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Cultural/geographical tidbits in courses | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6973 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes  20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 1 of 2 11 January 2012 at 6:49am | IP Logged |
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Over the years I've come to appreciate courses for my target languages where dialogues or narratives invoke some "environmental realism" by using cultural or geographical elements associated closely with the target language. For example I remember fondly the old edition of "Colloquial Hungarian" which introduced the celebrations around pork. In the days before Wikipedia, and the absence of attendance of such celebrations, I got my introduction to a szalonnasütés (joining your friends for roasting bacon on an open fire and letting the lard drip onto slices of bread) and disznótor (feast on pork dishes with your friends (or the village) after the unfortunate pig has been acquired through the disznóölés or "pig-killing") through a couple of dialogues and narratives in the course. My Hungarian friends were mildly surprised when they found out that I had a fairly accurate idea of what to expect at such events even though I had not attended one (that was soon partially remedied when my friends used my szalonnasütés/disznótor "virginity" as an excuse to organize a szalonnasütés for the following day).
In addition I've also liked courses which have situations that incorporate landmarks, streets or even public transport routes. The new edition of "Colloquial Hungarian" has a noticeable slant to Budapest with several dialogues and narratives involving action using some of the city's landmarks as points of reference. I always smile when using certain courses if they incorporate settings that I've come to know in person. If you're like me and get a bit of a kick from a course's geographical or cultural realism, I'd recommend in particular the following courses: FINNISH "Finnish for Foreigners I" - Several chapters have dialogues and narratives that are set in Helsinki (especially downtown) including one where someone acts as a guide for a visitor pointing out landmarks and sections of Helsinki after having climbed the tower at the Olympic Stadium. "Kuulostaa hyvältä" - several dialogues make clear references to places in Helsinki and the accompanying video clips often have the characters superimposed on background scenes from the city. I find this course rather fun to watch since the screetscapes make my mind wander to good times in Helsinki. "Supisuomea" - as this is a video-based course, the lessons predictably involve Finnish landscapes/streetscapes. There is a particularly noticeable slant to action in Helsinki but there are various shots from other parts of Finland including one where the narrator talks about the Saami while reindeer herders do their work talking in Northern Saami. I find this course also rather fun to watch as the characters often talk with landscapes/streetcapes in the background that are personally familiar to me. "Teach Yourself Finnish" - the chapter about asking directions uses landmarks in downtown Helsinki as reference points. In addition a few dialogues are set with characters going to towns or mökki in Savo and Karelia. HUNGARIAN "Colloquial Hungarian" (old edition by Jerry Payne) and "Colloquial Hungarian" (new edition by Rounds and Sólyom) - see my previous comments SLOVAK "Colloquial Slovak" - the course is vaguely centered on Bratislava including one narrative talking about landmarks and streets in downtown Bratislava. One of the chapters also deals with a trip to the High Tatras with characters talking about the resorts and sights in the area. Not surprisingly, there's also a dialogue where one of the characters takes visitors to a restaurant so that they can order the national dish, bryndzové halušky. :-P What have the rest of you found when it comes to environmental realism in language courses? How have they enriched your studies (if at all)? Are there courses that you would recommend for their attention to these kinds of details? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5968 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 2 of 2 11 January 2012 at 11:50am | IP Logged |
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HUNGARIAN
As Chung mentions Colloquial Hungarian contains a number of Hungarian cultural facts. I haven't purchased the new edition, but it seems like it's a complete rewrite, and not just a revision. Is this correct ? A tourist trip along the Danube describes some sites in Hungarian Assimil, while the Danube crops up again in discussions about Hungarian produce in the FSI Basic Hungarian course. SPANISH Assimil's Using Spanish has a lot of geographical information on Spain, with each of the regions getting it's own lesson. However, the translations are dire, making it a difficult to use course. The Platiquemos and FSI Spanish course use a made up country, Surlandia, and contain no cultural information. My current Spanish study uses the audio magazine PuntoyComa which is crammed full of geographical, cultural and social articles. RUSSIAN Russia, it's geography and culture gets treated well in the Russian Linguaphone course, but it all relates to the Soviet era. This problem also exists in Modern Russian 1. The new Teach Yourself Russian Complete course is a little light on geography for my liking. I haven't got very far in the New Penguin Russian course but it has some mention of Russian food. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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