|
 |
Linguaphone - REALLY OLD vs. New | ||
Tags: Vintage | Linguaphone | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| zashikibuta Newbie United States Joined 5484 days ago 11 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Russian, Uyghur | Message 1 of 5 15 February 2011 at 6:09am | IP Logged |
|
Ok. I just purchased (for pretty cheaply) 78 rpm records of the Linguaphone course-Spanish on ebay.
I have a vinyl record player with a line-in. Will I be able to play these records on that vinyl record player?? Or did I just purchase something I can't use. HELP!!!! On the outside, there's a note saying-gramophone not available at wartime - so I'm guessing 50s... I am now wondering if I should buy the Complete Linguaphone-modern course as I might be stuck - is it the same content? Here's the TOC/31 records of: (it came in individual brown papers and in a brown briefcase. * The Lopez Family/A visit * The Children/The Drawing room * A Dinner/The Bedroom * The House/A Street in Madrid * The Hotel/At the Restaurant * Traveling.At the Railway Station/At the Post Office * The Seasons of the Year/Sports * In the Country/At the Seaside * A Visit to Madrid/A Voyage * The Big Stores/At the Tobacconist's * The Hairdresser/The Doctor and the Chemist * Extra Record (Spanish-American Pronunciation) * The Tailor/The Dressmaker * Time/The Exchange Office * Trade and Industry/The Motor Car * The Theater/Wireless 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5566 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 2 of 5 15 February 2011 at 10:13am | IP Logged |
|
I have the French and German editions of this series - they are from c.1935 and you probably have a 1940s edition.
I think the book is great - if it is the same as mine, each lesson has a descriptive monologue, a conversation based on the monologue topic, then a grammar lesson. All material is in one book. I like the fact that the English translation of the vocabulary is inserted in the margin in very small print so that you can use only one book but the English doesn't bother you when you are reading the target language. However, the 30s-40s Linguaphone courses do throw you in at the deep end as they were recorded in the days when the educated middle classes had a good grasp of grammatical terms from their school days. Needless to say, they are very out of date (but this provides its own humour - imagine it as a language course for someone like Bertie Wooster and you get the picture). The records can be played through a normal record player - the line out can go into your sound card - but you need a 78 stylus (which are normally quite cheap) as a 45/33 stylus will not pick up much sound. 78s have a wider groove and so need a wider and softer stylus. One other problem is that modern record players are often not capable of travelling the full distance - so you might lose about up to 40 seconds of the track (depending on the track length). As to speed - it is not such a problem if you only have 45 or 33 settings on your player - you can record the disk in 45 and get software to convert it to 78. The main problem is that old 78s are very dirty and often cannot be cleaned. Software like Play It Again can go some way to cleaning the disk digitally but you may need a few runs through with different filters to get it in a useable condition. If you want to preserve the disks do not use chemical record vinyl cleaner (as the disks are shellac) but water and a As to the recordings - the French one is not so good - the book states that the main speaker has been chosen for his perfect pronounciation of French - to me he sounds like a whiney old aristocrat (which may be the perfect pronounciation of French c.1930, as it would be for an English speaker from that time). I haven't listened to the German one yet. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| zashikibuta Newbie United States Joined 5484 days ago 11 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Russian, Uyghur | Message 3 of 5 16 February 2011 at 2:48am | IP Logged |
|
Thanks so much for your help. I hope i can find a 78 needle.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DavidW Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6527 days ago 318 posts - 458 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French, Italian, Persian, Malay Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese, German, Urdu | Message 4 of 5 16 February 2011 at 7:34pm | IP Logged |
|
I didn't have a lot of success with my Linguaphone 78s - the audio was very noisy, even after cleaning all the records in soapy water. If I where you, I'd look for a course on 45s or cassette, it'll probably be cheaper and less hassle than finding a suitable needle (you need one that matches your cartridge).
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| be2lewis Newbie United States Joined 5824 days ago 12 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 5 of 5 18 February 2011 at 6:13am | IP Logged |
|
I've been kind of taken with the "collectible" aspect of the older Linguaphone sets and have bought a few off ebay over the past couple years. I also purchased an ION USB turntable on ebay and have been able to clean up the 78 and 45 speed records very nicely just using it and Audacity, which is a free audio recording download. There is a noise cleaning option that takes all the noise away and leaves just the clean sound of the voices. I've been very impressed with the results and it is very easy to do. If you enjoy the older 78 sets and want to use them this is an easy inexpensive way to do it. I get a little "bid happy" myself because the 78 sets are often quite inexpensive. I've picked some up for as little as 5 dollars from ebay.
1 person has 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. |
