Have you Completed FSI? (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Have you Completed FSI?
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Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes

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artistscientist
Diglot
Groupie
United States
artistscientist.blog
Joined 5753 days ago
49 posts - 49 votes
Speaks: English*, Tagalog
Studies: Spanish

Message 9 of 32

23 August 2009 at 11:44pm | IP Logged

Cage wrote:

I agree with dmt that fsi is the single best resource but it is not going
to get you there by itself. I found it grueling but the results I received were well
worth it. Besides platiquemos i used Programmatic, Assimil, Ultimate, Fsi Fast
Spanish, Learning Like Crazy, behind the wheel subjunctive, learn conversational
Spanish, street Spanish series, street wise Spanish, and Spanish for adults only,
countless grammar workbooks, verb workbooks, and readers, newspapers, magazines. DVD
movies with Spanish tracks worked well, Spanish tv, and of course extensive mingling
with the natives and my mexican lady friend. Native materials are needed to help put
you over the top. Oh yeah...the first thing I used was pimsleur. FSI was a little too
tough to start with no other experience at least for me anyway. My comprehension is in
the upper 90's% in all forms of media and listening to native speech. Getting jokes is
a still a weakness. I don't have any problem saying what I want to say in most
situations.

Cage,

Wow, that is impressive. How long did it take you to get through all those courses?
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coyote
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 6241 days ago
32 posts - 34 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French

Message 10 of 32

24 August 2009 at 7:32pm | IP Logged

I have done FSI Spanish and French. They were very comprehensive courses, and their strength is in learning the languages' structure. The only course I can really compare with them for comprehensiveness is French in Action; however, FIA seems to be the better for listening comprehension. The weaknesses of these courses is that they do not develop speaking and listening skills as well as other courses (Assimil, Michel Thomas, Pimsleur). But to be fair, the courses were originally designed as part of a larger program and were reinforced by eight hours per day of speaking and listening. You wouldn't get this effect by studying the course individually. I think FSI courses would be good after you're a good ways into a language, but not as an introduction. You might also beware that some of the courses are unlike others. I've heard that the Italian course is based on pronunciation and is pretty awful. You can find them on-line and might want to sample one before diving in.
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numerodix
Trilingual Hexaglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 6782 days ago
856 posts - 1226 votes

Speaks: English^C2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French
Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin

Message 11 of 32

24 August 2009 at 10:09pm | IP Logged

Has anyone done the Italian FSI? From what I understand you get the courses here: http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/Italian.aspx but the Italian page doesn't have any audio, just a pdf. I was thinking of doing it after Pimsleur but if there's no audio then I wonder if it's worthwhile.
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ribas
Pentaglot
Newbie
Brazil
blogmarceloribas.blo
Joined 5859 days ago
37 posts - 48 votes
Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish, French, German
Studies: Italian, Mandarin

Message 12 of 32

24 August 2009 at 10:21pm | IP Logged

numerodix wrote:

You can also try www.fsi-language-courses.org (.ORG), which has audio courses from FSI, including Italian.
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artistscientist
Diglot
Groupie
United States
artistscientist.blog
Joined 5753 days ago
49 posts - 49 votes
Speaks: English*, Tagalog
Studies: Spanish

Message 13 of 32

26 August 2009 at 8:23pm | IP Logged

Crush wrote:

Keithbc: I have more or less finished Platiquemos (I'm on Unit 51/55)
and really it was my main source of study. I put in at least 3 hours a day for a while
and then had a period of about four months (when I was on one of the units in the 20s)
where I didn't have a way to study use the course and where I studied a lot of
vocabulary using wordlists. A couple months ago I started studying Platiquemos again
(up until a couple weeks ago) and have gone through Unit 51 several times. I started
off with Pimsleur I/II and the Michel Thomas Foundation/Advanced courses, and after
that it's only been FSI and wordlists (up 'til a couple weeks ago I had never even had
a conversation with someone in Spanish).

Here's an assessment of where I think I stand after all this:
Reading: I can read most anything and at least get the gist, enough so that I could
give my thoughts on what I had just read. Really, for most everything but more
literary/technical books I generally range between 70%-80% comprehension.

Writing: With a dictionary, I can say pretty much whatever I want to say. I don't need
to resort to it nearly as often as I used to. I still make mistakes with the subjuntivo
and the pretérito/imperfecto and various other grammar mistakes pretty often, but I
think it's not generally overwhelming, by which I mean I don't make so many mistakes
that it is difficult (or annoying) to understand me.

