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The correct way to use FSI French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Linguamor Decaglot Senior Member United States Joined 6616 days ago 469 posts - 599 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Dutch | Message 17 of 44 24 April 2007 at 2:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Pimsleur I,II,III French In Action A good dictionary Le Petit Nicolas by Sempé/Goscinny A simple grammar book (such as Teach Yourself French Grammar) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 18 of 44 25 April 2007 at 8:34am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thank you! I take it French In Action is the whole course, and not just the videos. Le Petit Nicolas looks intereting and is available with unabridged audio at amazon. Assimil didn't make the list for French? Edited by luke on 25 April 2007 at 8:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Linguamor Decaglot Senior Member United States Joined 6616 days ago 469 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Dutch | Message 19 of 44 25 April 2007 at 12:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I'm sure Assimil French would be fine, but I've never actually looked at it - that's the reason I didn't recommend it. I think Assimil is best used after the language learner has attained a threshhold-level in the target language, for example as a follow-up to Pimsleur. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6689 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes 4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 20 of 44 25 April 2007 at 6:55pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6437 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 21 of 44 26 April 2007 at 1:06pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
The more I use Assimil, the more I agree with you. It's extremely helpful for languages I already have at least a decent passive base in, such as Italian/French/German, or similar languages (ie, Dutch), but for Persian, while it's helpful, it doesn't really seem like an ideal first material - when all the words and structures are new, pure repetition (listening, shadowing, etc) seems painfully slow and ineffective, and my retention rates are a lot lower than with Assimil for languages I know better. Learning a bit of Japanese through Pimsleur was definitely more instantly gratifying - a few lessons were enough to help me get around Tokyo ('thank you', 'where is (something)', etc can go a long way). I can't stand going through more than a couple of weeks of Pimsleur - but for an initial start, it definitely has some advantages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6548 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 22 of 44 26 April 2007 at 8:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Linguamor, what do you recommend for tackling French in Action? Fyi, I'll probably do Pimsleur first. What I'd mostly like to know is if you think it's necessary to use the audio CDs. They are by far the most expensive item. I bought the VCD's for about $100 a while back, and I plan to buy the texts, and perhaps workbooks. But what do you think? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7090 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 23 of 44 26 April 2007 at 10:19pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Just my 2 cents worth: You can get by without the CDs, thought they are an excellent part of the course. The problem with the CDs, besides the costs, is that they are teacher resources and you can get lost in weeds if you try and follow them step-by-step. I’m over due a “French in Action Made Easier” post, so please pester me if they topic is not forth coming.:) Just my opinion, but I thought that Pimsleur for French was a waste of time, but then again I’m biased about it. Michel Thomas and SmartFrench offered a better bang for the buck instead. There is enough in French in Action that you could safely skip Assimil in favor of a couple of inexpensive grammar books, however, I would strongly consider using Assimil, if you are short on time. The FIA CDs, and FSI for that matter, are great if you have 2+ hours a day to devote to study. Assimil is a part time course and it has a good section on the literary tenses, something that FIA is week on. John 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6548 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 24 of 44 27 April 2007 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Farley, I've been very impressed with your posts on FIA; I'll review them again when I get closer to starting (probably September).
The way I study stuff isn't the best. I'm trying to slowly drift toward a more passive learning style. But I'm such the opposite right now, I think I'll make this an evolution over several years. But I get lots of good stuff from your posts, and posts of others, so I'll continue to ask questions. I really like Pimsleur. It's a relatively slow, easy way to break into a language that suits me well. I'm especially fond of the good pronunciation it gives me. I know it doesn't cover a lot of material, but it's sort of a security blanket for me. Just call me Linus :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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