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The overall usefulness of FSI | ||
Tags: Usefulness | FSI | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5528 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 17 of 35 04 September 2015 at 11:53am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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Apologies all.
I should say that I wrote 'dative case' above (now corrected) - that was a slip. I meant 'genitive' case. One still needs the genitive in writing, however. Assimil's old Deutsch ohne Mühe is excellent for learning the genitive, btw. Edited by Elexi on 04 September 2015 at 1:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| ExRN Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3358 days ago 61 posts - 75 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish Studies: Dutch | Message 18 of 35 04 September 2015 at 11:59am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
That's OK. I repped your reply straight away by the way due to your thorough explanation. Which universitydo you work at? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| obsculta Newbie United States Joined 5783 days ago 36 posts - 83 votes Speaks: English* | Message 19 of 35 04 September 2015 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
This is helpful; I was under the impression that FSI Greek was completely obsolete. I've been using Hellenic American Union and Language Transfer materials. But I do like the FSI pattern drills, and it looks like I could still use the first volume without too much confusion. I don't care about spelling changes at all, but if vocabulary and grammar had changed significantly, I would want to avoid it. Edited by obsculta on 04 September 2015 at 4:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5919 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 20 of 35 04 September 2015 at 4:50pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
My apologies ExRN for my short post. I had actually typed out a longer, more constructive reply that commented negatively on those who state in very definitive terms that something is useless when they don't actually know what they are talking about. That is such a very unhelpful thing to do as others reading a post that strongly states as apparent objective fact that a very useful study aid is "useless" might actually believe that completely wrong conclusion on the assumption that the poster would not have posted such a strong unqualified condemnation unless she or he actually knew what they were talking about. But I deleted that as it seemed a bit intemperate (sort of like your reply) and instead just added my voice to those others who have provided a balance to your incorrect assertion. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5225 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 21 of 35 04 September 2015 at 5:18pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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What I have found from using materials like the DLI Portuguese Basic Course which dates from the early 1960's and the DLI Haitian Creole Basic course (more modern at 1991 but horrible audio and non-standard spelling) is, yes, the spelling is outdated and, yes, so is some of the vocabulary. The basics of the language haven't changed. These courses are so thorough and so well designed that it would be a shame not to use them for learning a language. The drills alone are worth their weight in gold. I get all the modern spellings and vocabulary I need from other sources that aren't courses by following a multi-track approach. FSI has a heavy emphasis on drilling which I find highly useful in learning a language. Combine such a course with forays into the real world of the language and FSI will serve you well.
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| ExRN Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3358 days ago 61 posts - 75 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish Studies: Dutch | Message 22 of 35 04 September 2015 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
As with the rest of my post I will state opinion and not fact here. I don't believe you did write a longer post as you have said. I believe you have written your latest entry to try and make a fool of me but it hasn't worked. As I said, I have never studied German but only read comments of other people regarding the course. Other people on this post have been extremely helpful in clearing up some misconceptions that I had about the courses whilst you thought it a good idea to try and make an absolute mockery of what I said just because I picked you up on your lazy answer of "nope". Where in my original post did I say it was a qualified statement that I was making? I wasn't making a review of the course but only quoting hearsay. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5919 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 23 of 35 04 September 2015 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
I will do my best not to lose any sleep over your belief. If you are upset by the mild manner in which I characterized the unposted first draft, then you undoubtedly will not be happy to learn that the actual wording included the words "head", "butt" and a reference to anatomical placement that if you are a former registered nurse, you would immediately recognize as being improbable. It was not my intent to try to (I gather you meant "try to" rather than "try and") make a fool of you. There are those who may conclude that you may be on that mission all alone by first loudly denigrating a well-respected set of language materials with a firm pronouncement, and then when politely corrected by knowledgeable posters, going on with an attempt to justify the original incorrect pronouncement
If you had expressed your opinion, and qualified your ability to pronounce on the usefulness or uselessness of the FSI German courses (it is not clear whether you meant the PI or Basic course, or if you were even aware there were more than one), then all would be good. If you had said, "I have heard others express the opinion that ..." or "I have not studied it myself, but my assumption is that ...." then all would be good. Instead, what you said, and the reason I have commented in the manner I have, is the following:
You set yourself up was an experienced user, whose opinion I would otherwise be incline to value, and then said that the German course is technically useless.
As in my comments above, if you had said that, you would not have been the recipient of a withering Spanky Nope.
You may be inclined to do lots of other things with your day. My guess (I will be happy to be proven wrong) is that one of those things will be to reply with more snark to this post. But for the love of jeebus, please let one of those things be to actually read my post. I did not say you made a qualified statement. To the contrary. I said that your statement was problematic because it was unqualified. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| ExRN Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3358 days ago 61 posts - 75 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish Studies: Dutch | Message 24 of 35 04 September 2015 at 8:34pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
I have clearly touched a nerve or you wouldn't have gone to such extreme lengths to justify your original statement of "nope". I hope you don't lose sleep over it as you're probably not a bad person and just a little misguided in your ability to respond to something in a constructive way. It's OK though. It will come in time I guess. In addition, if you are going to pick up on slight errors in my writing, please make sure that everything you type is correct English too. There are several mistakes in your attempt to discredit everything I have said which in turn has made you look much the bigger fool. Edited by ExRN on 04 September 2015 at 8:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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