michel Thomas French cd

[pigletwillie]

Does any body have a set they could want to get rid off. I went to put mine on the ipod and it appears I only have number 4. Willing to buy, pay postage etc.

[scarey55]

I have one PW - give me a pm and I will get hem off to you.

[northepaul]

Is it any good?
I had the Michel Thomas Italian CD and just got completely confused?

[scarey55]

I enjoyed it. I don't know if it is the same in Italian but I thought it was an easy way of learning. My sister has the Rosetta Stone Italian course and she swears by it - a bit expensive though by all accounts.

[northepaul]

I guess its because it doesnt follow the pattern we were taught at school that it baffled me! Also it seemed to assume you would remember everything instantly....
Maybe its just me...

[scarey55]

I guess its because it doesnt follow the pattern we were taught at school that it baffled me! Also it seemed to assume you would remember everything instantly....
Maybe its just me...

Nope, not just you - OH doesn't learn that way either he needs to have structured lessons but he is an academic whereas I am a talker and it seems to work for me. Horses for courses I guess

[bobleponge]

Must say that everyone I know who has used the MT method, swears by it.
Thats "by" it, not "at" it.

[maytreefrannie]

I can vouch for the Italian Michel Thomas set - myself and daughter have used it, when I get forgetful I just get it out again.

My son has done the French MT to very good account - he's now working in France, though of course he added to what he had learned when he went over, taking French as a Second Language course. My other son is studying it.

I agree with M. Leponge, I know several people who've tried Michel Thomas and all of them found it very helpful

[Hilary B]

I used the Michel Tomas Spanish, pretty good, but only half the battle!
I have since subscribed to an aural magazine on CD, you get the CD, transcript of each article, with colloquialisms in bold type, and the colloquialisms are explained, but otherwise you need to use a dictionary. I found it the only 'use at home' method that helps with learning to understand the spoken language, because all the courses (apart perhaps from linguaphone, which is a ridiculous price) are based on teaching you to speak the language, rather than listen to it!

[bobleponge]

I dont think that any method of teaching, apart from the total immersion system will ever fully prepare anyone to speak/understand a foreign language.
Even the tapes that allow you to understand the words you are hearing, by use of written text etc, are staged and formulated to teach.
Real life conversation is a completely different matter surely?

I would contend that all of the above systems are merely aids to start you off. Real conversation comes over a coffee/pastis/grappa/ouzo in the kitchen of someone in the country of that language.

[pigletwillie]

Your right Bob, unfortunately I live in Leicestershire and find it difficult to find a French person, let alone invite myself into his kitchen and ask him to sit and talk to me in French whilst I sup his best wine.

When talking in French in France, I quite often have to ask them to slow down a bit, its coming along though, slowly.

[trousers]

i would talk french with you piglet, and drink a good red wine, but after a bottle or so you may say that im on the '' piste"

[Hilary B]

I dont think that any method of teaching, apart from the total immersion system will ever fully prepare anyone to speak/understand a foreign language.
Even the tapes that allow you to understand the words you are hearing, by use of written text etc, are staged and formulated to teach.
Real life conversation is a completely different matter surely?

I would contend that all of the above systems are merely aids to start you off. Real conversation comes over a coffee/pastis/grappa/ouzo in the kitchen of someone in the country of that language.

That is where the magazine thing comes in. It is actually rather closer to 'immersion' than any other option that you can use 'at home', out of reach of real native speakers of the language. It isn't as 'staged' as most, because it is a real news thing in recorded form, with the text to help you associate the written word with the spoken (because so often, the hardest part is working out where one word ends and the next begins).
You still need to get talking with real people, but you can get a better head start that with most other methods.
For reading, I recommend buying (or borrowing) a translation into the language, of a book you know and love in English. I have "Ritos Iguales", and I have learned of Spanish a lot by reading it!