Language Software Review - Rocket French

The Rocket French free course is a six day course that introduces French to beginners. If you like this course, you can sign up for the longer and more in depth paid-version. which includes nearly 30 more audio tracks, a complete 45-lesson grammar course, and their crowd-pleasing line of "MegaFrench" learning games.

The course follows the Direct Immersion method where you start using the language you are learning from the onset. This is exactly the way we learned our native language, and is really the most efficient way to learn any language.

The six day Rocket French course has three audio lessons and three text lessons. You can listen to the audio, read the French text and the English translation and repeat aloud after the French audio to get your pronunciation right. Setting aside 15-30 minutes a day for learning French should be enough.

The first lesson is a brief one, introducing learners to spoken French. You will learn how to greet someone and inquire how they are in French. There is an introductory 15 minutes audio clip accompanying the basic French conversation. This first lesson also contains a sample of a more advanced lesson, which you will get in the paid version.

The second lesson contains a clear, well-presented introduction to basic French grammar. You learn about definite articles like "le", "la", "'l" and "les", and about indefinite articles like "un", "une" and "des". The lesson explains when to use the definite and indefinite articles and how the two work together. To get the right article in the French language, you need to take into account whether words are feminine, masculine, singular, plural or beginning with a vowel. There is a list of French vocabulary with the correct articles and audio clips so learners can know what these new words sound like.

There is an explanation about French pronunciation. This can be rather tricky as French words are linked or connected together by sound and vowel sounds are sometimes dropped entirely. Only regular practice will develop your tongue and your ear for spoken French.

The third lesson looks at how you would go about introducing yourself in French, ask someone their name, tell them your name, where you came from and about your grasp of the French language. There is an accompanying 25 minute audio track that reviews the Introductory audio lesson and proceeds to give a well-repeated, word-by-word explanation and pronunciation of the current lesson.

In the fourth lesson, we take a look at formal and informal French conversations. French people are usually quite formal when addressing elders, superiors, strangers and in day-to-day business affairs. You use the formal "Vous" in all these cases. Men are invariably addressed in the formal manner as "Monsieur" and women as "Madame" or "Mademoiselle". Young men and women may be addressed as "jeune homme" and "jeune fille". Informal French like "Tu" is reserved for younger family members and friends.

The fifth lesson looks at how to ask for what you want, what you need and exactly how you would like it. There is an excellent 25 minute audio track that reviews past lessons, he current lesson and includes a well-repeated word by word explanation. The narrator tells you how to say you can or can't speak French or English, how to change a word structure in a sentence to make a statement or ask a question, how "est-ce que vous" (Can you?) is a common way of beginning a question, how changing the voice tone can change a statement to a question and vice versa, how to say you don't know something, how to use "ne....pas" to say you can't do something or something isn't the case, and how to make up sentences based on what you have learned.

In the 6th lesson, you go over the conversation done in the 5th lesson in further detail. Then there is the vocabulary and pronunciation of "Menu du Jour" or "Menu of the Day" and a list of further culinary expressions. Very interesting and useful. You will at least never starve when you get to France to practice your French. Just so you will also never be short of anything to drink, the lesson also contains an explanation of wine-tasting and a list of useful terms. There are, of course, accompanying audio clips to help with the pronunciation.

On the whole this was a nice learning experience. The audio lessons are real helpful, very carefully explained and repeated until you want to shout, "Alright, alright, I got it!" Might be a good idea to sign up for the paid version so I can say that in French.