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Most comprehensive audio course | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| slowlanglearner Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3888 days ago 6 posts - 15 votes Speaks: German*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 20 22 April 2014 at 12:32am | IP Logged |
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I want to find follow-up courses, from intermediate to advanced, to start after getting some basic knowledge from Pimsleur I-II-II and sometimes IV. I think Pimsleur, at the end, has something like 600 or a few more words, which for me is a descent beginner.
It has to be completely as audio, or almost everything. Think about something that you can listen to when driving (that means, blank audio has to be there, no chance for pausing by hand to repeat anything). What I care most is to be as comprehensive as possible. My target is reaching a descent vocabulary, in the order of +3000. I cannot stand the Michel Thomas method, with its students talking as badly as me, but all others are OK, provided they reach an advanced level. Edited by slowlanglearner on 22 April 2014 at 12:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 2 of 20 22 April 2014 at 2:11am | IP Logged |
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Platiquemos would be a good option for Spanish. You would probably need to study the text a bit before doing the lessons, but many people use it as audio only. The FSI version is free, but people say Platiquemos is better for all audio because it uses English prompts also. FSI/Platiquemos is probably the most advanced/comprehensive Spanish course out there.
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| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4255 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 3 of 20 22 April 2014 at 3:54am | IP Logged |
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I've only lightly used them at the basic level so I can't vouch for the whole program, but I think the Language 101 courses might be the most comprehensive primarily audio programs around. From my experience they're not quite as well designed as Pimsleur, but you do get native audio, English translations and explanations, and gaps to repeat. I think the more advanced levels might just be pure native dialog with transcripts though, but I haven't used them that far, so maybe someone else can address in more detail how they work at different levels.
When I first started learning languages with Pimsleur, I remember I really wished there were just more Pimsleur lessons, and expected to find other similar programs that went further, but ended up not really finding anything truly equivalent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| day1 Groupie Latvia Joined 3893 days ago 93 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English | Message 4 of 20 22 April 2014 at 7:44am | IP Logged |
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Paul Noble is like Michel Thomas, but without the bad students. It uses native speaker to say the right answer instead.
For Spanish, I like Synergy Spanish course, it is not advertised as such, but it is in many ways quite MT-like. It can be used without the book. Some textbooks (such as Easy Way to Latvian, for example) come with huge amounts of CDs that cover the whole of textbooks's material, including also the English explanations, making it for all practical purposes an audio-textbook. And then there is Teach Yourself, who have been coming up with a lot of new Audio based courses lately, such as "Teach Yourself Business Mandarin Chinese" (which is way, way more advanced than Pimsleur). Living Language does not do fully audio based courses, but their books come with 4 CDs; two - for home use, two - for driving. If al else fails, for Russian you can find all those Drivetime ..., Learn ... in Your car, and similar courses. I would not call these courses intermediate but they do offer grammar drills which are kind of not bad and kind of not beginner. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7206 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 5 of 20 22 April 2014 at 8:09am | IP Logged |
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The FSI courses are the most comprehensive courses I've come across. 95% of my use of them has been without the book.
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| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4910 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 6 of 20 22 April 2014 at 10:40am | IP Logged |
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Pimsleur really is the premiere audio-only course. You're going to struggle to find much that compares in comprehensiveness. You can do FSI (and presumably Platiquemos) without using the book much, and like Luke that's what I do. I listen and repeat while driving or on a walk, and I only look up a few things later to check on sentences I couldn't quite understand from the audio alone.
If you are looking for audio-only vocabulary, Vocabulearn is a bit boring, but it's not completely awful. It claims to teach "More than 7500 words and phrases" over the full 12 CD course. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| slowlanglearner Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3888 days ago 6 posts - 15 votes Speaks: German*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 20 22 April 2014 at 6:30pm | IP Logged |
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@Jeffers: thanks for the Vocabulearn tip. I liked their broad vocabulary of 7,500 words/3 CDs. Although the background music is slightly annoying). Buying a used one is also not too prohibitive.
Similar indications about something like the Vocabulearn or maybe some Flash Cards with audio and examples are always welcome 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| day1 Groupie Latvia Joined 3893 days ago 93 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English | Message 8 of 20 22 April 2014 at 6:39pm | IP Logged |
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If I'm not mistaken (but I might be) older editions of Vocabulearn did not have the background music.
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