The_Beholder Tetraglot Newbie Croatia Joined 5431 days ago 30 posts - 33 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, German, FrenchB1 Studies: Japanese
| Message 1 of 13 21 January 2010 at 8:36pm | IP Logged |
I've completed Michel Thomas French (Foundation, Advanced, Builder and Vocabulary) and I'm wondering what program/method should I use after completing it? Michel Thomas recommended reading and listening to native material, but it seems to me that it's too advanced for me and that I need something more to enrich my vocabulary and expressions. I had tried Linguaphone and Pimsleur, but quickly got bored with it because it assumes no previous knowledge of French and therefore badgers me with things I already know.
Any help appreciated, thank you.
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elvisrules Tetraglot Senior Member BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5468 days ago 286 posts - 390 votes Speaks: French, English*, Dutch, Flemish Studies: Lowland Scots, Japanese, German
| Message 2 of 13 21 January 2010 at 9:02pm | IP Logged |
I personally like FSI. I have done all the German Michel Thomas courses and started FSI a couple of weeks ago.
Not having done Michel Thomas it would have been quite intensive, but having well done so, you should get off to an easy start.
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The_Beholder Tetraglot Newbie Croatia Joined 5431 days ago 30 posts - 33 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, German, FrenchB1 Studies: Japanese
| Message 3 of 13 21 January 2010 at 10:14pm | IP Logged |
elvisrules wrote:
I personally like FSI. I have done all the German Michel Thomas courses and started FSI a couple of weeks ago.
Not having done Michel Thomas it would have been quite intensive, but having well done so, you should get off to an easy start. |
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Which version of FSI are you using? I've found the FSI website, and several versions are available for free download - Basic, FAST and few others.
Edited by The_Beholder on 21 January 2010 at 10:15pm
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Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6010 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh
| Message 4 of 13 21 January 2010 at 10:31pm | IP Logged |
After completing the Spanish Foundation course, I used a verb tenses book from Practice Makes Perfect. It helped me learn to get the spelling right and in French that will be even more important, given how many things sound the same even though they are written differently.
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Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5676 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish
| Message 5 of 13 21 January 2010 at 10:37pm | IP Logged |
The_Beholder wrote:
elvisrules wrote:
I personally like FSI. I have done all the
German Michel Thomas courses and started FSI a couple of weeks ago.
Not having done Michel Thomas it would have been quite intensive, but having well done
so, you should get off to an easy start. |
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Which version of FSI are you using? I've found the FSI website, and several versions are
available for free download - Basic, FAST and few others. |
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Basic is better for your purposes. Despite its name, it is quite comprehensive.
Edited by Paskwc on 21 January 2010 at 10:37pm
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elvisrules Tetraglot Senior Member BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5468 days ago 286 posts - 390 votes Speaks: French, English*, Dutch, Flemish Studies: Lowland Scots, Japanese, German
| Message 6 of 13 21 January 2010 at 11:13pm | IP Logged |
I've only used the FSI for German, not for French. But the Basic course is the one to follow.
It seems like the FAST covers specific survival topics but doesn't go deep into the language/grammar.
The 'Introduction to French Phonology' seems to be extra help with pronounciation. You could use this on the side, with the Basic course, if you have problems with that.
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Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5668 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin
| Message 7 of 13 21 January 2010 at 11:35pm | IP Logged |
The_Beholder wrote:
I've completed Michel Thomas French (Foundation, Advanced, Builder and Vocabulary) and I'm wondering what program/method should I use after completing it? Michel Thomas recommended reading and listening to native material, but it seems to me that it's too advanced for me and that I need something more to enrich my vocabulary and expressions. I had tried Linguaphone and Pimsleur, but quickly got bored with it because it assumes no previous knowledge of French and therefore badgers me with things I already know.
Any help appreciated, thank you. |
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Michel Thomas himself, at the end of the advanced course, recommends that you read newspapers and magazines, and particularly interviews. That is, don't make courses the main focus, but move on to authentic material. Fully realising, of course, that you will not understand everything. Getting used to uncertainty is important.
Having said that, an excellent (and cheap) textbook that I highly recommend for those who have just finished Michel Thomas is: Collins French Conversation This book is very much in the Michel Thomas style, in that it focuses on building block of grammar and conversation. I think of it as putting in writing what Michel Thomas puts in words.
Additionally, as you know, Michel Thomas is very heavily focused on spoken french, but gives you no help with reading. Therefore, I would aim to strengthen the reading side of things with French for Reading which is one of the books I found most valuable in my own study of French. It is a superb book that teaches you not just vocab and grammar, but also how to sniff out clues to meaning, and generally to understand written material without understanding all the words.
Edited by Splog on 21 January 2010 at 11:57pm
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The_Beholder Tetraglot Newbie Croatia Joined 5431 days ago 30 posts - 33 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, German, FrenchB1 Studies: Japanese
| Message 8 of 13 22 January 2010 at 2:47pm | IP Logged |
Thank you all. :)
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