Rocket French changed when they added an audio course to the whole package a while ago.
I think this makes the course vastly superior to the previous version which only allowed you to click on a word or sentence to hear the pronunciation.
The new course is 31 lessons of about 20-30 minutes in length.
The basic format of each lesson is a scene involving the narrator of the course and his native French speaking friend.
So for example, they might be in a restaurant and they would have a conversation revolving around things you might say at the restaurant.
After the conversation the lesson would work through the conversation explaining points of grammar, vocabulary and, most importantly, pronunciation.
The narrator is an English speaking person and he will guide the teaching and explain concepts and meaning of French words.
The native French speaker speaks all the French conversations. She will say a sentence and then say each of the words or pronunciation chunks separately so that the listener can repeat the pronunciation after her.
I found this really useful to get good pronunciation and reminded me of the Pimsleur course which uses the same sort of method for pronunciation.
The native French speaker generally says all the sentences once and then pauses allowing the listener to say the sentence out loud. They stress that you have to speak the words out loud to get the pronunciation right.
At the end of each lesson the narrator recaps the points of the lesson. They will run through the conversation again and then he will ask a few questions that try to incorporate what you have just learned into what you learned in previous lessons.
The interactive part of the audio lessons involves speaking the sentences and pronunciation chunks after the native speaker and answering the questions that the narrator might ask. If the narrator asks a question, there will be a pause that allows you to answer, then the native French speaker will give the correct answer.
As I say, I think the audio course, in conjunction with the games, e-book course and flash cards makes the Rocket French course good value for money. It will definitely help you to learn French or improve your French if you have a basic understanding. I think the audio will give you more confidence to speak to real French people, which is half the battle when it comes to becoming fluent in a new language.
For a review of the other components of the Rocket French course see my Rocket French Review .
Go to the Rocket French website for more information.
4 responses so far ↓
1 myriam // Oct 25, 2008 at 12:23 pm
i can suggest to you, a french website of dictation. gOOD listening;
listening is also a good way to learn. The french dictation also
http://www.ladictee.fr
2 Dave // Nov 5, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Frankly, I’m hardly impressed by this course. I should have guessed it wasn’t very good by the huge amount of webpage space dedicated to testimonials. These testimonials raved about how they just absorbed “real” French so quickly. However, the website itself is very low grade 90’s style, and the product is also in that vien.
A few other warnings I should have seen; looking for Rocket French reviews leads to a ton of obvious plant sites where it gets nothing but 5 stars and the same rave reviews; and the price has been slashed by about 1/4 from the “original”. These are such obvious sales gimics. You can also pay another $70 for an add on.
When you finally get the course it is very disappointing. Seven four chapter lessons and a 2 chapter review lesson. Each lesson is about 20 to 30 minutes and centers around a small 5 to 8 line dialog hosted by two overly cheerful graduates of the William Shanter School of Overacting.
When you break it down this software is just a high price audio phrase book with some cheap software addons that could be purchased in most bookstores for a lot less.
3 Julian // Nov 26, 2008 at 1:47 am
I have to take issue with you there Dave….surely it’s William Shatner not Shanter
And what’s wrong with Bill’s acting..he was great in TJ Hooker !
On a serious note, I don’t think Rocket French is as bad as you suggest. I do think that it is hard to get to a fluent level with a self study course unless you are particularly dedicated..and the same goes for Rocket French. It will certainly give you a good grounding in how the language works but if you really want to become fluent, you have to speak it everyday.
4 Julian // Nov 26, 2008 at 1:51 am
Myriam,
Yes, you can learn plenty from French websites, internet radio, French films and French stuff on youtube and other video sharing services.
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