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Platiquemos versus Barrons FSI | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7107 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes  2 sounds | Message 33 of 51 28 December 2005 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just go with Platiquemos. It is after all an updated version of the old FSI Basic course. The Barron's version also has a horrible typesetting on at least their older version of the course. This comparison is likely a little biased, but it does bring out some interesting points here.
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| Bill Newbie United States Joined 6943 days ago 14 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* | Message 34 of 51 03 January 2006 at 3:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Platiquemos version of the FSI Basic Course is the standard by which all other self-study lanquage courses should be judged.
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| rm Newbie United States Joined 7013 days ago 31 posts - 31 votes | Message 35 of 51 05 January 2006 at 8:01am | IP Logged | ||
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I say the original FSI is more ideal. The Platiquemos speakers are just too slow, in my opinion. As you grow in learning Spanish, the ultimate goal is to understand and speak like a native. The original FSI course is the only one that I know of where the speakers speak Spanish at full native speed. It truly helped me, so I recommend it. Besides, the Barron's FSI is more inexpensive and readily available at any major book seller.
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| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7106 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 36 of 51 05 January 2006 at 8:24am | IP Logged | ||
Barron's only offers half of the FSI course where Platiquemos is an updated version of the lot. In addition, I disagree entirely with the suggestion that rapid-fire native speech at the start is an aid to good speech training. It's fine for comprehension purposes but for Oral Production it simply leads to pronunication errors as beginners attempt to keep up with what they are hearing at all costs. The most annoying thing about the old recordings is in fact the idiots providing the English prompts at ridiculous non-native speeds, seemingly to no other purpose than to keep up with their Spanish counterparts. The Platiquemos author has on more than one occasion stated his belief that parts of the original course are spoken in unnaturally fast Spanish Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7107 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 37 of 51 05 January 2006 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think for those that feel they want to hear faster speech than Platiquemos, they might get the original FSI courses and use those for a "second wave" or for reviewing.
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| rm Newbie United States Joined 7013 days ago 31 posts - 31 votes | Message 38 of 51 05 January 2006 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Fabulous suggestion, Sir Nigel. I do agree that for the beginner, perhaps Platiquemos is better since it is at a lower speed, but it never increases. By the time you get to the last few lessons, you are still listening to the same slow rate of speech, which is not beneficial in learning listening comprehension.
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| Bill Newbie United States Joined 6943 days ago 14 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* | Message 39 of 51 05 January 2006 at 4:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't listened to the FSI recordings so I can't comment on their speed.
The Platiquemos recordings don't seem particulary slow when I compare them to television news programs, radio shows, Tele-novelas, etc. I think the pacing is deliberate in order to facilitate learning. Bear in mind, the purpose of a course like Platiquemos is not just to develop listening comprehension. The primary goal is to drill and reinforce accurate oral production. I've noticed that I can speak much faster now than just a few months ago and that's as a result of practice and over-learning. Also, when I have difficulty understanding an Hispanic it isn't always my problem. Sometimes it is because they are not articulate, use excessive slang or just speak lousy. The people you have recorded the Platiquemos drills, I think, are very articulate and careful to provide a good model to imitate. The dialogues and exercises are also constructed of grammatically correct full sentences, which may be unrealistic, but it does provide an admirable model to emulate. I'm coming to the end of the seventh level in Platiquemos and find the velocity of the dialogue to be pretty brisk. The grammatical structures are getting tricky, lots of idiomatic expressions are being introduced and, in general, the course is just getting harder. I've also noticed that the phrase lengths that are being drilled has increased markedly. I am expected to comprehend, to process, and to produce bigger chunks of Spanish. I expect that is all a consequence of the design of the FSI course. As regards the price of these courses, I think I spent about $150 USD for Platiquemos levels 3-8 via download. By the time I finish level 8 and do a review, I estimate that I will have spent 600-800 hours, at least, actively engaged in the course. Given that time investment, my upfront investment in course materials seems almost negligible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SmoothSailing Newbie United States Joined 6955 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* | Message 40 of 51 05 January 2006 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Will the last two levels from the orignal FSI Course give you better listening comprehension than levels 5-8 of Platiquemos? If so, would it justify spending hundreds more? I really need to know if it would be worth spending that extra money.
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