program I would actually recommend that you get version 7.0 - you can find it for a much cheaper price, it is very nearly the same and it is organized better.

Excellent as a French refresher or beginner course.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 68 / 71
Date: May 17, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have had this cd-rom for approximately 4 months now and I am coming close to being very fluent en francais. It offers 3 complete courses, boasting vocabulary builders, lessons in grammar and verb conjugation, games to reinforce what you have learned and you can also have conversations with virtual characters so that you can practice speaking. I am engaged to a Frenchman and I just keep surprising him with how much I have learned. I go to France frequently, and this has made a huge difference in my linguistic skills. Future Francophiles (persons who love french language and culture), Good luck.

Learn to Speak French 7.0 and 8.0

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 58 / 68
Date: June 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is a great product, but watch out! It only works with Win 95 and 98, not with Win 2000. I called Mattel's helpline twice and both times they said that they don't offer a patch anytime soon. If you have Win2000, it cannot be installed at all!

bonjour!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 34 / 39
Date: April 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

okay okay- i don't totally know french yet, i am just fronting- but really this program had helped me ALOT, i love it- the conversations for me are not slow, maybe it depends on your computer. i love how it rates your accent, had movies about the different regions, had awesome special interest internet courses that you can download...it really is a great resource to start to learn french, for me well worth the money...i practise on it all the time...i am still going to take a course, even as good as this program is, i don't think you can totally learn french using just this, or just anything else, to learn a language takes a whole lot... funny thing though, i wanted to kill that dog also!

yeah but in summation, i think this is the best language learning product around, go for it...

The best course yet!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 26
Date: November 06, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This course was very helpfull in helping me to learn French. I have purchased many French learning software and this is the best one yet. I really like the conversation CD where you are able to conversate with people at a party and they answer according to what you say out of the given list of options. This course started out very basic and is helping me to work my way up. The dictionary is helpfull also.

Excellent Value

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 22
Date: February 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This program is excellent value for the money. It provides a huge amount of material which will bring you up to the equivalent of a first year college French course at least on a conversational level. Previously, it did not work with Windows 2000, but there is now an easy to install patch. If you are thinking of travelling to France and have about 2 - 3 months to get through the course, this will provide you a basic level of French for getting around. I know, because that is what I did.

Great product

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 26 / 28
Date: September 21, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I agree with a previous review that software can never take the place of an interactive class or spending time in a French speaking country, but this product comes as close as possible. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to ramp up on my vocabulary and comprehension. This is a great package especially if you are new to the language.

The only negatives: First, I would rather it forced you to come up with the French words/phrases more. Too often it prompts with the French and asks for the English. Second, the dog in the game gets annoying reallly fast.

NOT Compatible with Windows 2000

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 21 / 24
Date: May 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Although it says on the top that the software is compatible with 95 or 98, don't think that it will work on 2000.
I even called in their support line for possible upgrades and they have nada.
This is a not review but just a friendly warning!

Great tool to hone your accent

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: November 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

In general, this isn't that great a tool for learning French. I gave it a decent rating, however, based on its one redeeming feature, the speech-recognition feature. This feature is an excellent tool for practicing pronunciation of French.

In the "Vocabulary" section, you have a list of words that you can click on to hear a native French speaker speak the word. You also have a needle-style gauge with buttons for record and playback. You hit the record button, pronounce the word, and the gauge shows how well you did, from "tourist" to "native".

This might not be an optimal tool for honing your accent, because it doesn't give you any indication of what you're doing wrong. It's an excellent tool otherwise, because it allows you to practice endlessly and because it gives you decent feedback. I had already had explanations of what shape your mouth should be for pronouncing certain things and the difference between the 'ou' sound in vous and the 'u' sound in tu. If you can get that, and if you have a decent ear, you can accomplish a lot with this software.

Anecdotal evidence: I used this software for about half an hour to an hour a day for about six months before moving on to instruction that involved real people. Everyone that I spoke to in French told me that I sound like a native French speaker.

Disclaimer: as with anything in life, you'll only get out of it what you put into it. Your mileage may vary.

This is a good course

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 19 / 26
Date: April 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I like the Spanish version of this course a lot. This one is good but there are a few annoying features. The interactive conversation was very slow to respond, just, really, slow. I also didn't care for the vocabulary section repeating every word in english. I guess if you want it, it is nice but it got on my nerves. As far as the success: it is too early to tell. Also, in the game section that stupid dog I just want to shoot him.

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