by James Redder
Learning to speak a second language is one of the most rewarding challenges that you can undertake. Learning the native tongue of the countries you travel adds wonders to an already thrilling experience.
People can find many courses claiming to teach a foreign language. How do you know which courses are excellent and which ones fall short of their intended goal? This site was put up so that our experience can be shared with anyone who wants to learn how to speak French.
I have reviewed the program entitled Rocket French. This program have been developed by Rocket Language Ltd., and the coursework was written by Marie-Claire Rivire who is a native Frenchman. This company prides itself in its reputation in the production of high quality language learning courses which include Spanish, Italian, Chinese, French, German, Japanese and the American Sign Language.
Thirty-one audio tracks are contained in the first module. Even after your very first lesson you will be able to speak some basic words. This course teaches you conversational French so that you will be able to speak with native French people in your travels. You will be in your own comfort zone as you speak with locals, order in restaurants and ask for directions, etc.
This course also includes the actual transcripts of the audios which I found to be particularly helpful as I followed along. Every audio is approximately 20 minutes in length which means that altogether you will have about 11 hours of content. You will be able to use the methods within this content to absorb and speak modern French quickly. Eleven hours may seem like a lot of time, but as you make use of the audio tracks you will find that the time goes by effortlessly as well as quickly.
This program includes software which not only makes learning fun but easy as well. MegaVocab is the title of the first software application.
MegaVocab is a vocabulary recognition tool. This was found to be very helpful especially in the beginning. Basically, as you run through a series of words, you learn the words not only through repetition but by association with a picture. This is sort of like using flashcards, the same method you used as a child.
The software has a total of 1,000 words and pictures built into it. However, the course allows you to add more pictures and words of your own choice as you advance with the French language.
Once I began to learn the vocabulary, the next step was to go on to the MegaAudio software. I then began to feel self-confident with all I had learned.
The software will provide exercises that not only test but improve your recognition of the spoken words. You will always have a unit of measure for your progress as the system provides a score with every exercise that you take.
I found this software to be a lot of fun to use. It is one thing to learn the vocabulary, but to understand it when spoken is another. In my opinion this is where other programs fall short, and where Rocket French excels.
Another very cool aspect of the Rocket French program was that it isn’t just an introductory course. The course is designed with the assumption that the student has no background in the language when starting. But it continues to an advanced level as well. I felt like this increased the value of the program because I wouldn’t have to go out and buy a more advanced course as I progressed.
Possibly the most impressive part of this course is the members only forum where you can ask questions and communicate with other students and the Rocket Language online instructors. To me, this forum made the cost of this course a real bargain. If you happen to get stuck on something, you find lots of help in the forum.
My closing comment involves the pricing of this course. I wanted to get started straight away so I was delighted to find that they offered a download option which means they don’t have to ship out CD’s, software and printed material. They offer a two hundred dollar discount if you choose the download option (which is what I did). I was then able to listen on my computer, burn the material to a CD, and even load audio onto my ipod. By purchasing the downloaded course I was able to save myself two hundred dollars and I picked the course up for just under $100.
There is also another benefit that the people at Rocket offer. The course comes with a 60 day money back guarantee with no questions asked. When considering the quality of the material, the software, the bargain price, the forum participation and the guarantee, I can only bestow upon the Rocket French program the highest rating of 5 stars. If you want to learn a second language, you will have a difficult time beating this program’s quality.
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