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Your favorite language program? | ||
Tags: TellMeMore | Fluenz | Living Language | Colloquial (program) | DLI | Linguaphone | Teach Yourself | Platiquemos | Rosetta Stone | Michel Thomas | Listening-Reading (L-R) | Pimsleur | Language Program | FSI | Assimil | Book | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| coyote Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6245 days ago 32 posts - 34 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 65 of 376 21 October 2009 at 8:08pm | IP Logged |
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There's been a lot of talk about Pimsleur, and everyone is right in one way or another. No doubt, Pimsleur is expensive compared to Assimil, MT, and a variety of other courses. True, it may not take you to the level advertised, and if you have experience in a language, it may not take you very far at all. At the same time, if I'm approaching a new language it's helped me get up and speaking faster than any other method I've used, except perhaps MT. So despite its limitations, I think it has an important function for some learners. If the price puts you off, you can look around for bargains. Comprehensive (3-level) editions for some languages have been selling on ebay for $300-$350, which is about 40% lower than most internet prices. I've found that there's something to learn from just about any method, if you still have something to learn.
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| hobbitofny Senior Member United States Joined 6236 days ago 280 posts - 408 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 66 of 376 21 October 2009 at 8:09pm | IP Logged |
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The Spoken Language series began in courses made for the US military during WWII. They need to train 1000s of people in different language and did not have the needed language staff for training. The military turned to the best professionals of the time to design a method to teach the language without a language instructor. So a series of books and recording were made that were self study or group lead but without need of a language teacher. The courses have some updates. The spoken recordings are all native. The two Russian books with audio (about 25 hours worth) are well done. The audio has both Russian and English. You can read the lesson in the book while you hear the audio then use the audio without the book to learn the content.
The Russian course is designed to teach you to speak, read and understand Russian. It can be a bit dry. However, if you want to learn the language on your own, you can do so with the course. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| janababe Triglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5517 days ago 102 posts - 115 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, German | Message 67 of 376 21 October 2009 at 8:56pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for that explanation hobbitofny. The fact that the spoken recordings are all native is really good. That's what I need, good pronunciation. That was actually very irritating with MT, his pronunciation sucked.
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| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7224 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 68 of 376 31 October 2009 at 6:18am | IP Logged |
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Are the tags only restricted to English base programs? I am curious, as I did not see any for other French, German, Spanish and other language bases in general. (Only Assimil) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| GoingGoingGone Newbie United States Joined 5671 days ago 28 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Swedish, Mandarin | Message 69 of 376 18 November 2009 at 6:34pm | IP Logged |
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Definitely and without hesitation FLUENZ is my favorite. One drawback is the number of lessons available, however, they are coming out with more lessons for their existing languages now. The other drawback is that there are only 4 languages available, but hopefully there will be more in the future. I love the fact that the program is audio AND visual - it helps me retain the information and also makes it more enjoyable so I don't get bored. The variety of different activities also helps with that a LOT.
A distant second would be Rosetta Stone because of it's audio and visual approach but it's definitely no where near as good as Fluenz. The upside is they offer a great choice of languages. My third choice is Pimsleur. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Aquila Triglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5484 days ago 104 posts - 128 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: French | Message 70 of 376 25 November 2009 at 8:38pm | IP Logged |
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For learning French, I use Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, Assimil and a Dutch book for self study French (Prisma, Frans voor Zelfstudie).
And I have French for Dummies, this is the worst one. It's more something like a phrasebook for when you go on holiday. Michel Thomas is a very usefull method. In spite of one year French on school long ago, I knew almost nothing from this language. Michel Thomas gave me a good start, because the method is clear and I enjoyed the lessons very much, because you're learning together with the people from the course. And it's also not to difficult in the beginning. Pimsleur is really ok, for comprehension and pronunciation, but it's not worth the money. I'm not very convinced that Assimil is a good method for me. Maybe there are not enough examples in the book, but I will continue to finish it. The "Prisma" book is excellent. I think it's comparable with the books from the "colloquial" series. Maybe the best method of all is to just learn yourself the language from flashcards, movies, music, making translations, wordlists, contact with people from your target language etc. Edited by Aquila on 30 November 2009 at 1:05pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| papillon Bilingual Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5682 days ago 29 posts - 35 votes Speaks: English*, Vietnamese* | Message 71 of 376 26 November 2009 at 4:55am | IP Logged |
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My all time three favorite programs are
1. FSI 2. DLI 3. Allemand facile by Edition Atlas 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lindsay19 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5824 days ago 183 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC1 Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 72 of 376 27 November 2009 at 6:49am | IP Logged |
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I've had the most experience using Teach Yourself/Colloquial and similiar materials. I am most comfortable with the layout they use; I've tried audio-based programs one uses in the car, etc., but I'm a very visual learner and need to have the words in front of me. I'm not a fan of Kauderwelsch, except in the case of Faroese; it was one of the only books I could find on it.
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