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Courses with Language Unity? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5430 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes  Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 9 of 12 10 September 2010 at 5:07am | IP Logged |
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Yes, I was referring to the Cortina "Conversational _in 20 Lessons" or what the web page calls "master linguist" courses. If you can afford it, the course with the audio is better than the books alone. The books are like $10 but they come with the full course.You might want to start with the books to see if you like them and then go for the course. If you already have the book, they deduct the $10 from the price of the course. The course is old,it dates to the late 1940's and some of the vocabulary is outdated, but the material is very good and the grammar sections outstanding.
Also, for comparing languages, there is a bilingual book plus CD called,in English, "the Twisted Door". It has a Spanish and a French edition with the same story, so you can compare them, if you buy both books. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| divexo Groupie Australia Joined 5030 days ago 70 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 10 of 12 10 September 2010 at 7:14am | IP Logged |
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^I just did some research on that Cortina book and people suggest it is rather outdated and nobody speaks like
that, so it is not a very good method to use.. How would accurate is this? Am i best just sticking with Assimil and Berlitz? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5430 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 11 of 12 11 September 2010 at 1:32am | IP Logged |
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I think that, based on my experience and what I have read here, that Assimil is probably the best method to use of the 3 you mention. Cortina is outdated in some regards because it reflects a time gone by where things and people were perhaps more formal than we are today. The dialogs reflect a quaint time that are matched by the drawings in the book. Some would find it nostalgic, others a distraction. Some of the vocabulary is clearly from a bygone day, e.g. the words for typewriter, steam ship,and, some of the words are not used in modern English, eg. "draught"( which my spell check shows to be incorrect, but it is not-it shoes that some of the Cortina terms are noy part of today's vernacular.The same is true with some of the Berlitz books. For example, the Berlitz Self-Teacher was first published in 1949. Some people like it (I do) but others don't because they consider it outdated. Of course Berlitz has more current books and resources available. Again, I would suggest getting the Cortina book, from the library, if you can, or buy it for $10 and then decide. I think it is great value even if you only use it for the grammar explanations.
There are a lot of resources out there and some may suit you better than others, depending on your needs, interests, and learning style. I hope this helps. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| divexo Groupie Australia Joined 5030 days ago 70 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 12 of 12 11 September 2010 at 11:24am | IP Logged |
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Okay thanks. I think I will get both the Berlitz and Cortina books then as they are not very expensive, and use them
alongside Assimil. And then get these same ones for other languages when i learn, and hopefully doing them once before will help with the new language^^ 1 person has voted this message useful |
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