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Relative thoroughness of FSI courses | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 1 of 22 01 November 2005 at 12:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Does each FSI "Basic Course" aim to reach the same level of proficiency across languages? It appears to me, from looking at the forum, that the comprehensiveness of the "Basic Courses" seem to vary, i.e., Basic German is only two levels, whereas Basic French and Spanish are both four?
Does that mean that Spanish and French are more comprehensive than German, or just that FSI expects you to study longer and harder on each tape/lesson for a shorter program? Thanks! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Shusaku Senior Member United States Joined 7098 days ago 145 posts - 157 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese | Message 2 of 22 01 November 2005 at 1:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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Some FSI courses will definitely take you further than others. The Spanish one is generally considered to be one of the best. For an interesting read, see the Administrator's Spanish success story - he became fluent in just 6 months of study.
The only FSI course I've personally looked at is the Cantonese one, which has two levels and teaches only around 950 words. I already knew pretty much all of the material prior to listening to this one, yet I still have a long road ahead until I reach fluency. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7102 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 3 of 22 02 November 2005 at 11:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I have all of the French and Spanish (Platiquemos) levels along with the first level of German. It seems to me that their German course has more pages to the book per level. Assuming this would imply more material, then I'd say they're about the same in thoroughness. The style of lessons on FSI German are different than others, so this also makes it hard to tell.
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| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 4 of 22 02 November 2005 at 12:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks! I'd eventually like to use both FSI Cantonese and Spanish (Platiquemos), so any feedback is really great. Right now, I'm going to stick to FSI German though...
Shusaka, do you think FSI Cantonese is useful even if you already know the vocabulary? Sir Nigel, since you have both, how would you describe the difference between FSI German and Platiquemos? I only have Barron's Mastering German right now, and it looks like the standard FSI formula that is described on this website (i.e., lots of replacement drills, pronunciation practice, etc.). What does the Spanish program add to the mix? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Shusaku Senior Member United States Joined 7098 days ago 145 posts - 157 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese | Message 5 of 22 02 November 2005 at 1:29pm | IP Logged | ||
Most likely not. Again though, I didn't go through the whole course - I mainly just listened to the dialogues at the beginning and end of each of the 30 lessons to see if there was anything I didn't understand. I'm sure this course would be useful for someone just starting out, but if you are already at an intermediate level, I don't think it would be worth the effort. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7102 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 6 of 22 02 November 2005 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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FSI French and Spanish seem to have less English writeups with the exercises and teach a bit more by repeating sentences and drills. The German course reads more like a general textbook for a language, I think it was designed more for classroom usage. You can dowload a sample of the Platiquemos course here and you can compare.
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| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 7 of 22 02 November 2005 at 2:35pm | IP Logged | ||
What are you using to learn? I guess I'll look for some other programs--FSI is really expensive, and it sounds like it's not worth it. I'm definitely not intermediate, but not a real beginner either. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| czech Senior Member United States Joined 7192 days ago 395 posts - 378 votes Studies: English* | Message 8 of 22 02 November 2005 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Basic Spanish Course is very consistent in the way each lesson is set up.
Dialog Drills Narratives and Additional Dialogs But more specifically: Dialog Grammar Drills Replacement Drills Variation Drills Review Drills Narratives and Additional Dialogs 1 person has voted this message useful |
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