Learn French with Paul Noble – Part 1

Publisher's Summary

Learn French with Paul Noble combines an exciting, new non-traditional approach to language learning with the easy, relaxed appeal of an audio-only product.
 

No books. No rote memorisation. No chance of failure.    

©2010 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

GOOD BUT POWER FRENCH IS WAY BETTER

Any additional comments?

I sincerely like Paul Noble. He is a good traditional French teacher and I learned something from his program “Learn French the Natural Way”. However, it is dry. Very dry and somewhat boring. I really prefer Mark Frobose’s “Power French Accelerated” series because he is so upbeat and I learned so much more and far more quickly with Mark and his native French speaker.

44 of 56 people found this review helpful

Cut off words

First I’ll say I love the way he teaches French. But when the recording was done or when it was produced many of the words or cut off as if there is a bad connection. It would be like trying to read a printed book that someone had taken a meat cleaver and chopped off 1/16 of the page on one side. You can still muddle through it. But when some of the French words are cut short it makes it very difficult to make since of it. Fortunately the words are repeated so I’m able to get through it. I just can’t believe it was released in this state. If it’s just my cope I sure would like a replacement

19 of 24 people found this review helpful

A very effective way for learning a language.

Being a language teacher myself, I initially had some doubts with regards to Paul's way of teaching a language. But after listening to it and becoming able to speak chunks of French sentences, I can confidently say that his courses are worth the money. I may actually adopt his approach in my classes.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

as terrible as his other titles. refund!

by far the worst language program I have ever witnessed other than the other programs by the same author

39 of 52 people found this review helpful

Not Worth The Money

The narrator rambles, his female french speaker speaks much too quickly, there are pauses where there shouldn't be (almost seemed like they were filling space, which doesn't make sense? The thinking portions could have used those pauses, since they were too short). I never made it past chapter two because his lessons moved too quickly. I would recommend finding an alternative learning source and not use this series.

41 of 55 people found this review helpful

No regionality Mentioned

What would have made Collins French with Paul Noble - Learn French the Natural Way, Part 1 better?

DIY Language packs are usually a great idea. French, however, is problematic. There are 2 main vocabularies for French, Canadian and UK. Book is not identified as either, and my French Wife looks at me stupid when I try this guys works. I'm sure it's just a dialect issue, but would it kill the market to help someone learn Canadian French?!

Would you ever listen to anything by Paul Noble again?

Maybe...

Have you listened to any of Paul Noble’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Collins French with Paul Noble - Learn French the Natural Way, Part 1?

n/a

Any additional comments?

Please specify nationality for international languages. Dialect is of huge importance when learning a language. Now I gotta scrub everything I learned because it does not match my Nations use of the language

38 of 51 people found this review helpful

poor performance

the content was good, but the French pronunciation was too fast... i had trouble to follow her and unbeatable pronunciations

28 of 38 people found this review helpful

good for something you listen over daily commute

I have had French lessons before and I find this more useful when you have a least some encounter with the language before. I also listened the one in the same series for Italian, which I had no previous knowledge of whatsoever. I often find it a bit more struggling with that. but granted, i am more of a visual learner.

22 of 30 people found this review helpful

Naah

Words cut off, boring, and slow moving. Not the method I would use to learn french.

19 of 26 people found this review helpful

Prefer Power French Accelerated

Any additional comments?

Paul Noble’s programs have a nice memory technique that he talks about ad nauseum in his introductions. Learn French the Natural Way did teach me some useful French, but at a cost.
The cost was not monetary because this program is dirt cheap and therefore probably worth the money. The price you pay is in time and frustration with a painfully slow and tedious British English instructor with a thick accent.
Still, I did learn, and I did not pay much money for the program, so I will reluctantly give it 4 Stars.
However, I really prefer the approach Mark Frobose has with his Power French series because he is American and is quite enthusiastic and I am thus encouraged to practice and learn. His programs are slightly more expensive though, but are well worth the extra money in my opinion.

8 of 11 people found this review helpful

Excellent for beginners or intermediate speakers

I trained as a teacher and I can see in Paul Noble's approach to teaching French lots of the latest thinking on how people learn best. He draws on the knowledge you already have, eg words in French and English that are the same or similar. He minimises learning by rote, instead he makes links between words, ideas and concepts so you understand why something is the way it is rather than just parroting it back. Because he helps you to understand the underlying grammar you are empowered to start to build your own sentences using the rules and logic you have learned. He frequently revisits what you have already learned to fix it in your memory. This is a very powerful way to learn. I am now onto the third download and have learned how to use the present, past and future tenses to talk about basic things like booking a room, ordering food and reserving a table, saying what I think, visiting the doctor, getting directions, buying tickets shopping etc. Also little constructions to make the conversation flow more smoothly, such has how to use 'it', and 'there', eg 'I have bought it'' and 'I want to go there'. It is not a miracle worker and I will still have to practice a lot to become confident and sort out my 'you musts' from my 'you cans' but I am well on my way and feeling very motivated by this approach. Paul also speaks very clearly and is not annoying at all. All of the French is repeated by a native French speaker so you can be confident you are getting the correct pronunciation. I took French at school until the age of 17 but I can confidently say that I have learned more through this CD than all my time at school. My criticisms would be that there are no tracks on the downloads, only chapters, which can be half an hour long. Therefore if you want to go over something again you have to rewind rather than just skip back. Also the pdf is designed to be printed on A5 and I have A4 paper so it is quite wasteful on the paper front.

