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State of FSI Spanish in 2014? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| haziz Bilingual Triglot Newbie United States Joined 3861 days ago 28 posts - 37 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian)*, English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 26 12 May 2014 at 1:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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What is the state of FSI Spanish in 2014? Is it worth paying for the repackaged course from one of the vendors or
is the freely downloadable material from this website as good as it gets? fsi-language-courses.com BTW the above website appears to be down at the moment. I hope not permanently. Other than a minor updating of the vocabulary and a repackaging onto CDs do the vendors offer any added value? More importantly is the audio from the commercial vendors any clearer than the MP3s downloadable from the above site? I do not mind the occasional snap, crackle and pop from an old record but the dynamic range of the downloadable FSI Basic Course is somewhat restricted and seems to lack both the high and low frequencies producing a somewhat muffled speech. I am probably more interested in the Basic Course rather than the Programmatic Course but have not explored both enough to truly judge. I also am in posession of the Programmatic course as repackaged as a bonus by "Learning Spanish Like Crazy" (LSLC). Any positives or negatives regarding their packaging. Am I correct in my impression that this is the Programmatic Course but not the Basic Course. Sorry for my confusion but I do find the multitude of repackaging of the original FSI material confusing, and would like a restatement of their current status as of now (2014 at the time of writing). Edited by haziz on 12 May 2014 at 2:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5374 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 2 of 26 12 May 2014 at 2:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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The free FSI Spanish Basic course is great. The audio is improved and plenty sufficient. I bought the Barron's text for the first two units for $0.50 each (plus shipping from Amazon), but the pdfs on the site are fine also and I used them for units 3 and 4. Some people like Platiquemos and say it is an improvement. I'd say there is no need to pay for anything other than possibly the Barron's books (if you really need a hard copy).
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| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5261 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 3 of 26 12 May 2014 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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One of the best investments a language learner can make, in my opinion, is to buy a cheap tablet. It doesn't have to be an expensive iPad or a Galaxy tablet to be useful. It just has to be able to handle pdf's and audio. In my opinion, a tablet is the best way to utilize the free FSI/DLI resources. I don't even use apps (except for pdf and audio) or web surf with mine. I got three and a half years out of my HP Touchpad (I bought it for $100- new) and it finally died. Now I'm using a Chinese "Cube" tablet. It allows me to make notes directly on the pdf's. Edited by iguanamon on 12 May 2014 at 4:11pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ilmari Tetraglot Newbie Australia Joined 5509 days ago 23 posts - 47 votes Speaks: French*, Modern Hebrew, English, Japanese Studies: Korean, Finnish, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Esperanto | Message 4 of 26 22 July 2015 at 6:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Dear fellow language learners,
I am currently writing a series of ebooks meant to supplement the FSI Spanish Basic Course by providing a convenient way to study or revise on the Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. These books offer a new layout with audio linked to the text, long drills split into sections, simple grammatical tables, narratives and dialogues, and more. Level 1 is now complete, and you can get all the 15 lessons on iBooks. Units 1-3 are available for free, the rest is offered at a symbolic price meant to encourage me to go on with the task. I am investing a lot of love, thought and time in this project. It is also a good way to brush up on my Spanish, one the first languages I have learned by myself when I was a teenager. If you have time, please have a look and let me know what you think. I have also set up a simple website with a few screenshots. You can send me personal feedback from there: dicendi.weebly.com Thanks! 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7102 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 5 of 26 22 July 2015 at 9:00am | IP Logged | ||
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Go here...
http://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/ I paid for Platiquemos a long time ago when Don Casteel was still alive - worth every penny to me. However, there's a lot of good stuff at that site - no need to spend out if you don't want to. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ilmari Tetraglot Newbie Australia Joined 5509 days ago 23 posts - 47 votes Speaks: French*, Modern Hebrew, English, Japanese Studies: Korean, Finnish, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Esperanto | Message 6 of 26 22 July 2015 at 9:35am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree. There is lot of good stuff on Yojik's site. What I tried to do is not to replace that good stuff, but to
supplement it. My ebooks allow to practice the dialogues and drills anywhere, on a computer or a portable device, and to do so in small chunks and while reading the text. I personally enjoy doing that, and I guess some other people may too. I clearly mention on the site and inside each book that FSI is public domain and available online. I deeply respect this original material and I am just trying to give it a new life. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7102 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 7 of 26 22 July 2015 at 6:38pm | IP Logged | ||
sorry... that post wasn't targeted at you but at the following: Is it worth paying for the repackaged course from one of the vendors... EDIT: meant wasn't but typed was Edited by Andy E on 22 July 2015 at 6:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7102 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 8 of 26 22 July 2015 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | ||
I have to say the screenshots look pretty good - sadly I don't own an iPad so can't use the iBooks version.... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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