I'm fortunate enough to have spoken French since I was a child. But in recent years i've not really used it very much and needed a bit of a refresher. I also "learnt" Spanish with the Michel Thomas method a few years ago to compliment my a-level studies. I was impressed to say the least.

Allow me to set the scene; you're in a classroom with Michel, there's two other students. He starts by teaching you a phrase, I think the phrase in the French one is "C'est posible" meaning it is possible, or this is possible. Then one of the students repeats, then you repeat, and finally Michem says the phrase correctly for reference. In this way one builds up sentences really quickly, such that within an hour of the CD's you're saying things like "would you like to come for dinner with me tonight" and "do you have a reservation for me tonight".

This is all very useful. And the method is INCREDIBLE. I've never learnt so fast, and have since gone on to learn Italian and German using this method. There's no FORMAL grammar, or FORMAL vocabulary. But it just kind of builds up without you realising. Its surprising at how many sentences you can form from a combination of a few words.

The introduction is VERY forceful that you should not try to learn... and just play along. He even goes as far as to say "no trying to remember outside of this tape" which is a bit odd I always found, but works none the less.

I do however, have a few issues with the Michel Thomas method;

Firstly, his accent is a bit.... off. I've noticed this with the Spanish tape also. He sounds authentic, but he doesn't really have the same register that a native has. With the French tapes especially, there were times when he spoke worse than a year 9 trying to say "bonjour". Being honest this isnt a HUGE issue since you'll be understood regardless.

Secondly, and more importantly to me, the grammar is a bit off. In this 8-hour course. He uses the pronouns, I, he/she, we, they.... because in French he/she/they also doubles as you/you plural in formal settings. The problem with this is that he never alludes to this in the intro CD's. Only if you purchase the advanced course does he persue this. As a french speaker I found it difficult to listen to him teaching after I realised how he was doing it , since, in 90% of situations, nobody speaks in this formal way, it just sounds archaic and old. If you just want some basic French for holidays, then yeah, thats fine. But I do worry about the people trying to use Michel Thomas to study from, since this will leave severe gaps in their knowledge and imbed incorrect information which takes effort to unlearn

Thirdly, and on a veeeeery minor note. The two other class members on the french tape are just... terrible. They have really distracting english accents. I don;t know why Michel didn't go out of his way to find students with nice, neutral accents.

Overall, I do applaud Michel. I think its a great shame that he's no longer on this earth. His tapes im sure have led soooooo many people to give languge learning a try.