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SmartFrench: Learn French from Real French People | 
| Author: Christian Aubert
Publisher: SmartFrench
Category: Book
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $32.97
You Save: $16.98 (34%)
Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 181363
Media: Hardcover
Edition: WindowsNT/98/2000/95/XP/MacOSX
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 64
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 8.1 x 2.1
ISBN: 097294740X
EAN: 9780972947404
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
- For Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced
- Repetition of excerpts of complete conversations
- CD-Rom with booklet containing actual transcripts of French natives
- Color-coding shows what is and what is not pronounced in spoken French
- Successfully used in American Embassies "This CD Rom is a "Must" for learning how the French REALLY talk!"
William Martin, retired political editor, The Oakland Tribune "I've tried them all and this one is it!"
Joe Hogan, CBS "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 SmartFrench does?"
Patricia J. Gust, Attorney, Los Angeles, CA For Americans, learning a foreign language is typically a very frustrating experience. After spending countless hours in a classroom environment, most find that they are still unable to comprehend "real world" French as it is naturally spoken between native French people. To learn a language one has to develop speaking as well as understanding skills. What to do first is a matter of choice. To learn a few sentences to get by is good but to understand whats coming back to you is also important. SmartFrench will develop your listening skills, which will raise your confidence to speak naturally (Just learning basic sentences would make you sound too "proper"). For better progress, this process should be done simultaneously and the sooner the better, right at the beginner level. Some people think that developing understanding skills should be a part of the beginner level training and some dont. For those who think it is, we have designed a beginner level. A beginner is naturally not expected to be able to understand dialogs at real speed right away, but with a little patience, you will soon feel more and more confident about your ability to "talk" French just by learning how to recognize the "rhythm" of the language and its predictable patterns. There are seven interviews at the beginner level and six interviews at the intermediate and at the advanced levels. You will practice slowly at the beginner level and faster on the next two levels. On the booklet, the transcripts of the conversations are in colors to show you what is and what is not pronounced in spoken French. The lessons are organized interactively so that you can work at your own pace, pausing or rewinding at any time. At any level and at any time you can watch the video and read the translation before you work on the interview you have chosen. We are so confident in your success using our revolutionary educational method, we stand behind this product with a full 30 day money back guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied, simply return the product to SmartFrench in its original packaging for a full refund. "I have three other French language courses, and I've learned more from this one than I have the others put together."
Cynthia Stull, Washington, DC, writes contracts for the National Cancer Institute, for the AIDS programs around the world "No matter what other sources you use in your language learning, the Smart thing to do is give yourself this key to confidence."
Ian Jackson, CEO, Breathplay, Dallas
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
 THE FRENCH WHISPERER! March 19, 2006
45 out of 50 found this review helpful
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!
Improved my listening comprehension greatly October 22, 2006
31 out of 32 found this review helpful
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.
Tried them all -- FINALLY something that works June 9, 2004
24 out of 25 found this review helpful
With an impending vacation to Paris, I wanted to become familiar with the French language, having never studied it before. I've read and listened to nearly every major French language program out there, including Barron's, Berlitz, Michel Thomas, Living Language French, Teach Yourself French and Instant Immersion. Smart French is by far the best, both in value and in what it teaches. I couldn't understand why after studying these other methods, when I watched a French film, I could understand little to nothing of what was being said. After purchasing Smart French and working each of the interactive lessons, I finally get it. What is taught in the textbooks is not the way the French actually speak. They contract so much that the written French is quite different from the spoken French! A child learns a language first by hearing it spoken and mimicking the sounds, then by attaching meaning to the words. This is what Smart French does. It teaches you to hear first, repeat the sounds that you hear and translate later. First you learn to hear, then speak and finally to understand. All the other methods teach basically the same way and method, while Smart French is very different. I wholeheartedly recommend Smart French!!!
 Good program, not for beginners December 21, 2005
23 out of 27 found this review helpful
This CD-ROM program works by breaking down a number of conversations into easy to follow steps to teach spoken French. The focus is on listening and then repeating the contents of the conversation (the text can be referenced if you missed words here and there). By the time you reach the video step, you should have a good idea of what's going on in the conversation. For a better idea of the system, a demo is available on the smartfrench.com website.
This program does a good job with teaching spoken contractions (il y a sounds like 'ya', etc.), pronunciation (pointing out which sounds and letters are pronounced and which aren't), and useful phrases by showing them in real-life contexts. Make no mistake, however, this program will not teach you French from scratch. Even the 'beginner' level is difficult for intermediate-range students. A solid grasp on French grammar and structure along with an intermediate range vocabulary is necessary. Like other reviewers have posted, this program is great in conjunction with other French instructional materials but shouldn't be used alone.
Bottom line:
This program WILL help you bridge the gap between formal classroom instruction and the spoken language, but don't expect to rely on this program by itself.
Note: If you're looking to improve your conversational skills on a budget and can't make it to a francophone country, I recommend a combination of 'Immersion plus French' by Penton Overseas, this SmartFrench CD-ROM program, 'French in Action' videos available for free online at learner.org, daily viewing of free news broadcasts on France2.fr and tf1.fr, and any other recorded materials you can get your hands on.
A Great Program June 23, 2006
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
This program is wonderful. Listening to "real" people speaking the way they actually pronounce words is very helpful. And I like the way the lessons are laid out - step by step.
I know very little French already (I took French in high school, nearly 50 years ago).
This program has helped me immensely. I've tried other French language learning programs, and they are either too "stilted" or not thorough enough. This one is just right.
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