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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 9 of 31 29 May 2013 at 4:52am | IP Logged |
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One positive thing about the Michel Thomas course is that it seems impossible to overdo
it in one sitting. Whereas I feel like studying some other courses allows you to mindlessly go too far and pick up nothing, it is not really an option in an all audio course. I got to the start of Track 16 on Disc 5. My mind is mush from doing back-flips all evening. Having the small base of Russian from a few years ago in the one semester course I took helps me appreciate MT quite a bit. Quite a few things being covered weren't even touched on in my class that met 7 times a week for almost 5 months. Anyway, I am going to take a break and chill out a bit before reviewing Lesson 16 of Assimil and going to bed. Maybe I will be able to finish Disc 5 in the morning before work and start 6 in the evening. I am not sure how many people use MT, but it sure feels good when you get in a rhythm and are nailing answers 100% correct. Not only that, but doing it so quick you beat the students and don't even have to pause the tape! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 10 of 31 30 May 2013 at 6:41am | IP Logged |
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I finished Disc 5 of Michel Thomas Foundation before work today. I just finished
Disc 6. I enjoyed the conversation at the end of Track 16. "You've covered all the tenses. Present, past, and future. Like in life! What else do you need?" And then the guy calling Russian a brilliant language, haha. That was a charming little exchange. I see people complain about the students quite a bit on other MT programs. These two are only a bit frustrating at times, but I honestly appreciate their company for the most part. Though, it would be nice if Russian had a review disc. I saw those exist for the main language MT did himself. It would be nice to be able to run through all this stuff once in a while without needing to listen to the entire course! Anyway, I've known finished discs 1-6. Only two more left to go. I've also completed the passive wave of Assimil through Lesson 17. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 11 of 31 31 May 2013 at 6:47am | IP Logged |
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Unfortunately I did not have time today to sit down with Michel Thomas :( I still did
Assimil Lesson 18, though. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 12 of 31 01 June 2013 at 1:09am | IP Logged |
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I just finished Disc 7 of Michel Thomas Foundation! Just one more to go. I think I saw
it mentioned before that it is the simplest Foundation cd because it is mainly reviewing the alphabet. Any advice from those that have done the full Michel Thomas Russian system at this point would be appreciated. I think I want to wait a few weeks/months to do the Advanced & Vocabulary. I feel like it would maybe be helpful at that point to consolidate what I learn between now and then. Are those other two actually a separate course done at a different time? Or is it more like a continuation of this Foundation set that was just arbitrarily cut off at some point? If it is the former, I probably will wait a little while. If the latter, I may just keep on pushing through. I mean, I could do the Advanced CD tomorrow and the Vocabulary Sunday. I am just not sure if that is prudent or not. So, any input on that would be fantastic! If I do wait on the rest of MT, I would just fill the hour to hour and a half each weekday I have been spending on it with the New Penguin Russian Course. Either way, I will post a full review on my thoughts on the Foundation course after I finish Disc 8. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Zarmutek Newbie United States twitter.com/manueljoRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4727 days ago 28 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 13 of 31 01 June 2013 at 5:04am | IP Logged |
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Wow man, it looks like you're all set and ready for success! Best of luck - I'll
definitely be following you on your journey. Russian is a language that I just think sounds amazingly beautiful and mysterious. One thing that I didn't see you mention that might help, is vodka. :D Z Edited by Zarmutek on 01 June 2013 at 5:05am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 14 of 31 01 June 2013 at 2:29pm | IP Logged |
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I didn't do the vocabulary course (i've found them generally way too boring) but i've done the foundation and advanced courses. I don't remember a whole lot exactly what was included in the course, but i remember being a little disappointed by some bits particularly with verbal aspect that didn't seem very well explained (or weren't explained at all). I also don't remember them covering the cases, maybe they covered nominative and finally accusative in the advanced course. In the end, however, i think the MT course is best used as an introduction to the grammar so that when you come across it in your more thorough courses it won't be entirely new (but also not entirely clear). Perhaps Russian grammar is a bit harder to condense into a 15-hour audio course for English speakers, but personally i felt it was a little void of grammar. Not a bad course, i just didn't feel i had pulled as much grammar as i did from say the Spanish and French courses. I would've loved to see at least a brief presentation of all the cases and a better explanation of aspect. You'll definitely get much more out of your Assimil/Penguin courses.
Btw, have you thought about using one of the older Assimil Russian courses? Namely the 1940s version? After finishing Assimil/the Penguin course, you could also try running through the Princeton Russian course. I think it covers verbs/aspect and the cases very well and has tons of interesting vocabulary. Actually, that's one of the things i enjoyed most about the course: the vocabulary. It was funny and relevant, learning things like отвяжись (get lost), нахал (jerk), отстаньтя от меня! (leave me alone!) and all the silly sentences like "Это твой муж?" "Нет, это не мой муж, это дерево!" In other courses i've often wondered about how practical the vocabulary is, but not with the Princeton course. Anyway, if you feel like you want a nice thorough review later, i recommend it :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 15 of 31 01 June 2013 at 7:01pm | IP Logged |
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Interesting, thanks for your input Crush. I recall reading in another thread that the
Advanced and Vocabulary course together cover all the cases for Russian. So, potentially the Vocabulary would complete it for you? Here is the link to that thread: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=29123&PN=23&TPN=1 I do have the old Assimil. However, after reading a bit more on Modern Russian, I have decided to set aside Assimil and wait on Penguin and just work through Modern Russian 1 :) I sort of like the idea of focusing on one course. Especially when it is so comprehensive. Plus, I've never used anything like it before (I never really dabbled in FSI in other courses). So, I will finish Michel Thomas Foundation today, and begin Modern Russian 1. It seems comprehensive enough to me to not require much supplement. Edited by ericblair on 01 June 2013 at 7:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 16 of 31 01 June 2013 at 8:22pm | IP Logged |
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The vocabulary course might've be just what i was looking for, then. The other vocabulary courses i've done were so boring i didn't bother with the Russian one. Thanks for the link, it seems like it's really more of a continuation of the advanced course, which is really what was needed anyway. Seems like it still falls a bit short, but at least you'll get a nice review of all the cases.
I agree, it's nice just to stick to one course rather than switch around all the time and feel like you get nowhere. I never finished the old Assimil course but i really enjoyed it, i can't wait to get back to it. I really loved the songs at the end of every week of lessons :) I'd love to go through Modern Russian, but i always had the impression that it was rather expensive/hard to find these days, but maybe i'm confusing it with another course. I hope you enjoy it! I love Russian, too, and it's also been the cause of lots of wanderlust in my language studies. EDIT: Grammar Edited by Crush on 01 June 2013 at 8:23pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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