maestromap Newbie United States Joined 6095 days ago 38 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 1 of 77 12 July 2008 at 10:30pm | IP Logged |
Which would help me reach fluency faster more FSI and FSI like courses, i.e. Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, or more emersion, i.e. reading & listening?
Michael
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Paul999 Newbie Czech Republic Joined 6082 days ago 12 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English
| Message 2 of 77 13 July 2008 at 2:06am | IP Logged |
(Concerning fluency)
I am fan of "listening only approach" and it takes me to the stage when I am virtually fluent in English, but most importantly my listening comprehension is very good (one of the major problem that learners have)and I enjoy listening (It's extremely simple to do nothing and just listen ,isn't it ?)I like it, because I am able to understand well over 95 % of the information and my pronunciation is good (if I do say so myself)
I admit it. My weakness is vocabulary, I do not use "fancy" words and such:)
so, in my view, listening is better - if you can understand what is going on.
Of course, reading is also very important and I am certainly going to read more in English , but LATER...
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Emerald Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom languagedabbler.blog Joined 6273 days ago 316 posts - 340 votes Speaks: Hindi, Gujarati*, English Studies: Spanish
| Message 3 of 77 13 July 2008 at 4:42am | IP Logged |
I think it depends on your learning style.
As Paul999 mentioned, his listening skills are excellent. Mine on the other hand are not. If I am just listening to something, I always find somewhere for my eyes to wander, and something for my hands to do. I just cannot sit still and listen (at least not easily), so I prefer FSI, Pimsleur, MT type courses.
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Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6039 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh
| Message 4 of 77 13 July 2008 at 9:30am | IP Logged |
You cannot acheive fluency by doing courses. You cannot acheive fluency by listening. You can only acheive fluency by engaging in conversation frequently.
If you can't find any Spanish speakers near you to speak to, use somewhere like polyglot-learn-language.com to set up a language exchange over Skype.
I wouldn't recommend either Pimsleur or FSI, but if you would describe yourself still as a beginner, I would very strongly recommend Michel Thomas (which is very clearly *not* FSI-like!) as a good way to prepare yourself for normal, general conversation rather than the highly specialised "exchanges" used in most language courses.
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maestromap Newbie United States Joined 6095 days ago 38 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 5 of 77 13 July 2008 at 9:42am | IP Logged |
Thanks for the responses.
Out of curiosity what is Skype exactly and what does it do to your computer?
Michael
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LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6719 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes 4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written)
| Message 6 of 77 13 July 2008 at 10:24am | IP Logged |
Cainntear wrote:
You cannot acheive fluency by doing courses. You cannot acheive fluency by listening. You can
only acheive fluency by engaging in conversation frequently.
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Actually, I think most people on this website achieved fluency by using several speaking courses and listening.
maestromap wrote:
Thanks for the responses.
Out of curiosity what is Skype exactly and what does it do to your computer?
Michael |
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A language exchange program that allows you to text, call, and talk with other users.
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Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6467 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 7 of 77 13 July 2008 at 10:27am | IP Logged |
LilleOSC wrote:
Cainntear wrote:
You cannot acheive fluency by doing courses. You cannot acheive fluency by listening. You can
only acheive fluency by engaging in conversation frequently.
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Actually, I think most people on this website achieved fluency by using several speaking courses and listening.
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Really? I was of the impression that very few people achieved fluency without the aid of conversation. I've heard of some, but not many. What are you basing your statement on?
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