| It used to be that you had two choices for | | | | whatever takes your fancy - and you didn't pay |
| learning French - go to a night course or buy very | | | | any extra for it, it's all part of the system. |
| expensive (and quite boring) sets of tapes to | | | | I am generalizing to an extent, of course. Not all |
| Learn French at home. Times change though, and | | | | interactive French courses are the same, just like |
| now with the advent of the internet and the | | | | not all French CDs or French books are the same. |
| home pc you have a huge number of choices for | | | | In general, however, they offer a level of |
| French home study courses. | | | | 'playability' that is more involving and more |
| Now don't get me wrong - I've got nothing | | | | entertaining and thus educates more quickly and |
| against French text books. There are some very | | | | with more retention than a book ever could. I |
| good ones about that use modern teaching | | | | love to sit down and read a good story with a |
| methods and patterns of learning that your brain | | | | book in my hands, but if I need to learn |
| naturally adopts. They're much better than when I | | | | something like the French language, give me my |
| was a kid and I've bought quite a few. | | | | PC and a software program any day. |
| But they can't compete with modern CDs and the | | | | If there's a downside at all, it's price. Now it's not |
| interactive programs that are available. A book | | | | possible for me to check every program to learn |
| can't really talk to you. You can't hear a French | | | | French at home but the ones I've found that do |
| accent from a book. A French book can pose | | | | what I want them to - which is teaching French |
| some questions, but it can't actually react to your | | | | to a reasonable degree of competence and |
| answers, correct you and then give you the | | | | confidence - are considerably more expensive |
| opportunity to revise your newly learned French | | | | than a $20 book. Having said that, they're not |
| phrase or move on to a new one. | | | | what I'd call expensive either, considering what |
| The interactive French teaching software available | | | | you can get from them. Rocket French for |
| today can do exactly that. In fact it can do more. | | | | example has MP3 files and interactive lessons for |
| Some of them supply French MP3 files that can | | | | grammar, words, French verbs (quite a |
| not only be played on your PC but can also be | | | | complicated area if you're an English speaker by |
| transferred to your MP3 player or a CD so you | | | | birth). It also has hundreds, if not thousands, of |
| have portable French language lessons as well. | | | | text files for further reference and the whole lot |
| Obviously you don't get the full benefit of | | | | comes in at around $100. If I was looking to learn |
| interactivity your computer will give you, but you | | | | French at home, that's exactly the sort of thing |
| can listen in the car, on the train, jogging, | | | | I'd be investing in. |