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hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5129 days ago

1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 97 of 200
19 April 2011 at 5:01pm | IP Logged 
Abazid wrote:

Quote:
Just curious, based on the cefr language ranks, what would you rate your current
speaking/listening/reading/writing at? Also, how many words would you say you know?


I'm totally new to the whole CEFR ranking , So I'm not sure if this is true , I'd say just at the beginning of B1 at both listening & speaking , And at the End of A1 in Reading & Writing , If it helps , I could show you the MT third level to see for yourself if you'e knowldegeable in Russian .

How are you measuring your levels? I think you're overestimating your B1 level for speaking, at least. You can't just listen to a language and come out speaking it. Speaking is a learned skill and takes practice. Lots of it. It's not much different from any other muscle training. You may have the words and sentences all formed in your head, but I can guarantee you that it takes a lot more work to actually get them out of your mouth in a non-halting, stuttering manner without a lot of practice.

R.
==
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Abazid
Diglot
Newbie
Egypt
Joined 5016 days ago

16 posts - 23 votes
Speaks: Arabic (Egyptian)*, English
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 98 of 200
19 April 2011 at 5:29pm | IP Logged 
hrhenry wrote:
Abazid wrote:

Quote:
Just curious, based on the cefr language ranks, what would you rate your current
speaking/listening/reading/writing at? Also, how many words would you say you know?


I'm totally new to the whole CEFR ranking , So I'm not sure if this is true , I'd say just at the beginning of B1 at both listening & speaking , And at the End of A1 in Reading & Writing , If it helps , I could show you the MT third level to see for yourself if you'e knowldegeable in Russian .

How are you measuring your levels? I think you're overestimating your B1 level for speaking, at least. You can't just listen to a language and come out speaking it. Speaking is a learned skill and takes practice. Lots of it. It's not much different from any other muscle training. You may have the words and sentences all formed in your head, but I can guarantee you that it takes a lot more work to actually get them out of your mouth in a non-halting, stuttering manner without a lot of practice.

R.
==


Like I said I'm new to the whole CEFR ranking ,I mentioned I'm in the "first" degree of B1 because my experience matches their description :

B1 - Intermediate level - Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest.

And if you've done MT , It's all about Listening & testing oneself in speaking , And yes coming up with the words used to take much effort in the beginning , But as I've progressed the time needed decreased and the whole translating process decreased , In the 3rd course it became natural to come up with words without thinking , But I still got a lot to learn anyways .

I've mentioned that I could provide the 3rd course manual to someone who has far superior language skills in russian as ways for ranking the material that seems advanced for me , I could be wrong after all =) .


Edited by Abazid on 19 April 2011 at 5:32pm

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hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5129 days ago

1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 99 of 200
19 April 2011 at 5:40pm | IP Logged 
Abazid wrote:

B1 - Intermediate level - Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest.

You forgot the last sentence: "Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans."
Quote:

And if you've done MT , It's all about Listening & testing oneself in speaking , And yes coming up with the words used to take much effort in the beginning , But as I've progressed the time needed decreased and the whole translating process decreased , In the 3rd course it became natural to come up with words without thinking , But I still got a lot to learn anyways .

I've mentioned that I could provide the 3rd course manual to someone who has far superior language skills in russian as ways for ranking the material that seems advanced for me , I could be wrong after all =) .

I've done the Polish Foundation and Advanced courses, and I would not have been able to place myself at a B1 level after completing them. Extra vocabulary wouldn't have helped much in that regard either. Maybe the Russian Vocabulary course also has more grammar - I don't know as I've not done the course.

But the sentence which you omitted is really what bumps your level up from A2 to B1, in my opinion.

R.
==
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Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5380 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
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 Message 100 of 200
19 April 2011 at 5:46pm | IP Logged 
Abazid wrote:
B1 - Intermediate level - Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken.

Have you spoken to people in a work or school environment in Russian? Can you really deal with "most situations likely to arise whilst travelling"?

Others here may be willing to grant you A2, but I'm not that generous. If you're going to claim that you've reached B1 in a weekend, you'll need to back it up.
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Abazid
Diglot
Newbie
Egypt
Joined 5016 days ago

16 posts - 23 votes
Speaks: Arabic (Egyptian)*, English
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 101 of 200
19 April 2011 at 6:25pm | IP Logged 

Quote:

You forgot the last sentence: "Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans."




Yes ,Briefly & in a generally predictable manner I could ,But I can't go in lots of sophisticated adjectives in regards of intricate details like I do with English , If that means that my skill level between A2 & B1 , That's fine by me , That was never my goal ,I can't be sure where exactly I am with a ranking system that I don't understand

Quote:

I've done the Polish Foundation and Advanced courses, and I would not have been able to place myself at a B1 level after completing them. Extra vocabulary wouldn't have helped much in that regard either. Maybe the Russian Vocabulary course also has more grammar - I don't know as I've not done the course.

