It depends on which ones you buy and how you learn. 

The Foundation Course (10 cd's) is probably the most irritating thing I've ever listened to.  It's a couple in Michel Thomas's "french class" who are allegedly learning for the first time.  She's as thick as too short planks and he's a smart arse - both extremely annoying.

Plus there is no transcript of the cds so if you learn "visually" like I do - then its hard going.  If you learn phonetically then you may love it.

The Foundation Review cds and the Language Builder cds were more useful for me as there is a transcript of the cd.

The main critisism (apart from the annoying couple) is that he doesn't teach any grammar - just phrases - which if you're a language purist (like wot I is...) can be frustrating.  In addition, he only teaches you "vous" - never "tu" which can also be limiting for everyday conversation.

In addition, and this is me being nit-picky - he has a very strong German accent and as he's over 80 (well, dead now.....) it sounds like he's spitting through his false teeth - which REALLY put me off after a while.

Probably a longer review that you wanted, but I hope it helps! 

Hi Michelle,

I've been listening to a couple of his lessons, and i have to say i've found it pretty amazing! I have french lessons as well, but his work is much easier to learn and take on.

If you have an iphone, you can download a sample for free and see what you think!

Indy

I've used the Michel Thomas method for both advanced French and beginner Spanish.

My experience is that as a stand-alone method it doesn't work. After doing the Spanish course I tried to talk with a friend from Barcelona, but he had no idea what I was saying, and I couldn't understand him either (he said it had nothing to do with him being Catalan). The thing is - the method uses the minimum amount of vocabulary for you to get through the grammar. So without any additional vocabulary training there is very little you can say and almost nothing you can understand. And since noone corrects your pronunciation you're not learning much.

But it works well in addition to other methods. I already knew French and used the Advanced method to refresh my knowledge. They also have a version with phrases (vocabulary) that was very useful. 

I listened to the whole foundation.  It is good as you remember certain phrases but I find it hard not learning visually.  Also as the person above says he sounds like he is spitting which made me feel sick!  The lady is also annoying!

It is good as it makes you break down the language and learn a sentence bit by bit rather than jumping in and panicking which is what I do!