My French Coach
by UBI Soft
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Our Price: $94.99 Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Buy Used: from $34.95 (click here) Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of My French Coach
Customer Review: OMG!
Summary: 5 Stars
This game is worth 3xs it's weight in gold! I recieved it @ 11:30am today and I have been playing it for hours! I studied French in highschool & college and am currently in a conversersational course. This game will be a valuable asset in my learning....I can tell already! I have already learned some new vocabulary. It is fun & helps to increase your pronounciation and reading of French words. The record & playback feature is AWESOME!!!!! I LOVE IT! I will be sharing this find with my French class in next week. The value you receive will be worth much more than the cost!
p.s. I'm 40 years old and I bought my 1st Nintendo DS because of this game! Don't delay order today!
Customer Review: Oh La La!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm fluent in French, but haven't spoken it in many years. When my daughter started learning it in school, I bought this as a way for both of us to brush up.
What a great tool! After you specify whether you're male or female, adult or child, your learning is tailored to you. Grammatic forms are gender-correct and the examples are pitched at your level (my daughter, for example, does not get exercises using the word, "Drunk", but I do). My French Coach structures each lesson the same, with a short bit you must read about the language, an explanation of the context of the word or phrase and how to use it properly, and some minigames sprinkled throughout. The minigames accomplish two purposes:
- They keep language learning from being "all reading" and "boring"
- They engage your brain in a way that makes the language stick in your head
I really enjoyed the pacing of My French Coach: my daughter progressed fairly well in the beginning because she's had some classes. Her progress slowed a bit as she got further along, but at no point did she get frustrated or want to quit--the pace is laid back and lets you take your time reviewing the concepts. As for me, I cooked through a large chunk of the content, but could easily go back here and there and go over things I'd forgotten a second time. Lessons are "unlocked" by completing a certain percentage and scoring well on simple quizzes, and then you can easily go back and forth through the unlocked content.
If it just ended there, that might be enough. But My French Coach wants to help you with your speaking, too! It's really pretty neat: the instructor speaks very clearly (and slightly different from my pronounciation). You can play back individual words and phrases on demand. You can speak into the microphone and it will record your voice and play it back to you so you can double-check what you hear. And it'll even let you play the instructor's pronounciation side-by-side with your voice! If you're super-nerdy, you can see the waveforms too and figure out whether you inflected too early or dragged a syllable out too long.
Yes, it's that thorough.
Probably the only drawback I can think of is that although you can pass every game with a basic understanding, nailing perfection goes beyond mere comprehension and requires some good fast-twitch skills. I'm an avid gamer, but I found myself hard-pressed to hit 100% every time on every game. 70% is sufficient to pass, but hey--I obsess like that! :).
Highly recommended for quickly picking up the basics of the French language. You won't get fluent right away, but you'll definitely get off to a good start. If you're planning a trip, take My French Coach with you because it also doubles as a phrase book for lookup and pronounciation.
Customer Review: A good supplement to learning French
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this game (or maybe I should call it a program? It's not really a game...) with minimal knowledge of French. After progressing through a good part of it I can't really say that I know French, but then again it's probably unrealistic to expect a Nintendo DS game, or even a more sophisticated computer program, to teach someone a language on its own.
The game is weakest when it comes to teaching French grammar. This is in part due to the intrinsic difficulty of computers being able to evaluate grammar, but the design of the game also seems much more geared toward teaching vocabulary than anything else. Unlike an actual French class, you don't really do any writing at all, and while you can speak, there isn't anyone to tell you whether you're pronouncing a word incorrectly.
In any case, the game can't really be blamed too much for these drawbacks. It actually is quite enjoyable to play (some of the minigames are really fun), and you can learn a large number of French words. This game can also serve as a pocket dictionary, so if you find yourself in a French-speaking nation and can't remember what something is called, you can pull out this game and search for it. There's actually even a sketchpad feature in the game if you can't remember what something is called and want to draw it for someone else.
This game is probably best used as a supplement to an actual French class, where you will have more instruction in grammar, writing, and speaking. It's quite fun to play, and makes learning French vocabulary as enjoyable as it probably can be.
Customer Review: Great way to learn French
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great way to learn the French language. My preteens enjoy the game and it's a great tool to complement a middle school French class.Customer Review: Great way to learn the basics
Summary: 5 Stars
We planned a trip to France and neither my husband nor I knew a word of French besides "Cafe Latte." We both grew up in Texas and took Spanish. This game was a great way to learn the basics so that we could order food, figure out money (numbers), days of the week, months, etc. I love that it speaks to you, allows you to practice speaking and shows you the words in print. Some of the games get boring after a while but the repetition helps you to learn the material quickly.
We weren't going to be in Paris, so we actually needed some French to be able to get around in the smaller towns. I highly recommend this along with [...]. The French REALLY appreciate it when you try and speak the language and make an effort!