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Language plan - it’s not just about Pimsleur | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| polyglHot Pentaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5069 days ago 173 posts - 229 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, German, Spanish, Indonesian Studies: Russian | Message 9 of 44 27 February 2011 at 11:03am | IP Logged | ||
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So what will you use Russian for? If not for speaking?
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| LatinoBoy84 Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5578 days ago 443 posts - 603 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Latvian | Message 11 of 44 27 February 2011 at 3:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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http://russianpodcast.eu/ is an excellent Russian podcast, and it is probably the only
one that is updated regularly (free PDFs too). 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Shenandoah Newbie United States Joined 5030 days ago 30 posts - 59 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 12 of 44 27 February 2011 at 3:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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I use a variety of sources.
1) Rosetta Stone - I am in those lessons well ahead of where I am in the rest of my studying, to sort of give myself an overview of what's to come, without necessarily understanding all of it. I don't have the problems I've seen a lot of people indicate with Rosetta Stone (lack of understanding the pictures, etc) - however, I have to be careful because it's very easy to "game" the system, even unintentionally (that is, just pull out one key word from the phrase to match it to a picture, without understanding anything else that was said). Looking back, I'm not sure the cost/benefit is really worth it. Since I have it, I do find value in continuing to use it. I'm in the middle of Level 3 at the moment, and will probably finish all 5. 2) Class - I'm in a small immersion class of 8 students. I actually think these classes are done very well - nothing like classes I've taken in the past. I've taken an Arabic class and German class as an adult, in a setting that wasn't a whole lot different than the typical high school class, and didn't get anything out of them. These French classes I come away feeling like I learn a ton each and every lesson. 3) Reading - right now I'm at the level of reading kids books, easy readers, and TinTin (French comic book). I'll advance my books as I feel comfortable with them. As secondary sources 4) Textbook - Slowly working through to help solidify grammar rules and that sort of thing. 5) Pimsleur - Helps with pronunciation, although I wouldn't bother if it wasn't free from the library. It just gives me something to do on my commute to work. I'm doing the very early levels - I know the vocabulary really thoroughly already, so am just focusing on the pronunciation. 6) Flashcards - On my BlackBerry to play with when I'm on public transportation, mostly covering things we're working on in my class. After reading everything here, I've been debating whether to add Assimil to my plan, but at this point I'm not sure how much it would give me over what I'm already doing. So I keep going back and forth on it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tmp011007 Diglot Senior Member Congo Joined 6072 days ago 199 posts - 346 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese | Message 13 of 44 27 February 2011 at 6:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Portuguese Language
1) I'm a native Spanish speaker so first: FSI from Spanish to portuguese pois não brazilian portuguese course *another Spanish to portuguese guide a frequency dictionary of portuguese talking brazilian *pronunciation 2) then normal courses: pimsleur brazilian portuguese *soft "drilling" FSI portugues programmatic course DLI basic courses portuguese head start teach yourself portuguese colloquial portuguese of brazil ultimate portuguese falar ler escrever portugues ben-vindo lingua portuguesa 3) vocabulary: rosetta stone portuguese 2 *emphasis on the audio audio companion rosetta stone portuguese 3 say it right in brazilian portuguese 4) grammar: verbos guia pratico de conjugacao e concordancia teach yourself portuguese grammar guia prático dos verbos com preposiçőes 5) native speakers: livemocha babbel orkut priorités d'action? 1, 2 and 5 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5568 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 14 of 44 27 February 2011 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I am a Pimsleur hater, but that doesn't mean I do not use it.
Here is the plan I used with German: I read and listened to Assimil German without Toil from the start during all this stuff. With Assimil I like to go slowly and just listen and take it in - 1. MT Foundation and Advanced - but a quick run through of the Advanced 2. Pimsleur I, 3. Teach Yourself Conversation (the CD only ones) together with a really basic grammar book (the Dover series) 4. Pimsleur II-III together with the MT Word Builder 5. Redid Michel Thomas Foundation and Advanced. OK, so that made me feel like I had a basic grasp of the language, then: Living Language Ultimate Beginner to Intermediate Hugo in 3 months The 1970-80s Linguaphone course Assimil German Without Toil - active wave and that's where I am at the moment! Edited by Elexi on 27 February 2011 at 7:11pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| anothername Triglot Groupie Brazil Joined 5064 days ago 96 posts - 195 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English | Message 15 of 44 27 February 2011 at 8:06pm | IP Logged | ||
I would have answered you before, but I assumed it wasn't directed to me, since you didn't quoted me. But reading in context, now I realize you asked me. Well, obviously I'm learning russian for speaking also, although I do not learn languages for speaking purposes only. And, in fact, not living in a russian environment (you seem to be a norwegian, so you have a much better oportunity to do so), I strongly believe that reading is considerably more important to me than speaking. That applies to any foreign language I study. So, I do feel reading (and, even more, writing) is sometimes a very neglected competence when it comes to language learning. But, my purposes aside, yes, I do believe I will become a pretty good russian speaker as well, to my needs, using only (in fact, it's probably too much) the materials I mentioned. But I see your point, because your plan has a strong focus on audio-only materials. So, let me say that I'm not a strong believer on Pimsleur and alikes, because I need the language on its written form since the beginning, preferably accompained with well-explained grammar. I'm not saying that you need, it's me. I even tried to learn German starting with Pimsleur some years ago, and, while I think it's really well done, it was annoying to me to not knowing how to decipher the sounds in terms of written/writable words, so I switched to more conventional materials and succeeded quite well without it. Perhaps I will give it a try again, but honestly I don't feel the need. But let me say that I have also explored Pimsleur Russian a bit, and it is far, far worse than Pimsleur German. I'm not against outdated vocabulary/phrases in a course, unless it has no much more than that to offer. Ok, it has pronunciation basics, but frankly you can get it everywhere. But it's up to you. More and more, I'm getting the feeling that Pimsleur (and stuff like "in your car", etc.) is only for intuitive learners that feel they can "absorb" the language only by listening/repeating a limited amount of phrases. Nothing against, but since my first post I made clear that it's a matter of learning style. I'm more an analytical learner, and it works for me. I was just curious if you ever tried some of the materials I mentioned. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Baracuda Groupie United States Joined 5808 days ago 53 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French, Russian, German | Message 16 of 44 27 February 2011 at 11:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been going through Spanish with Ease at a leisurely pace. I can't say I have a plan with Spanish, I'm just kind of winging it. Later this year I plan to begin studying Russian. I'm somewhat intimidated by Russian, and believe I'll need to have a plan of attack before starting, so here it is:
- Michel Thomas beginner and advanced - I'm thinking that after getting an introduction on how Russian works that I'll be able to digest the the material from Le Russe Sans Peine more quickly without the need of multiple examples before I "get it". Get it? - Le Russe Sans Peine (need to brush up my French first) - I'm hoping to assimilate vocabulary and grammar in a painless way. - Modern Russian 1 & 2 - I'm hoping that if I know the vocabulary and grammar from Assimil's Le Russe Sans Peine, I won't have to drill as much as if I began with Modern Russian's pattern drills, and I won't die of boredom before I can speak Russian :) When finished with these materials I hope to listen and read Metro 2033! I also plan on carrying with me a copy of Cortina's Russian in 20 lecons, and the Berlitz Self Teacher Russian, but not until I get a better idea of pronunciation. I plan on studying a bit on my morning commute and during spare moments at work ;) This is how I plan to start on Russian. Edited by Baracuda on 27 February 2011 at 11:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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