Frantastique

First off, if you find the idea of paying hundreds of dollars for a French program, I recommend accessing the program via a web browser. There are more options through the web browser. And one option is to pay monthly over a certain amount of time. I signed up for the 2 year basic program, and the cost is $27 per month for 2 years. It makes the cost a little easier to swallow. And if you contact them, to ask if they have any promotions, they might offer you a promotion too. They gave me 30% off, so I’m really only paying $19 per month. But I strongly recommend trying the program for one of their month long trials before committing. Make sure you like it! Okay. So why I love this program. The stories are engaging and entertaining. I want to know what sort of adventures Victor Hugo and the aliens will go on next! The vocabulary is practical. You’re learning French the way that it’s really spoken. And this program also lets you hear different French accents. I love how the program will review the things that I need to review. I do wish that they would allow the user to do more lessons if they wanted to. And I do wish that there was pronunciation practice. But I’m sure that would require voice recognition technology, and that might be hard for a program to integrate. I make up for this by speaking with native French speakers. They can help me with my pronunciation. And they are probably more helpful than a computer program. Btw, I find French speakers with an app called tandem, or in language exchange groups on FB. I help them with English, and they help me with French.

I was on the fence about signing up for the 6 month subscription, the financial aspect another reviewer mentioned really made me consider whether the app was worth it. After about a month of use, I am nothing but thrilled with with Frantastique. I have tried just about every app out there and haven’t really thrived with getting my rusty French back up to fluency after years of neglect. While every other app is soooo linear, Frantastique tested me on concepts from simple to advanced to help fill gaps in my knowledge. No lesson is ever the same, the verbs and vocabulary are real (not the same generic list), and I love the ‘spicy mode’. Learning to say vomit three different ways was priceless:) Having an email sent to me everyday ensures I don’t forget my lesson, and the lessons are so entertaining I always look forward to logging in to start. I highly recommend this program, it’s the best French app I have come across!

The app looks promising and obviously a lot of thoughts are put into developing it. Unfortunately I can’t afford to have $350 taken out of my bank account every year for an app 😣 While I understand it takes a lot of effort to maintain an app like this, there are alternatives (or a combination of apps that would be much more cost-effective). At least if it’s a reasonable one-time payment then I would reconsider. Some people even hesitate on Netflix’ subscriptions which cost about $10-$15/month and people LOVE binging their films. Personally for $350 I’d buy exercise books on which I can physically practice my writing or take local classes to work on my speaking skills. I’m not complaining just for the sake of it or throwing a tantrum about the app not being “free” (some folks seriously do that 😂). I just want to offer an explanation on why some people including myself didn’t choose to subscribe after the 7-day trial. I’m sure there are folks can afford to. I know it might be a little disheartening to hear this as an developer but it’s nothing personal, just one take on the customers’ side. Please don’t take it to heart. Best of luck with your endeavors ☺️