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| Michel Thomas Method: French Vocabulary Course (Michel Thomas Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Michel Thomas
Publisher: Hodder Arnold
Category: Book
List Price: £29.36
Buy New: £15.00
You Save: £14.36 (49%)
New (16) from £15.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 135621
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 2
ISBN: 0340939826
EAN: 9780340939826
ASIN: 0340939826
Publication Date: May 25, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Sealed and Direct from the Publisher
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 21-25 of 25 | | « PREV | | |
 Michel Thomas method still excels without him! June 15, 2007
11 out of 16 found this review helpful
This is an excellent (excellent!) 5 CD course (with booklet - CD, segment and track content, plus dictionary of all new terms used). This is a course I personally think is all the better for NOT having Michel Thomas doing the teaching. The FRENCH lady teaching obviously has a perfect french accent and her English is chrystal clear and, unlike how I found Michel Thomas at times, is mild tempered!
Yet, Michel's method cannot be faulted. Again, you are place right in the centre of the French language and can't stop yourself learning loads of new stuff. Smashing.
The first segment of the course covers cognates - how to subtley alter 'English' words to reform the original French ones and how to identify (easily) whether they should be masculine or feminine. I agree with the previous reviewer in so far as I found this section a bit dull. I found I didn't enjoy so much practice of such readily worked out words in itself. BUT knowing the rules more clearly has definitely help me feel more able to use cognates. And, more importantly, this segment was by far the best at improvng my accent. With less to work out, I could focus on accent more fully.
The second segment covers verbs and tenses - clarifying rules learned in Michel's other courses and adding in new CLEAR rules of when to use what and which verbs or areas of French grammar are quite unlike our own. VERY useful.
The last segment covers everyday expressions that make your French come alive and is unlike Michel's Vocabulary Builder in that there is lots of practice and logical sentence building.
Throughout the course the tutor teaches a point, asks for a translation, which is then worked through slowly with a pause for your reply, and then one of two native French speakers gives the correct answer with the tutor repeating it at a slower pace. Invaluable.
Overlaying all this are tons of little extras that would be missed if you didn't listen all the way through the CDs - syntax, grammar, 'false friends' (mistakes we might make), the transformation of adjectives, conjunctions, additional expressions, expressions in English that do not work in French, lots of odd bits of vocabulary that you probably wouldn't realise you need too and quite a bit on spelling . . . just loads of stuff!
I am very impressed with, and hugely grateful for what I have come away with. Infact, I think you could use this course even if you haven't followed the first two courses (the foundation and advanced) because, while there are plenty of references to Michel Thomas and his pet names for things (eg: the 'w-ing' tense) everything is presented afresh and wouldn't confuse someone new to Michel's method, so long as they had perhaps good GCSE French already.
Another surefire winner.
Great course June 10, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Fantastic course. Really does what it says - and in a way that's interesting. A great follow-up to the original courses. I hope they bring out a review CD for it like they did for the others - and also that this course is not the last German course in the Michel Thomas series.
Not quite what I was expecting but useful all the same. June 6, 2007
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
Firstly, I would like to state that, although this pack employs the "Michel Thomas Method", I was always doubtful as to how authentic this could possibly be without the great man himself. And whilst the team have done a good job at emulating Mr Thomas, it still nonetheless falls short of the mark. When I picked up this pack, I was looking for something that would enhance my French vocabulary, but the problem here is that the pack focuses far too much on words that both of the languages have in common, such as "une impression" "un developpement" etc.
Whilst some of these words are useful, an awful lot are NOT used in every day French, and so adding them to your own vocabulary can have the effect of making you talk like a robot if you are not careful about context. This particularly surprised me if I am honest: the c.ds use 2 native French speakers for pronunciation purposes- a fantastic idea and a clear improvement upon the previous courses- but what a shame that the majority of the phrases that they utter are not everyday French. In short, most of the sentences that you will produce through these c.ds will be sufficient to get you understood, but will not correspond to anything like colloquial French (which I am sure you are all looking for?)
I must add that some of the phrases are not even used at all in France unless of course the people at Hodder Arnold have found a remote tribe in rural French countryside saying "je n'etais pas en train" instead of "je n'etais pas de bonne humeur" (I wasn't in a good mood / in good spirit). Thus be extremely careful with these phrases if you are useing them for academic purposes. In addition, some words are given in a general sense such as "la rapidite" (the speed), when in fact they apply in a much narrower sense- here for example, the French use more than one word for speed depending on context.I find this slightly irritating, as although as Michel Thomas put it "the goal is to hit the ball over the net" (i.e. to be understood), the majority of language learners aim to assimilate how they speak as closely as possible to a native speaker.
