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Rating: 
Summary: Worthless--No stars
Review: I am going to France and wanted to brush up on my high school and college French. I checked out the older version (1987) of this cassette lesson from the library and have found it to be totally worthless. The speakers first say a word in English, and then it is spoken in French. After about 1/2 the tape, they switch, saying the word in French first, with the English translation later. This sounds all well and good, until you actually listen to the tapes (there are two tapes in the lesson). For one thing, the female French speaker is almost inaudible. But the worst part about the tape is that the words spoken have no relation to one another. They are not alphabetical, or by subject/topic. For example, the order of the words may be something like this: turkey, package, address, traveler's check, parrot, definition, zoo, license, sample, divorce, chest of drawers, sight/view, delivery, wedding. This would be great for a quiz show to test your memory, but worthless for anything else. Of course, the more recent version could have fixed these flaws, but why take the chance? I gave it one star because the review form wouldn't accept the review without at least one star.
Rating: 
Summary: A great learning tool.
Review: I have purchased all 3 French VocabuLearn series and have found them to be well structured and more than helpful in learning French vocabulary.First, I read the review from a previous customer who wrote that the program did not group the words into categories ie. colors, clothes etc...or alphabetical order.The program lists words in random order to "provide a challenge that promotes faster learning and increased word retention". This format was done this way because that is the way words occur in "actual conversation". There is a chance of learning the "order" of the words in the list and not the words themselves when they are listed by groups,categories, or alphabetically. Secondly, the program includes the words gender,definite, and indefinite articles. You HAVE to learn the gender, definite and indefinite articles in French vocabulary or your sentences in written and spoken French will be wrong and misunderstood. Third, this program includes nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and expressions. It is all contained in a very small book that you can carry with you anywhere. Also, the cassette has a native speaker who provides authenticity to the pronounciation. It is meant to be a supplement to other French language resources ie. school program, CDs, internet language learning etc... I found it to be very helpful to my French language learning objectives. The one negative that I have with this program is the music. I found it to be a little distracting. Nevertheles, I recommend this program.
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