My French Coach starts off a little intimidating, at least in my opinion. Since French pronunciation is where I suffer, seeing all these phrases (except for the comforting "Je m'appelle," which all fledgling speakers should know) without an audio track was a little alarming. When you start to punch in the letters of your name, however, the game recites the letters back in French. Nice touch! But then the text continued, without a further audio track, and the worry began to creep in again. Surely My French Coach couldn't be all soundless text, could it?
Before I had much time to worry, the game threw me into a placement test to determine the level at which I should start. Here I think I did well; I have a good head for vocabulary, and as long as I only have to read it, everything is as slick, as they say, as snot on glass (though less disgusting). I came out of it at level eight, which meant I got to skip the first seven lessons and begin with #8.
With all the preliminaries out of the way, I was ready to begin my lessons. My French Coach started me off with dates and times, which was good, because that's something I never really got down. Here, the audio started to kick in, with helpful lists with translations. But I discovered another feature as well, and one that immediately impressed me. Not only does My French Coach provide helpful spoken translations, but you can change the speed at which they are given (for anyone who's ever used tapes or CDs when learning a language, this is a boon). The best part? You can also record your own efforts -- and then sync them up with the game to test your accuracy. That is a really nice feature, especially since we all have those words with which we struggle. I can just never seem to get heure (hour) quite right.
Of course, with the simple word lists out of the way, it was time for the mini-games. In my first day of training, I opened up four: Multiple Choice, Hit-a-Word, Word Search, and Flash Cards. The last I unlocked as I finished my session, so I'll have to check it out tomorrow. The others are pretty straightforward: in Multiple Choice, you're given a meaning, and you must select the appropriate French word from a group of four. Word Search is the traditional word-finding game; here it's nice, because it helps to focus your spelling. Hit-a-Word is the odd game out -- it's whack-a-mole, but with gophers and French words. Hilarious and helpful.
By the end of my day's training, I not only finished my lesson, but mastered the ten main vocabulary words within. C'est bon!
See also: The My French Coach series in its entirety
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-12-2007 @ 10:51AM
TheCoats said...
Good review......Ive been wondering about picking one of these up and french seems like the one.....im going to france again next summer....i love it there.....im glad to read an intellegent review of something the gaming world is a little leery to approach....and thats why DSFanboy pulls through again!!
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11-12-2007 @ 10:57AM
German S. said...
i can't wait for my spanish coach and my word coach.
i guess i'll hve to pick this on up too! zut alors!
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11-12-2007 @ 11:54AM
HawthorneKitty said...
Wow, I might have to pick one up. I'm not doing so hot in French class right now...
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11-12-2007 @ 12:24PM
russtophiles said...
What I'm wondering is how in depth into the language the game goes? Like, does it only teach the conversational basics and would require a second or third game to cover the language reasonably thoroughly? I'm assuming it does since I can't imagine a DS cart having enough space for the entire French dictionary in audio form...but having a mountain of boring language textbooks put into an interesting interactive application on a tiny DS cartridge would be pretty amazing.
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11-12-2007 @ 1:30PM
Jimiisama said...
So how long until we have porn of her?
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11-12-2007 @ 2:04PM
Alisha Karabinus said...
Hopefully I'll get a hint on the depth as I go along!
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11-12-2007 @ 2:14PM
Goldilocks said...
Cool! Nice introduction to the game. I was really curious about this one. Not too long ago I started into some history that didn't require any French-speaking knowledge, but it got me wanting to learn it! I know I will likely start with level 1, but now I'm sure to get this game due to your review.
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11-12-2007 @ 2:46PM
troy said...
I took four years of French in High School and I think this would be a great way to brush up. Similarly, my GF took four years of Spanish, so I really think both of these games belong in our library. That ability to record and overlay your own pronunciation to test yourself is brilliant. And if you get super advanced, you can import the french version of 'My Vocabulary Coach,' 'Mon Coach Personelle' and continue learning the hard stuff!
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11-12-2007 @ 2:47PM
Alisha Karabinus said...
Oh, troy, that's a great idea!
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11-12-2007 @ 4:24PM
ELIJAH the ChaosDragon said...
Is this out yet? I speak a decent amount of both languages and would love to continue my quest on being trilingual. Does any one know where i can purchase it and when?
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11-12-2007 @ 4:37PM
Brandon said...
I plan on getting both my spanish and my french
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11-12-2007 @ 5:34PM
Neutral said...
I've been thinking about picking this up, finally the US gets a language game! I'm already pretty good at French though, so I'll probably get the Spanish one. Personally I find it way easier to pronounce French than Spanish. That's probably because I can't roll my "R"s.
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11-12-2007 @ 5:53PM
JC Fletcher said...
Really? The French uvular R is a total sticking point for me.
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11-12-2007 @ 6:01PM
danny. (fdf.) said...
I bought a Learn French in Your Car cd set that was around 8 discs long. There was a huge difficulty between discs five and six that discouraged me. Once a review of this is up showing how deep it gets into the language I'll pick it up.
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11-12-2007 @ 6:01PM
danny. (fdf.) said...
difficulty jump that is...
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11-13-2007 @ 11:41PM
Comment est-ce que je m'appelle? said...
i'm currently studying french at school and have one year left before my final french exams. i'm wondering if this game can help me. i'm fairly advanced in french, and this game is beginners level, but i'm wondering if it goes to advanced levels as well.
i think such a game could really help me get some grammar things right, but i'm not sure if the game works like that (in levels of advancement i mean), which is why i desperately want a full review!
i was considering writing that in french to go with the theme, but then i figured no one would understand and thus be unable to answer my question =P
laissez les bons temps rouler!
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11-14-2007 @ 12:57AM
Alisha Karabinus said...
Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll be far enough along to judge how deep this one goes.
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1-24-2008 @ 5:37PM
unchikun said...
the game says Tu is formal form of You. I'm rusty on my french but i'm willing to bet Tu is the informal you and Vous is the formal form of You. Can anyone verify. I can't see how they messed up on that.
Probably not ideal to be using the informal form of you when you visit france oh well.
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