Another great tool for French

At this point, I have used several Lingo Mastery products for both German and French, and I believe I have a feel for the quality that this publisher brings. On the whole, these are great learning tools, and I would be happy to use others again for the different languages I study.

First of all, to be successful, you must use the PDF that comes with the audio. You’ll get the most out of the stories if you can do any combination of listening, reading, or listening and reading at the same time. Try it at different playback speeds, too, just to get your eyes and ears used to native communication patterns.

The lessons themselves follow a pattern of intermediate-level story, bilingual story summaries, vocabulary, and review questions with answers. The stories themselves are quirky and fun, but they demand more from the language student. They are longer in length, and the new vocabulary is extensive. The really great thing about all this vocabulary is that it covers a well-rounded slice of life and gets some things that are missing from other language products.

The narrator is a native French speaker, and she has a good voice for reading the stories. She sometimes misplaces the correct stress when speaking English, but don’t let that get in your way. It highlights one of the main sound differences between the languages. English is stress-timed, and French is syllable-timed.

Disclaimer: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Bottom line: Recommended for intermediate and ambitious beginning French learners. You’ll power up your language skills with this if you do the work.

2 people found this helpful

Nice for a long drive.

The stories were pretty entertaining. My favorite is one about the origins of the universe. I appreciated the vocabulary section. She reads aloud all the non-obvious words from the story in alphabetical order in french and english. I listened to it on 2x speed and skipped around to words I didn't understand in context, then went back to the story to listen to it in context again.

1 person found this helpful

Very engaging and educative.

Mastering a second language is usually difficult when the leaner has no reliable context for practice. However, this book bridges that gap for intermediate level learners of the French language; by intermediate, the learner understands some basic grammar rules along with common words. What this book then offers is an extension of vocabulary, improved accent (by attempting to pronounce the words like the narrator), and a very delightful experience with a few interesting short stories. I think this book offers a great way to learn more French during a free time, and the methods are effective.

This book was given to me for free upon my request, and I have left this unbiased review willingly.

1 person found this helpful

Essential for language learning experience

Designed for intermediate french learners, this book helps with the ongoing experience of the language. I personally (among others) enjoy myself immersing in language culture. Since travelling can be expensive, audio material with transcript sources is a nice way to enjoy and make actual progress.

This audible helps you boost and power up your french skills, with a friendly pattern of intermediate level story - bilingual summaries - vocabulary - an even a Q&A section!

Recommended for those in need of an affordable immersion experience (the narrator is an actual french native speaker)

(I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review).

1 person found this helpful

Great for 2nd or 3rd year French Student

This is a great resource for the 2nd or 3rd year student studying French. It goes through each short story entirely in French and then explains it in English after. I did find the vocab sections very helpful as it repeats each vocab word first in English then in French two times. Especially helpful in an audio format so you can focus on the correct pronunciations.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

1 person found this helpful

She has a beautiful native accent!

This native French speaker has such a beautiful accent. She reads the stories, which are appropriate for adult intermediate learners, with an accent that is so lovely to listen to, and very useful to try and emulate.

Distracting English Accent

I was excited to purchase this Audible Book but found it very difficult to get through. In French, the narrator's accent is dry, thick and heavy. Furthermore, in English, her accent is very distracting, as if though I need to translate HER English. For example, when she says "other" she mispronounces it as "udder" (as a cow udder). Same for many words, "sheet of paper" is mispronounced as "SHE IT of paper". You've been warned!

Exceeding expectations.

I am really impressed by the collection of stories in this book. Each one is carefully targeted at building a significant part of the French vocabulary, which then brings a contextual understanding to the learner. As indicated in the title, it is not for beginners. I do see its relevance for intermediate learners, who are usually in need of an expansion of vocabulary and a contextual usage of words and phrases. This should definitely be a recommended resource book, and it helps to listen rather than read. However, this book is accompanied by a PDf file for those who prefer the good ol' letters.

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Excellent Resource

This audiobook provides an excellent challenge for intermediate French learners who want to continue to develop and hone their listening skills. Audible provides features within the app to help provide the best opportunities to learn. You can easily modify the speed of the text as well as turning on a user friendly mode that allows you to rewind, skip, pause/play as well as record certain excerpts to return to. Overall, I'm very pleased with my experience and look forward to using other resources through this publisher.

Improves French easily.

This book is a good recommendation for those who have recently mastered the basics of the French language and want to express themselves with it. For most intermediate learners, the limitation is mostly in the amount of vocabulary covered, along with pronunciation. This book offers a solution to each of these, through the well-structured content presented in form of french stories and a clear and well paced narration from a native speaker.

This review reflects my own opinion on this book. However, this copy of the book was given freely to me as a review copy.