by Adrian Seddon
(London)
I agree with the comment that Michel Thomas' French and Spanish accents leave a lot to be desired.
As for this requiring a "Severe Language Health Warning", I feel more than a little exaggeration has been employed here.
The methodology is perfectly sound for learning the basics of a language that are used right up to the highest levels. Indeed, I have not come across any other method that teaches the foundations or the building blocks of a language so quickly, and, as both a language teacher and a language learner, I have wide experience many courses.
There is a plethora of French and Spanish audio recordings on the Net at all levels (the BBC website being particularly useful) and it should not be difficult to listen to a native speaker and copy the correct pronunciation within one's own personal limits.
Once the learner has finished the course(s) he or she can then carry on at a more advanced level which will include reading and writing.
Having said this, Mr T would have been better off letting a native speaker talk the talk, as is the case with the Russian, Polish and Japanese courses and most of the others as far as I know.
As for the claims that no memorisation is required, I believe this is no more than good old fashioned advertising hyperbole, after all no one was really naive enough to believe that Heineken reached the parts that other beers did not, or were they?