- ISBN13: 9781427205575
- Condition: USED – VERY GOOD
- Notes:
Product Description
Behind the Wheel French Level 1 covers beginning to intermediate level French, providing a flexible, solid and universal foundation in speaking, understanding, and creatively expressing yourself in French. The program features an English speaking instructor to guide you through the lessons and a native French speaker to aid with your pronunciation. Includes a companion book to reinforce and enhance the audio experience…. More >>
#1 by J. Eubanks on May 30th, 2010
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I must admit I have only listened to the first disc (over and over!), because I like to have a firm grasp of what I have learned, before I go on.
But I would rate the advantages of this program as this: 1)It is well-constructed and all ties together; 2)Celine, a Frenchwoman, speaks the French words and phrases (so there are no affected French accents, and she does NOT go too fast!); 3)the narrator, Mark Frobose, explains exactly what is happening, and its implications; and 4)the guidebook follows the audio very closely, with audio transcripts (for each disc) in the back of the book–very helpful for visual people like myself.
I recommend this product very highly, and intend to buy the soon-coming part 2 after I have thoroughly learned part 1.
Would that all teachers, of all subjects, were as adroit as Frobose!
Addendum, January, 2010: To really understand the rules of French grammar and syntax, I recommend “Beginning French–A Cultural Approach” by Hendrix and Meiden. We use this in my French class and it is INVALUABLE.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Wendy on May 30th, 2010
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Bonjour!
This CD set is a great introduction to conversational French! If you are taking a vacation to a French-speaking island or country, this is the program for you! All of the words and phrases they teach you are relevant to someone vacationing and trying to order food, go to a restaurant, and shop. By the time you get to the final CD, you will find you have a good grasp of the basics.
The CD program has an English speaker say words or phrases in English. Then a native French speaker says the same words or phrases in French. She allows you time to repeat what she said. And then she says the French translation again and you repeat her a second time. The method is very useful for picking up the language and getting you on the fast track to learning. There is some repetition of important words and phrases, but they are sprinkled in the program in such a way that they are reinforcements to learning — not annoying repetitions.
I really enjoyed the CD set and did not lose interest. There is also a companion book that comes with the CDs that is very helpful. It doesn’t follow the words on the CD set verbatim. It provides many of the same words and phrases you are learning in a more traditional language learning method (rather than the CD style which is an immersion method). The book was very important to me because the French language does not pronounce the endings of many words so you would not be able to read French very well without the book. If you saw signs and written words on your vacation, you might not be able to match them up with the spoken words without this step.
My main suggestion would be to have the English speaker spell out the words on the CD in instances where the consonants are silent. I think that is an important step in learning a language and you lose something without that step. I suppose they assume you will use the manual, but many people will not have the time or interest and it helps to lock it all into your brain to have the visual spelling and the pronounciation at the same time. I am a visual learner and I found that I learned much slower only having access to the audio without spelling the words. And, oftentimes, the French speaker did not annunciate properly so Icould not distinguish the consonant she was saying. I would guess when I repeated her, but I had no idea if I was doing it right.
I took Spanish in school. I never thought Icould speak French. It always sounded so difficult. There are actually many parallels between how the Spanish language and French are constructed, so it was easier to learn thanI thought it would be. Reflexive verbs, infinitive conjugations, masculine and feminine words. They are present in both languages.
If you’re looking for a quick start into French or are going on vacation where you will need to interact with French speakers, Ihighly recommend this program. You will be glad you studied it. You will get so much more out of the experience and Ithink you will find the program is well organized to teach you what you need to know in a relatively short amount of time. Worth the investment! Give it a try!
Au revoir!
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Erik Olson on May 30th, 2010
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When I travel to a foreign country I like to respect the culture by bringing along some helpful local language phrases. I’m kind of a Francophile, but I find the nuances of French quite difficult and I know I’ll never speak it fluently. Even so, my goal is to be a “non-ugly American” and be courteous, successfully order from a Parisian waiter, or manage a transaction with a Bordeaux shopkeeper. With that in mind I tend to favor basic travel-oriented language programs I can practice with during my daily commute. But once in awhile I get delusions of grandeur and dip into deeper linguistic waters. To indulge that impulse I got Mark Frobose’s “Behind the Wheel French,” and while I enjoyed the adventure it was ultimately a bit farther out to sea than I wanted to go.
