|
 |
French in Action/Destinos | ||
Tags: French | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4548 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 1 of 6 27 June 2012 at 11:02pm | IP Logged |
|
I took 2 semesters of French last year mainly in order to fulfill a "supporting
elective" requirement for my Spanish major. The quality/method of instruction was very poor and I spent very little time studying (at this point I'm not willing to risk the interference w/Spanish that real study of another language might entail), but I did pick up a fair amount of basic grammar and vocabulary. In fact, I ended up being the most proficient in the class, although that's not saying much. Anyway, I have decided that French will be my next language. When I'll begin, I don't know, but I've already accumulated a sizable stack of materials for it:) I was wondering if anyone that has used both Destinos and French in Action could enlighten me as to how they compare, in terms of level of proficiency achieved at completion, method, and especially ease of listening comprehension. I'd already been watching real telenovelas (just following the story-lines through extra-lingual cues and the words/snatches of dialog then comprehensible to me) for a year before I found Destinos and was astounded at how easy it was to understand its actors. Is the speech in the FIA videos equally or nearly slowed-down and over-enunciated, or is it closer to the real thing? Also, would I derive much benefit from the videos alone without using the accompanying materials? I already have 2 sets of college French beginner-intermediate textbooks and workbooks (1 set was for the classes I took...we covered less than half of it) and I'd rather if I didn't have to buy another book-course for that level (not just a $ consideration, space is also an issue.) Edited by Gala on 27 June 2012 at 11:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4548 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 2 of 6 30 June 2012 at 12:01am | IP Logged |
|
Nobody!? Surely with all the people here that speak and/or study both of these languages
someone has used both and could offer a thought or 2... In terms of the relative easiness-to-follow of the speech in FIA, I have watched a bit of one of the videos, but really can't judge as I've had virtually no exposure to spoken French. The professor of the classes I took mainly spoke in English, and of course slowed way down when he did speak French. Edited by Gala on 30 June 2012 at 12:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Baracuda Groupie United States Joined 5803 days ago 53 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French, Russian, German | Message 3 of 6 30 June 2012 at 5:06pm | IP Logged |
|
I took 2 years of French at a community college using FIA. From what I remember the
speech is at or near full speed. I've only watched a few early episodes of Destinos so I can't really compare them to each other. FIA has a lot of humor and is very enjoyable, hence the FIA cult :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Baracuda Groupie United States Joined 5803 days ago 53 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French, Russian, German | Message 4 of 6 30 June 2012 at 5:15pm | IP Logged |
|
You will definitely benefit from the videos alone. I'd recommend getting a copy of the
textbook, which contains all of the dialogues. There are no translations though. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4548 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 5 of 6 30 June 2012 at 9:32pm | IP Logged |
|
Thanks for the response! From what you said and from what I've been reading, it sounds
like the textbook would be a good thing to have, simply to serve as a transcript even if I don't end up "studying" with it. Destinos picks up quite a bit after the first few episodes, and is thereafter completely in Spanish. I don't know if it's as good as FIA is reputed to be (it has some pretty corny moments and rather too much repetition,) but I'd definitely recommend it for any beginner or intermediate learner of Spanish. I generally ff>'ed past the 1st 5 minutes and skipped the last 5 of every episode, where the repetition was out of control (although for a beginner these segments might be useful- I didn't start watching until after a year of fairly intensive study, and watching real Spanish media.) One of the things I really liked about Destinos was the variety of accents and cultural information (Mexican, Spanish, Puerto Rican, and Argentinian.) Edited by Gala on 30 June 2012 at 9:40pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4907 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 6 of 6 06 July 2012 at 2:40am | IP Logged |
|
The FIA videos are a mix of rapid and slow French. The story segments are supposed to be in "real spoken Parisian French", although I'm no judge of that. The sections spoken by the professor are more clearly enunciated, and slower. I have watched 22 episodes, and I find the professor easy to follow, even if I don't know all of the words he uses. His careful way of speaking, and his generous use of gestures and facial expression, make everything quite clear. But I often have trouble following the dialogues, although I get the gist of the conversations.
If you can get the audio exercises, that will also help develop comprehension. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
