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The overall usefulness of FSI | ||
Tags: Usefulness | FSI | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| ExRN Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3395 days ago 61 posts - 75 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish Studies: Dutch | Message 1 of 35 02 September 2015 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Based on past experiences, I am more than aware that some FSI courses are more useful than others
when it comes to dated vocab and grammar. Is there any possibility we could get some group input on each course specifically so that we can refer to it before starting a course that could prove to be more costly in learning a language than beneficial. Prime example being the German course as it is technically useless in a modern day setting. Maybe we could rank them out of 10 for vocab used and grammar. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5565 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 2 of 35 02 September 2015 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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What makes the FSI German course 'technically useless' in your opinion?
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| ExRN Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3395 days ago 61 posts - 75 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish Studies: Dutch | Message 3 of 35 02 September 2015 at 8:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
Now I have never studied German but I was under the impression that German spelling and grammar was standardised in the 70s? Now even if the audio segments are correct, parts of text are going to be wrong are they not? And if it's for a learning learning from scratch, there is no way of telling what is still relevant a d what isn't. Sorry if I am wrong. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4665 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 35 02 September 2015 at 9:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
I thought it was more recent and Wikipedia agrees. Is it that big a deal though? (I'm going to start early next year, so I'm not just nit-picking for the sake of it ... I'd really like to know :-)). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ExRN Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3395 days ago 61 posts - 75 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish Studies: Dutch | Message 5 of 35 02 September 2015 at 9:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
I would have thought so yeah. I suppose it's the difference between sounding like you come straight out of an old black and white film where everyone is referred to as "one" and sounding to a current member of society. "does one care for a jolly good rogering madam?" etc etc 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| flydream777 Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6491 days ago 77 posts - 102 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: German, Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Greek, Hungarian, Armenian, Irish, Italian | Message 6 of 35 02 September 2015 at 9:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I thought the German course was incredibly useful. The speed that they teach and the grammar drills far
outweigh the more dated aspects of the voices/material. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| ExRN Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3395 days ago 61 posts - 75 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish Studies: Dutch | Message 7 of 35 02 September 2015 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
I am so confused then. I was under the impression that the reform had pretty much completely changed the language as it was spoken? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5565 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 8 of 35 02 September 2015 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
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As it happens, I use 'one' all the time. Mainly because I work in a university and
students get confused and sometimes offended by the use of the generic 'you'. As to FSI - the spelling reforms have not changed the way German is spoken - time has to a degree (e.g. the genitive case is less used as it was and 'gnädige Frau' may lead to odd looks). My experience of educated Germans is that they would be very impressed if one could speak with the grammatical precision of the FSI course. Of course, many of the words are outdated, or diplomatic corps related - but it drills many of the grammatical points, especially the cases, that Germans always comment about when one gets them wrong. Edited by Elexi on 04 September 2015 at 11:47am 7 persons have voted this message useful |
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