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The good and bad of Teach Yourself | ||
Tags: Hit List | Teach Yourself | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5336 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 1 of 37 02 May 2011 at 8:42pm | IP Logged |
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This is more of a question than a lecture, as I just recently started the Swedish teach
yourself (for beginners it says). I don't know too much, but from the first two chapters I can say it throws a LOT at you depending on how fast you do these chapters. There's already (probably) over a hundred new words (assuming you are 100% new to the language) and I think about 8 or so grammar rules. That's not too much of a problem for me, but for some I think that might be a bit of a discouragement. However, having so much thrown at you allows for flexibility. I've been able to pick out words I will definitely have use for soon and make lists of those rather than using longer words that I won't be using for some time. I also enjoy the audio, the quality is decent and the people on the recordings are well spoken. What is your experience with the Teach Yourself series? I know many of the books vary a lot, I also have TY Spanish (which I've hardly gone through because I know most of the material in the first 6 chapters) which is extremely different from the Swedish book. What are the good things and bad things about them? Edit: You'll have to excuse any grammatical mistakes, I tend to type very fast and don't always catch them. I changed a few. Edited by Akao on 02 May 2011 at 8:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5729 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 2 of 37 03 May 2011 at 11:01pm | IP Logged |
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Well, most people would say the English on the CD, but I have a feeling you're looking for comments on the content of TYS.
I own several TYS courses, most are modern and a few are from the '60s or older. Unfortunately I haven't finished any of them so I can't give a detailed review. I have to say, I like the Spanish TYS from the '60s better than the one from the 2000s, but that's just me. I like having to do the exercises from the older course. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 3 of 37 03 May 2011 at 11:23pm | IP Logged |
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I did the first 5 lessons of the Norwegian TY over the weekend. Yes, there's lots of material rather fast, but there is no obligation to get it all in one run. You can read it over and over if you need to. As for useless words, I skip them. I know what I need better than they do.
In comparison, I'm also listening to Pimsleur. I'm at lesson 13, and I think the 5 TY lessons covered more material so far, so there is no doubt that TY will take me much further than Pimsleur's 30 lessons. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5808 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 4 of 37 04 May 2011 at 12:08am | IP Logged |
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All the Teach Yourself Hindi materials by Rupert Snell are highly regarded.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4981 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 5 of 37 04 May 2011 at 8:52am | IP Logged |
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Having done the Swedish TY series I agree wholeheartedly with you!! It just throws you in right at the deep end,
indeed I found it so annoying that I switched to Swedish in Three Months instead, which I found much more to my liking. I later went back to the TY and found it better because I had a basic knowledge, but that's just me. As long as you have some other sources as well, and don't try and learn everything you will be fine. With learning German I found the TY hard going too, I even gave up learning the language after getting stuck on their explanation of cases... but then after awhile I went back to the language with a different book (essential german) and continued. Have a good look for other materials and furnish your language learning with whatever you can. The Wallander series of TV films (there's loads by different directors) are a great way to hear the language. Ha det bra! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Mauritz Octoglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5068 days ago 223 posts - 325 votes Speaks: Swedish*, EnglishC2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Esperanto, French Studies: Old English, Yiddish, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean, Portuguese, Welsh, Icelandic, Afrikaans | Message 6 of 37 04 May 2011 at 1:47pm | IP Logged |
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I also have several TY courses and they are very different from each other. The worst one I've used is TY Persian,
because not only did it have large and seemingly unnecessary texts right from the beginning, but also lots of errors that I as a complete beginner could notice. TY Complete Italian was the complete opposite and I really liked it. It's not made up of large texts, but instead smaller dialogues. You can really see the language used in real-life situations and I never wondered why I'd have to learn a particular word. It's also the only TY course that has really taken me from a complete beginner to being able to use the language fairly well. However, keep in mind that I had studied French and Spanish before Italian! I wonder how it feels like to study Swedish! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Raye Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5154 days ago 37 posts - 51 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: DutchB1 | Message 7 of 37 05 May 2011 at 8:49pm | IP Logged |
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Don't know if this is a pro or con for other people, but the English is British-accented, at least on the two I've tried. I liked it on the first one -- it was as fun imitating the Englishwoman as it was imitating the target language speakers. But it's slightly grating to me on this second one. Gotta get over it.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 8 of 37 05 May 2011 at 8:56pm | IP Logged |
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You know, TY -- like all other methods -- do offer you many words you may never use. How often do you use the words post office, or bridge? Many words presented in methods will never be part of what you need to express in your own life, or at least will not be needed in the short term.
In other words, don't forget to take the lists of words with a grain of salt. Not only will the words be used over and over, but many of them are not worth the effort. However, pay a lot of attention to the structures that are introduced: those are almost always useful and important. The key word here is CONTROL. Take control of your studies and decide for yourself what's worth your time. Edited by Arekkusu on 05 May 2011 at 8:57pm 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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