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The Practice and Improve Courses | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| PaulyGod Tetraglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6383 days ago 16 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian, French | Message 1 of 6 11 October 2008 at 4:19am | IP Logged |
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I'm interested to know what people think about the practice and improve courses in the various languages they come in. In particular, what do you think re:
1. How good they are. 2. How good a follow on they would be from the Assimil with Ease level courses. 3. The level they would take learners to. Thanks a lot. PaulyGod 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| PaulyGod Tetraglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6383 days ago 16 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian, French | Message 2 of 6 11 October 2008 at 2:18pm | IP Logged |
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I should mention that I'm referring to the courses published by Passport Books.
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| kmart Senior Member Australia Joined 6130 days ago 194 posts - 400 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 3 of 6 18 October 2008 at 5:07am | IP Logged |
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PaulyGod
I've got Practice and Improve Italian waiting for me in the USA when I visit my daughter there in 3 weeks time. I'll let you know what I think of it, when I've had a chance to try it out. ;-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| TerryW Senior Member United States Joined 6363 days ago 370 posts - 783 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 6 18 October 2008 at 5:00pm | IP Logged |
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Are you talking about the series from 1988 or so? Did they reissue those?
I bought a bunch of them (used cassette versions) in different languages, from ebay and Amazon sellers, to add to my arsenal for future study. I think there are only Spanish, French, Italian, and German. There is a "Practice & Improve PLUS" series also, which are more advanced, but even the non-plus (?) ones are probably not for beginners, since there are no English translations, just transcripts in the languge and some liberal vocabulary notes in English. If I recall, it says right on the case that it's for people who already know some of the language. Good for listening comprehension. I haven't really used them. I had started on the Spanish one, only to find that the cassette labeled "Tape 1" was actually a duplicate of Tape 3. Without being able to start "at the beginning," I put it on the shelf with the other stuff for "some day." 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jmlgws Senior Member Canada Joined 7108 days ago 102 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Mandarin | Message 5 of 6 19 October 2008 at 7:24am | IP Logged |
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PaulyGod,
You might look at ProfArguelles' review of PAI (he has a thread here, and a link to video reviews of different materials, including an entry for Passport books here) I have bought PAI German, PAI+ German and PAI Spanish, and am listening/shadowing the first two. I'd say roughly they are at the same level as Assimil, perhaps a bit easier than "Using German" but higher than "German with Ease" (just because German with Ease has some fairly basic introductory lessons). They do have a different feel to them though; Assimil works in some historical information and culture about the target language, while PAI are more about the day in the life of so-and-so. PAI has faster speech, but perhaps less vocabulary. They do have exercises, and PAI+ has harder exercises than PAI, but in terms of speech they sound roughly the same level to me. The conversation part of PAI/PAI+ follow certain characters' lives/adventures. PAI German is about a guy who gets transfered to Zurich, falls for his female boss, eventually gets transferred to Houston; I haven't made it all the way through PAI+ German but it seems to be about a secretary who is involved with international students. After some conversation there would be some exercises (here PAI starts off at a very elementary level, e.g. this is the alphabet in German, later exercises might include taking bits of a job interview conversation and asking listeners to ask the candidate about his work experience). Except for a guy saying that this tape is from Passport books, this is the end of tape 4 etc., the tapes are completely in the target language. In between lessons there is "elevator music" of different types, I have grown to like it (if my concentration flags it gives my brain a break so I can concentrate again). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tapachula111 Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6285 days ago 22 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Italian, French | Message 6 of 6 23 October 2008 at 6:45pm | IP Logged |
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I use pai/plus for German, Spanish, and Italian. The story line is almost identical for all of them. I like that. These progtams seem to be in the high/intermediate level and the speech is rapid. They have really helped me with my listening skills.
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