A few weeks ago, I called 2 restaurants to make dinner reservations and was able to complete the conversation entirely in French. I am somewhat confident in my speaking ability. I am leaving for France tomorrow (yay!) and am fairly confident in my reading ability. Together with the RS live sessions, it was a great combination. I also enrolled in a French 101 class last Fall, which was a much easier way for me to learn the grammar rules, but the class did not include much conversation.

But overall, I am still very pleased with RS because there is no substitute for interactive speaking. There are some technical and other issues with the Totale sessions and RS customer support leaves a lot to be desired. The downside is that learners in higher levels often repeat lower-level sessions, and it can be disheartening to participate as a Level 3 learner in a Level 3 session with a Level 5 learner who is obviously considerably more fluent. (The only time I could do sessions was weekends, which were usually full 3 weeks in advance.) You can repeat sessions as many times as you want, which is very helpful. It is difficult to schedule the studio sessions unless your schedule is flexible. (And if not, if you purchased directly from RS, there is a 6-month return policy.) However, RS does have its drawbacks. I think that you will be happy with your purchase. During the first sessions, you will be identifying objects in the on-screen pictures and perhaps saying short sentences by Level 2, you are actually having conversations. I started RS without Totale and thought it was okay after I upgraded to Totale with the live studio sessions, RS's effectiveness improved exponentially.

Their new product, Totale, adds a new feature that is incredibly helpful - 50 minute online studio sessions in which 1 - 4 learners speak with a live coach (and each other). Over the past several months, I've completed three levels of RS French.

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