I was initially nervous about getting “Behind the Wheel French” due to a previous experience with another of Mr. Frobose’s language programs. [...] However, the professional-looking box of “Behind the Wheel French” appears to represent a revamp of the series. Encouraged, I took a chance and was glad to see that the product had indeed been revised. In addition to the appealing packaging, the audio issues have been corrected and the CDs are stored in a compact, folding hard paper holder with individual slots (I would’ve preferred a car-friendly zippered pouch like the one provided with the Michel Thomas language programs).
“Behind the Wheel French” contains eight CDs, each with about an hour or so of content where the male instructor says a word or phrase, and the female native speaker responds with the French equivalent. There’s also a small book with exercises and transcripts for the audio lessons. Mr. Frobose indicates that the learner doesn’t have to use the book in conjunction with the audio, but that it’s a helpful tool for review. Indeed, the book was a decent reinforcement aid for a visual learner like myself because it showed me how the French words were constructed. At any rate, I dove into the first couple of CDs with high hopes. However, it didn’t take long before I encountered choppy seas. First, there are multiple tracks on each CD, but for me they didn’t build on each other as well as the Pimsleur language lessons do. Second, the instructor threw in a lot of phrases I’d never use while traveling, such as “I want to sing” and “you don’t like to play.” In the past I’ve had to practice a lot just to order a glass of red wine, so I really don’t want to be confused with extraneous stuff. And finally, even though I enjoyed listening to the attractive voice of the female native speaker, at times she overwhelmed me with her speedy delivery of complex phrases.
In the end, I doubt that I’ll revisit “Behind the Wheel French” unless I want to reinforce some go-to French travel phrases or get some new vocabulary. Yes, if you’re taking French in school, plan to spend extended time in France, or simply want to go deeper into the language, then this course will be a helpful addition to your curriculum for the reinforcement it provides. But it might be like drinking from a fire hose for the casual traveler or audio learning neophyte. Therefore, I can’t recommend this product to a language newbie trying to learn basic French for a four-day summer excursion to Paris. [...]
Rating: 3 / 5
#4 by Mrs. Night Owl on May 30th, 2010
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This French course is fairly comprehensive and you could really learn quite a bit. The trick is you have to stick with it or else you’ll have to start at square one when you want to resume the program. It’s that “use it or lose it” thing (true with all language learning).
Chapters in the book:
Constructing first sentences
Asking questions and providing answers
Daily routines and eating out
Conjugating verbs
Using tenses and basic travel vocab
Describing how you feel and showing possession
Imperatives (commands)
Direct objects, indirect objects, and double object pronouns
- audio transcript
My FAVORITE part of this program which is just great – the audio transcript in the back of the book. It’s a condensed, readable version of the audio which is a great learning tool because it exposes you to the content in a different format. It’s also a reminder of what you’ve learned (and a preview of what’s to come). Why don’t all programs do this?
The other feature I love is the translations. Many books give the translations the first one or two times a term is used, and then you (the learner) are expected to remember it from there on out. This is hard if you aren’t working on the language 24/7. Having all the translations right there makes it so much more user friendly.
Overall, I recommend Behind the Wheel French because it would be hard to come away from this empty handed. Put forth some effort and you will absolutely see results, especially if you are dedicated to the repetition and have a regular schedule and time to do it.
Rating: 4 / 5
#5 by K. McAllister on May 30th, 2010
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I’m always up for learning a new language (or brushing up on the ones I know), and thought that this sounded like a lot of fun. I did notice that it advertises “ensure[ing] maximum results with minimal effort” on the box, and that sounded intriguing, as, in my experience, nothing is “maximally” learned with minimal effort…
I listened to all of the CD’s, and they are entertaining, and you do learn (or refresh your memory on) some new words and sentence structures. Unfortunately, if you follow this program while driving (“Behind the Wheel French”) you might find yourself distracted from the traffic, or will find that you are missing out on the lessons on the CD’s because you are–well–driving. If you drive over a long open road with nothing to do and have no traffic issues (such as on a recent drive to Texas from California and back) this distraction problem wouldn’t really exist, but if you drive in downtown Los Angeles (as I do on a regular basis) you aren’t going to be able to pay full attention to either your driving or the CD’s lessons.
If you are looking for some educational distraction for your school-aged kids, then this would be fantastic. If you are looking for some educational distraction for an adult, this is okay…but don’t expect to be fluent, or to be able to hop a plane to Paris and be able to communicate without issue.
So, I suppose it’s true…nothing is “maximally” learned with minimal effort…but at least this beats music CD’s or droning talk radio shows.
Rating: 2 / 5