But the sentence which you omitted is really what bumps your level up from A2 to B1, in my opinion.

R.



Yes it does have more grammatical structures and it fills the gaps in the previous programs in regards to situations , Here's part of the description :

Quote:

Learning vocabulary is notoriously difficult if attempted in the traditional way – with long lists and hours of memorisation. However, with the Michel Thomas Method, new words and phrases are presented in such a way that they cannot be forgotten. They are interwoven with what has gone before so they are imprinted in your knowledge bank for ever.

The vocabulary in the courses is carefully chosen from a relatively small number of ‘power words’ which open up an amazing range of expression and comprehension.

Building and expanding on the language structures taught in the Foundation and Advanced Courses, these new Vocabulary Courses give you all you need to enjoy travelling in the Russian-speaking world, be it for business or pleasure.

Source




Quote:
Have you spoken to people in a work or school environment in Russian? Can you really deal with "most situations likely to arise whilst travelling"?

Others here may be willing to grant you A2, but I'm not that generous. If you're going to claim that you've reached B1 in a weekend, you'll need to back it up.


I'm very satisfied with my effort & my results and whether granted A1 or B1 in anybody's opinion , It doesn't matter much to me , Whatever I'll do anyway won't change your strong disbelief & constantly skeptical attitude of what is & isn't possible anyway , So whatever you say about me is true ;) .




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Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5380 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 102 of 200
19 April 2011 at 6:37pm | IP Logged 
Abazid wrote:
I'm very satisfied with my effort & my results and whether granted A1 or B1 in anybody's opinion , It doesn't matter much to me , Whatever I'll do anyway won't change your strong disbelief & constantly skeptical attitude of what is & isn't possible anyway , So whatever you say about me is true ;) .

Oh come on -- there is a huge difference between claiming A1 or B1 after a few days and you know it. If we are reading this thread, it's because we want to know that you did X and it yielded Y. As it stands, what Y is is still a mystery.
1 person has voted this message useful



hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5129 days ago

1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 103 of 200
19 April 2011 at 6:57pm | IP Logged 
Abazid wrote:

I'm very satisfied with my effort & my results and whether granted A1 or B1 in anybody's opinion , It doesn't matter much to me , Whatever I'll do anyway won't change your strong disbelief & constantly skeptical attitude of what is & isn't possible anyway , So whatever you say about me is true ;) .

The reason for the skepticism is because what you've done was done in a vacuum. It's really easy to overestimate your abilities with nothing external telling you how far you've progressed other than the Michel Thomas Method's own course.

The real test comes when you start using the language with people. Get on Skype, find a language partner - you said you have a lot more to learn anyway. Once you start speaking the language with native speakers, you'll have a much more honest assessment of your abilities and where you need to improve.

This isn't about you succeeding or failing. It's about fairly assessing your progress.

R.
==

Edited by hrhenry on 19 April 2011 at 6:58pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Abazid
Diglot
Newbie
Egypt
Joined 5016 days ago

16 posts - 23 votes
Speaks: Arabic (Egyptian)*, English
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 104 of 200
19 April 2011 at 8:00pm | IP Logged 
hrhenry wrote:
Abazid wrote:

I'm very satisfied with my effort & my results and whether granted A1 or B1 in anybody's opinion , It doesn't matter much to me , Whatever I'll do anyway won't change your strong disbelief & constantly skeptical attitude of what is & isn't possible anyway , So whatever you say about me is true ;) .

The reason for the skepticism is because what you've done was done in a vacuum. It's really easy to overestimate your abilities with nothing external telling you how far you've progressed other than the Michel Thomas Method's own course.

The real test comes when you start using the language with people. Get on Skype, find a language partner - you said you have a lot more to learn anyway. Once you start speaking the language with native speakers, you'll have a much more honest assessment of your abilities and where you need to improve.

This isn't about you succeeding or failing. It's about fairly assessing your progress.

R.
==


I'm not quite sure if you're aware that the teacher in MT Russian course is a native speaker , Not including the fact that the whole premise of the MT course is the confidence resulted from constant layered testing of oneself and then correction if wrong through the voice of a native speaker (Not true about the courses done by Michel Thomas himself) , So I'd say that "Learning in a Vacuum" is pretty much not true in anyway .

And basically ,I don't really have much time right now to look around for people to socialize with in Russian and to "test" myself , I can pretty much understand the clear general words pronounced in most of the movies I've downloaded , But not the harder ones especially as they have different accents and they're very fast and they seem to take back some of the endings as well , The best I can do right now is to show you the user guide of the 3rd level as a gesture of sharing my own progress not as proof of anything for you to see , I've mastered most of what was in the audio and currently working on the extra exercises included inside .

MT User Guide

Edited by Abazid on 19 April 2011 at 8:03pm



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