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Mistakes in Michel Thomas courses | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Lingua Decaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5575 days ago 186 posts - 319 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Dutch | Message 1 of 52 06 September 2009 at 8:47am | IP Logged | ||
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Out of curiosity I listened to the first lesson of the Michel Thomas Spanish course. To illustrate the difference in pronunciation between the Spanish of Spain and that of Latin America he introduces the words "razón" and "corazón", but he presents incorrect pronunciations for both varieties of Spanish. He explains that the "z" in Spain is pronounced as an English "th" sound, and then he pronounces the words with a voiced "th" sound, as if they were written "radón" and "coradón". He then says that the two words are pronounced with a "z" sound in Latin America, and he pronounces them with a "z" sound even though this sound does not occur between vowels in Spanish and the correct pronunciation is an "s" sound.
I also listened to the first lesson of the German course, and there he teaches an incorrect pronunciation of the word "lange". 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6782 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 52 06 September 2009 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Italian course also has a lot of pronunciation bugs, especially on pronouns.
But I say use Michel for what it's good at, ie. grammar. And learn pronunciation from a different source. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6537 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 52 06 September 2009 at 6:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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In track 9 of lesson 6 Michel Thomas says the following: aber Ich weiß nicht, ob es möglich sein wird, es so tun.
He didn't put a "zu" before "tun." Edited by Kugel on 06 September 2009 at 6:41pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| drfeelgood17 Bilingual Hexaglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6448 days ago 98 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English*, Tagalog*, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Japanese, Latin, Arabic (Written) | Message 4 of 52 06 September 2009 at 7:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Like I said in a related thread, the Michel Thomas courses seem to rely on a great deal of marketing hype
surrounding the persona of the deceased mentor and not much else... People should bear in mind that MT was not a native speaker of these languages - and lower their expectations of his pronunciation accordingly. If you're a fan of SRS based techniques and don't mind a slow and leisurely paced course with little or no pressure, then yes this method might just work for you. If on the other hand, you're a fast learner and DO want to learn to read and write your target language, then I suggest you look elsewhere for a better use of your time (and money), as these courses are not cheap. And by the way, if you're looking to buy the "advanced" versions of these courses, think again. The vocab and grammar are hardly what I'd call "advanced". I suggest if your library holds copies of these courses, borrow a couple and find out if that is what you expect an advanced course to do (i, e, simply learning to repeat longer and slightly more complex sentences). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lancemanion Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5571 days ago 150 posts - 166 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Thai Studies: French, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 5 of 52 07 September 2009 at 3:45am | IP Logged | ||
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It's a well known fact that Michel Thomas courses contain pronunciation errors. In fact, students are used for a
good percentage of the course. So if you are worried about using material that doesn't have perfect pronunciation, don't use it. It's good to do some research before using a product to see what it does, and determine if it fits into one's study plans. Despite the advertising claims, the thing Michel Thomas is good for is cramming a lot of grammar in a very short time. And judging by my personal experience and reviews of others, it sticks quite well.
Why do you consider it to be SRS based, and what about it do you think is slow? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| furrykef Senior Member United States furrykef.com/ Joined 6471 days ago 681 posts - 862 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Latin, Italian | Message 6 of 52 07 September 2009 at 5:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ugh. A non-native speaker making pronunciation mistakes is excusable. But these particular mistakes are not. Somebody who cannot pronounce razón in either European or Latin American Spanish, and in fact encourages you to use these wrong pronunciations, probably should not be teaching a course.
- Kef 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| melitu Groupie United States Joined 6159 days ago 42 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 7 of 52 07 September 2009 at 10:44pm | IP Logged | ||
Did Michel Thomas not speak German natively? I didn't like his accent in Italian Basic, but I always thought that if I were to learn German, I'd definitely use his course to start. At least the new MT courses released recently also have a native speaker pronouncing everything. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 8 of 52 07 September 2009 at 10:59pm | IP Logged | ||
Seems like he pronounced zu like so because "Ich weiß nicht, ob es möglich sein wird, es zu tun." fits the sentence patterns he teaches in Spanish whereas "Ich weiß nicht, ob es möglich sein wird, es so zu tun." (basically translates as "I do not know if it will be possible to do it your way/the way you indicated to me.") ..? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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