On the positive side however, for those who have already completed the advanced course, ample opportunites are provided for the listener to apply their knowledge of the French tenses, such as being able to distinguish between when to employ l'imparfait et le passe compose which does take some getting used to. In addition some other new useful and irregular constructions are covered, such as "il a traverse la rue en se depechant" (he hurried across the road) and "nous sommes le vingt trois aujourd'hui" (it's the 23rd today), which, due to the irregular word orders and forms, without contact from a native, one could surely not arrive at themselves.
All in all, for 15 pounds this course is well worth a look, however if you think that the supposed 1000 words on offer will fast-track you to fluency then I urge you to think again. Whilst you may indeed pick up some useful words, phrases and constructions from the pack, ultimately the best way to add authentic vocabulary to your word bank is to read French literature of some kind (magazines, newspapers etc), watch films, listen to music but ideally, speak to people. The Michel Thomas way is certainly a good place to begin your journey, however.
French Vocabulary Course (Michel Thomas method) June 5, 2007
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is one of the best audio books available in the market for learning French. I have recently bought this 5 CD pack with a fantastic price (just 14.99!) and can not stop listening to it. It is simply brilliant. It not only employs Michel Thomas method but also uses native speakers for the better understanding of pronunciation. The vocabulary included in the pack is rich enough to build a bridge between Michel Thomas courses and more advanced material (like champs-elysees audio magazine). I congratualte the production team behind this easy to learn material which has been faithful to Michel Thomas method and strongly recommend it to any one who has done the advance course and language builder. It is refreshing and taking over from where Michel Thomas has left. I am really looking forward to seeing more French materials from this team. I have rated it with five stars as it genuinely deserves it.
A fantastic Conclusion to The Spanish Series May 28, 2007
99 out of 107 found this review helpful
This vocabulary course builds on the structure that Michel Thomas laid down in his foundation and advanced courses.
Sadly, Michel passed away in 2005, so this course has been written by a long-standing teacher in his language school, Dr Rose Lee Haydon.
For anyone thinking of purchasing this I've made a summary below of what you can expect to cover. I think it will be of interest to those who are beginners or intermediate students or anyone want to brush up on rusty Spanish skills.
The course is very much based on cognates to give a large vocabulary (about 2 CD's worth). In all over 1,000 words are taught on the five CD's.
The next couple of CD's go through Verbs in the tenses covered in Michel's courses.
Some of the verbs covered (in Spanish) are
To avoid
To tempt
To use
To invent
To mention
To form
To spend
Should
To shout
To earn
To invite
To Justify
To dine
To inspire
To admire
To install
To adore
To consider
To acuse
To inspire
to Classify
To study
To console
To administer
To negociate
to clean
To call
To look at
To lend
To kiss
To touch
To attack
To drink
To learn
To understand
To answer
To write
Reflexive Verbs (a whole assortment)
To promise
To be able
To fit in to
To rain
To offer
To protect oneself
To defend oneself
To sell
To be worth
To fear
To cough
To believe
To grow
To recognise
To place
To admit
To insist on
To invade
To omit
To decide
To suffer
To recieve
To cover
To describe
To open
To flee
To permit
To prohibit
To attend
To say
To go out
To sleep
to destroy
To translate
To produce
to climb up
To go out
To lose
To deny
To think
To close
Irregular verbs
Expressions that trigger the subjunctive
The last couple of CD's cover everyday expressions particularly those using hacer and tener and questioning words.
Clarification when to use por and para and Ser/Estar
Making comparisons
Using opposite meanings to build vocabulary eg. Good and Bad, Pretty and Ugly etc
Much of this was familar to me, but the course is a great reminder of the shortcuts for creating your own vocabulary and manipulating verb tenses. I also liked the fact that a model for pronunciation is given by a native speaker from Spain (a woman) and a male speaker from Latin America. So this course will be good for anyone planning on going to any Spanish speaking country who wants to practice the correct pronunciation for their destination.
Rose Lee Haydon is superb (to my ears she has an excellent Spanish accent), she is also very encouraging, I did miss Michel's voice but his legacy is obviously in good hands. A recommendation to buy.
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