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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| viking Tetraglot Newbie Norway viking-vocation Joined 5961 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish, Danish Studies: German, Latin | Message 1 of 12 20 June 2008 at 4:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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The bottom-line is that I have a year to study German and Latin, to be able to go on to study next year. I want to think of it as a normal school day, although I will be studying from home. What course should I use, and how should I start? I already know a bit German, but most of it because I am a native speaker of Norwegian.
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 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6729 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 12 20 June 2008 at 5:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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In the other thread Victor suggested "Warum nicht?", which can be found here:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,2548,00.html I haven't had a look at that myself, but am familiar with for instance FSI German. Another tool useful tool is LingQ. Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 20 June 2008 at 5:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| viking Tetraglot Newbie Norway viking-vocation Joined 5961 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish, Danish Studies: German, Latin | Message 3 of 12 21 June 2008 at 10:24am | IP Logged | ||
I'll check "Warum nicht?" out. I see that it is geared towards A1, and B1 levels. Right now I'm at a beginner level, and I need to reach a high level of fluency and understanding at the end of this year. What I need help with mostly is to figure out something I can do each day, since I need to use a substantial amount of learning the languages, at least two hours each day. I want a "Masterplan" for the year. Should I e.g just take different courses? How should I use this year to learn much German as possible. I will probably visit Germany several times. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6729 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 12 21 June 2008 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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OK, while I don't know anything about "Warum Nicht?" I can say that FSI is possible to complete within 5-6 months (really 24 weeks if the guidelines are followed), and LingQ is a neverending "course" where you pick the content you wish to study (and study it mainly by reading and listening). I could have mentioned Assimil's "German with Ease" too (which I learned from last year). Do a search for Assimil (or PM me) to get familiar with how it works (it's relatively cheap, very good in my opionion, and takes about 5 months to complete).
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| viking Tetraglot Newbie Norway viking-vocation Joined 5961 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish, Danish Studies: German, Latin | Message 5 of 12 22 June 2008 at 8:59am | IP Logged | ||
Which level will I be able to reach, if I use FSI, and stay some time in Germany? How do I use the FSI course? Do I print out the PDF file which is online, and listen to the MP3's, or should I rather buy a book? So far FSI is most tempting. Pimsleur is tempting as well, but it is rather expensive. Would it be a problem to study Latin and German at the same time? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| viking Tetraglot Newbie Norway viking-vocation Joined 5961 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish, Danish Studies: German, Latin | Message 6 of 12 22 June 2008 at 10:15am | IP Logged | ||
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I have looked a bit at the FSI course, and it seems to be geared towards teaching in class, and with a teacher. How easy is it to transfer it to a situation where you study alone? Does the audio, then take the part of the teacher?
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| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6729 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 12 22 June 2008 at 4:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think it is any major problem to study several languages at once except for the fact that the possible study time per language is drastically decreased, i.e. you probably learn more of either language if you only focus on one (but there is no guarantee that the average Joe studying just one language learns even half as much as you do studying both German and Latin). One language may supplement the other in various ways, reinforcing ceratin grammatical concepts and who knows what.
As for FSI, the first lesson has a few dialogues broken down to words, then sentences. I used to listen to such a lesson just once (maybe twice if I found it particularly difficult). The next lessons have all kinds of drills, in which case it is a good idea to have the transcript in front of you (either printed or just on on the computer screen). I assume that you have read the introduction where it is said how much one is supposed to study, per day and per week, and at what speed you're supposed to be able to respond when prompted. I haven't spent anywhere near that much time on a unit, simply because I have years of German in my head and mainly want to revive it. The audio track won't ask you questions like "now, do you remember how to say good morning?", but rather says what you are supposed to do, sometimes explains grammar et.c. Give it a chance if you want. It may feel boring (as hell) in the beginning, and the vocabulary may seem totally irrelevant (the course was published a few decades ago), but after finishing it I think that it paid off. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| viking Tetraglot Newbie Norway viking-vocation Joined 5961 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish, Danish Studies: German, Latin | Message 8 of 12 24 June 2008 at 11:28am | IP Logged | ||
The manuscript I have, doesn't say anything about amount of time you should study each day, but it goes trough the various types of exercises, and emphasises that the course focuses on oral fluency. I think I will spend a maximum of two weeks on each unit. I'm a bit confused as to how I should use it. Is this correct?: - Listen to the tape without looking at the written dialogue. - Repeat above, until you feel a fluency in it - Memorize the sentences, so you will be able to answer the questions they ask - Go on to the other exercises in the unit. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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