Listening: This is definitely one of my weaker areas, simply because my vocabulary is
still pretty limited and it takes me a little while to get used to certain accents.
When someone talks to me I can usually understand, but listening to others speak or
watching Spanish TV shows still gives me trouble. I can make out words and sentences,
but Spanish still feels like a foreign language to me so I have to concentrate if I
want to understand what they are saying.

Speaking: Definitely my weakest area, but I would almost call myself conversational.
Not fluent, my active vocabulary is still too low and I make far too many grammatical
mistakes when speaking, but after not having really spoken to anyone after 7 or 8
months of study, my first conversations I was surprised at how much I could say. All
the information is there (in my head), but I can write it out a lot more quickly (and
with fewer grammatical mistakes) than I can say it.

To answer your questions:
How is your comprehension watching TV/Movies?
It depends, animated films I can usually understand much better than.. non-animated
ones. The sound tends to be clearer, I think. For non-animated films, I'd say my
comprehension hovers between 30%-50%, and for animated films between 50%-70%. Of
course, all these percentages I have used in this post are just guesses.

How are you comprehension with Radio?
I don't listen to the radio (in the car or online), so I can't really comment.

How well can you communicate in the language?
As I said before, I can usually convey what I want to through circumlocutions, but
sometimes there is a word I just don't know and can't describe. I remember asking for
the Spanish equivalent of "to rhyme" (rimar) and being unable to explain it clearly :P.

What are you doing know to improve or maintain your new language skills?
Now I am still finishing up FSI, but I have started also to put together parallel texts
and collect audiobooks to try out L-Ring (Listening-Reading). I'm also trying to visit
México (or really any country where Spanish is the most widely spoken language), but I
suppose the actual process of preparing to go isn't helping me improve my Spanish.

I think FSI Spanish (at least, Platiquemos) is a wonderful language resource. If you
aren't sure how you will do in a sort of "freer" or "looser" studying schedule, I think
you will enjoy how Platiquemos sort of keeps you on track. If you don't mind the drills
(I never had the same issue as jpxt2, at least not until some of the way later units
like 48/49 one of which was really difficult for me but I can't remember which one)
then I definitely reccommend it.

This is a very informative post. Thanks for posting it. I used to believe that if you
were able to finish FSI, you would be nearly fluent in the Language. Obviously it
takes much more than that.
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Cage
Diglot
aka a.ardaschira, Athena, Michael Thomas
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6623 days ago
382 posts - 393 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Portuguese

Message 14 of 32

29 August 2009 at 7:33am | IP Logged

I have been working on Spanish since 2002 and have used newer resources as they have become available. In my opinion FSI with its rapid fire speech helped my listening comprehension very effectively. I went through it several times. It was also good for speaking automaticity. I have generally devoted about two one hour time periods to language studies per day. The past year I have been spending more time on French and Portuguese. I do not recommend Michael Thomas because he is not a native speaker even though his method is effective. i wanted only native speakers to model the language. I do not recommend Rosetta Stone either. In my opinion it is too much bells and whistles for such a huge price tag. My apologies if this enrages anyone. Just my opinion. In my opinion the three giants in the field are FSI, Assimil, and Learning like crazy. I know FSI is not great in all languages though...such as Italian..that one is a turkey in MHO. Each of us has to find the resources that work best for us.
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jimbo baby!
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5976 days ago
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2 sounds
Speaks: English*

Message 15 of 32

29 August 2009 at 6:16pm | IP Logged

I worked with Barron's FSI French a few years ago and I couldn't make it through the whole course. This was back when it was on cassette. Now that it's gone digital it should be easier to work with and I plan on going back and trying to complete it. I still think I may need to take a stimulant so I don't get bored.

I remember the number drills being one of the most difficult parts of the course. The really big numbers took a while for me to visualize in my head and I had to pause the tape before the next one was read because I was still trying to figure out what the last one was. If I could ever get automaticity with recognizing big numbers when I hear them then I think a course like FSI would be worth it. Automaticity seems to be one of FSI's strength. That should be helpful with conjugating verbs without hesitation.
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Cage
Diglot
aka a.ardaschira, Athena, Michael Thomas
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6623 days ago
382 posts - 393 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Portuguese

Message 16 of 32

29 August 2009 at 7:25pm | IP Logged

Yes cassettes are for the birds!

Edited by Cage on 29 August 2009 at 7:27pm

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