Both publications have broadly the same varied content: current affairs, tourism, French culture, French grammar, word games, etc. They differ, however, in two main ways. Firstly, there is a difference in the level of French, with Rendez-vous being the easier of the two publications. It is lower intermediate in level which, for most adults, means around two years of part-time study of French. It is also smaller in format than La Vie Outre-Manche magazine.
La Vie Outre-Manche is upper-intermediate to advanced in level, is larger in size and has articles that are generally longer than Rendez-vous, enabling topics to be covered more comprehensively. Both magazines have keyword translations (and sometimes parallel French-English texts) to ensure that your reading flows enjoyably.
The recordings (whether on cassette or CD) last about an hour and contain a selection of articles from the corresponding issues of the magazine, clearly recorded in a studio by professional, French nationals. In addition to the articles, there is Ecoutez et Parlez, a section comprising two or three exercises to help you improve your grasp of spoken French.
We are happy to transfer your subscription from one magazine to the other at any time. We may make a small charge for this, particularly if you are moving up to the more advanced publication.
We use SagePay, a reliable provider of credit card services and it is to them that your financial information goes. It is transmitted to SagePay in encrypted form for added security and it is through this company that we receive payment. At no time do we receive your credit card information; we only receive the information we need to process your order plus any other non-financial information you have provided.
We take credit card details over the telephone as a matter routine and have never had any problems due to fraudsters. We take great care of the financial information we hold and it is destroyed in a safe way when it is no longer required. We receive a small proportion of orders by fax and these are dealt with in the same way as telephone orders.
No. Our mailing lists are used only for the routine fulfilment of custmers' orders and our own marketing purposes. Regarding the latter, we aim to make this as unintrusive as possible, restricting it to only renewal reminders, occasional invitations to former subscribers to resubscribe and announcements of new products.
We normally send out orders the day we receive them. Thus, if you order a magazine subscription, you will usually receive the current issue as your first copy. Books and other items are also normally sent out the same day.
Meeting the needs of our customers is our over-riding priority which is why we our products are covered by our guarantee (details of guarantee).