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After Michel Thomas Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4054 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 8 22 October 2013 at 1:14pm | IP Logged |
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Hi all
So, I've worked my way through all of the Michel Thomas Spanish courses a number of times (Foundation, Advanced, Language Builder, Vocabulary). I really like the courses, especially because you learn by speaking and constructing sentences that you haven't heard before, and I feel they've given me a good grounding. But I'm aware that there's a lot more to learn. There's loads of grammar that the courses don't cover fully, and even more vocabulary and idiom. I've tried Pimsleur 3, which has a similar approach, but the level is no higher than MT Advanced, so it doesn't feel like a "next step" so much as revision. I also use the Notes in Spanish podcasts to help improve my listening, and anki flash cards for learning new vocabulary. However, in terms of a "core" course, I don't really have anything to take me further than the MT courses. Does anyone have any advice for a logical next course to follow on with after the Michel Thomas courses? Any advice very gratefully received. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5264 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 2 of 8 22 October 2013 at 1:55pm | IP Logged |
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I checked out your log Spanish B2 by November 2014 and what jumps out at me is how "study" centric your approach is. I'm not saying that you shouldn't study or follow on with a next course but I think you should add in content, listening and speaking and reduce the "study".
Too much studying, to my way of thinking, can lead to looking at the language as a "thing"- like a cell under a microscope to be analyzed. If you are at A2 right now, you can do a lot with the language. You could do a language exchange with a native speaker. You can start reading with bilingual texts. Listen to native content with a transcript. If you challenge yourself in this way it forces you to make connections that you won't necessarily make through courses alone. Using the course in tandem with engaging the language in the real world gives a good synergy and creates a virtuous circle. If you see/hear a word in your course, then hear/see it in a newscast with a transcript or a children's book, a language exchange, or hear it in a song (with lyrics) it has more of a chance to become yours in an indelible way. Vocabulary can be had in a number of ways. Some people swear by Anki. I don't use it but it works for a lot of people. I tend to learn vocabulary by exposure in the real world. It works better for me and I enjoy it. Going through Anki reviews for any period of time would be torture to me. If I were in your shoes I would check out Destinos, the telenovela series from PBS. I hesitate to provide a link because I think it is geo-restricted but I know there are work-arounds for those outside North America. Also GLOSS from the Defense Language Institute which has listening and reading exercises from the real world. NHK World Spanish News has the news in Spanish with a transcript and the ability to also check out the English site to get an idea of what the story is about and work with both. Bilingual texts are a great way to pick up vocabulary and you can make your own freely. They don't have to be book length either to be effective. You should also check out the Centro Virtual Cervantes Aveteca from Spain which has monolingual exercises from A1 to C1. The site also has a series of graded readings at Lecturas Paso a Paso Inical. This could be a good start to get you into reading. There's no English at all though. It will be a challenge but then again, you do want to learn Spanish don't you! No matter what course you choose, be it FSI, Platiquemos or Assimil, none of them on their own will lead you to the promised land without supplementing with native material of some kind, in my opinion. Others differ and disagree with my philosophy, but I have found that using a course alongside engaging with the language to be what works for me. It might work for you too if you'll give it a go. ¡Buena suerte con tus estudios en el idioma! 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4054 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 8 22 October 2013 at 2:12pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks iguanamon. I'll definitely try to add some more native materials.
I have been reading "The Easy Spanish Reader", reading articles from BBC Mundo and adding them to "Learning with Texts". Notes in Spanish is also basically a series of short conversations with transcripts. I also tried watching the film La lengua de las mariposas without subtitles the other day (didn't understand much, but I hope it helped). I've signed up for a language exchange evening too, where they pair native Spanish speakers with native English speakers for a series of 15 minute conversations, 7.5 mins in English, 7.5 mins in Spanish. Unfortunately it keeps on being postponed. I'll definitely look at the native sources you recommended too, and increase the proportion of native materials relative to "study". Thanks for your advice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4624 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 4 of 8 22 October 2013 at 5:21pm | IP Logged |
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I think Michel Thomas is great. He can't cover everything on a CD course that lasts a few hours but he instills great confidence in building sentences and makes a foreign language sound much less alien to beginners.
He has his critics. Strangely a lot of the naysayers highlight his less-than-authentic Spanish accent. But he was born in Poland and raised in Germany, why on earth should he sound like a Spaniard? It's the teaching material that counts. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Alamo Joe Newbie United States Joined 4062 days ago 17 posts - 31 votes | Message 5 of 8 22 October 2013 at 8:25pm | IP Logged |
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Madrigal's Magic Keys to Spanish would be a good choice to follow up on Michel Thomas Spanish. Madrigal used a similar approach to language learning as Michel Thomas. Some people even feel that Thomas was influenced by Madrigal's books. Unfortunately, there's no audio component to Madrigal's book. She was a native Spanish speaker, so that would've been the perfect complement to her book. Madrigal goes into more detail and explains grammar in a simple but effective way. There are also a lot of exercises and helpful vocabulary notes, with an emphasis on cognates and similarities between English and Spanish words.
You might find some of it redundant and it might not be advanced enough for you. But I think Madrigal fills in all the gaps from the Michel Thomas courses. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4830 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 6 of 8 23 October 2013 at 1:36am | IP Logged |
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http://SaysomethinginSpanish.com is somewhat Michel Thomas-like, but
different in detail. I believe it's also a bit like Pimsleur. You get an English prompt, you reply, then you hear a female, then a male native speaker saying their Spanish version. There is a "tourist course" of which the 1st 5 lessons are free, and a "Course 1" which you have to pay for, but it's not exactly expensive. Each of those courses is about 10 hours overall, I think, although that includes gaps for you to speak in. Like MT, it's all listening and speaking, and grammar is not taught explicitly, but implicitly. Of course, as others have said, you also need exposure to other things including a lot of native material of all sorts, and if possible, plenty of speaking practice outside of any lessons. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tibbles Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5193 days ago 245 posts - 422 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Korean | Message 7 of 8 23 October 2013 at 9:18am | IP Logged |
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Don't keep on repeating Michel Thomas. Keep moving to new things and extending your exposure to more and more Spanish. Consider a variety of things like Destinos, Assimil, a grammar workbook, Notes in Spanish podcasts, FSI Spanish Programmatic, read your local Spanish newspaper (or one online if nothing in print locally), etc.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4054 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 8 23 October 2013 at 11:28am | IP Logged |
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Wow, that's a lot of great suggestions, thanks. I do still review Michel Thomas a bit (is this a bad thing to do?) but I definitely want to move on to other things for the majority of my practice.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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