35 of 37 people found this review helpful

An excellent way to learn - tried and tested!

I have never been very good at languages, but downloaded all four parts of this course in preparation for a recent family holiday to France. The method Paul uses works well, and I found I was able to make rapid progress after just a few days listening to the course on my way to and from work.

When on holiday I found I had the confidence to do the usual holiday things like ask for directions, reserve tables, order in restaurants and buy tickets for tourist attractions. I even surprised my family by stopping a passer-by in the street on the first day and checking whether or not I had to pay for parking in the town square!

It's a testament to this course that since returning from France, I have continued to listen to the final "review" lesson (part 4) to keep up the knowledge I've gained. Thoroughly recommended.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Collins French with Paul Noble, thank goodness!

This Paul Noble French course is just what I have been needing for the past ten years or so. Learning French with it has been quite simply a joy.

I first heard about Paul Noble languages earlier this year, when I read a review of The Paul Noble Language Institute in the newspaper. The review was extremely favourable and mentioned that it was now possible to get these courses on CDs and so I thought 'yes!'

I have now worked through the course twice and feel that it has been an incredible experience, both an incredible learning experience but also an incredible experience on any level. I have made so much progress, simply enormous progress, in a few weeks of part-time study.

I am going to keep up with the French for another year, just by itself. But I am tempted after that to perhaps try the Paul Noble German when it comes out. I have always loved Heidelberg and thought about learning the language before but I never really believed it would be possible. After doing this French course however, I am given to believe that anything might be possible...

18 of 19 people found this review helpful

My French is better thanks!

I found French a challenge at school. I found this programme by Paul Noble a good way to refresh and improve my French. I find the listening can be a bit dry but that is me not the programme. Some great devices and ways of thinking about language plus the ability to stop and replay helps with getting the phrasing and the language right. More practise to do but I am enjoying the style of teaching.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Speak French as you Go About Life

If you want to brush up your French this is a great way to do it. I did A level French a long, long time ago and had loved the language but had forgotten even basic verbs. I feel as if these audio books have connected me with so much that I had lost. I bought all three books in series and then the course review. I will return to them again. I would love it if my son,who is doing GCSE French, would listen to them too as I think they would be excellent for him. The chances of him acting on my advice are slim but these audio books really impressed me.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Good BUT

Any additional comments?

I feel like I have learnt a lot from listening to these audiobooks BUT there are some things which have made it frustrating and detracted from the experience which would be really easily remedied. I am writing this review in the hope that the publisher will take note!

1. There are occasions when the gap between Paul asking a question and the answer being given is non existent - seriously frustrating when you want to think it through and try to answer for yourself but don't even have time to reach for the pause button before she has blurted out the answer. REALLY ANNOYING!

2. I really resent the few occasions when Paul asks a trick question so I formulate an incorrect answer as I feel like I am reinforcing bad information by formulating that answer. I would prefer an explanation of the exception and then to be asked a question.

3. Most importantly, what I would give for a workbook or a transcript, or anything?!!? To me to learn a language you might as well also learn how to read it, write it etc or at least have a vague understanding of what it looks like e.g. the different verb endings, if you have just listened to the recordings you will be virtually unaware of all of the different verb forms. It will only help not hinder you. I gather if you buy the CDs you get a book of some description but no one seems to have thought through selling the book separately so that those of us living in digital 2014 can also participate.

3. There are a few moments when things are not explained. Someone who is not intimately familiar with either french or with the recordings needs to listen as a lay person and point out the loose ends.

To any would be french speakers I do recommend this but would suggest you don't give yourself any grand ideas about listening in the car, whilst washing up etc and becoming a fabulous bilingual multitasking have it all kind of human. I tried that but found it totally ineffective. I have made about a thousand times more progress by actually sitting down and giving it 100% of my attention with a notepad, pen and most importantly google (to sort of bodge compensation for the lack of supporting text).

12 of 14 people found this review helpful

Loved it

Amazing how simple this is, I'll definitely listen again before my next trip to France!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Fantastic audiobook - learn fast!!

Brilliantly put together. I have learnt more French in 3 chapters than school, college, university and holidays put together. I'd recommend to anyone wanting to learn French!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great for learning basic sentence structure

loved this, basic and easy and allows you to go at your own pace. I have used this audio book for both french and Italian and both are very helpful. There is no booklet which he mentions but it really doesn't matter too much. This is for understanding sentence structure only, if you are after specific objects then this isn't for you. There are numbers up to 20 and that's it. Still I give it 5 stars for the price.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

fab accompaniment for Duolingo

downloaded this to accompany my learning of French using the Duolingo software. it's very good

2 of 2 people found this review helpful