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Audio-only courses | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5951 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 9 of 15 04 October 2012 at 9:51am | IP Logged |
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I've used a lot of all audio courses, and they tend to differ a bit in quality. Here's my take on all that I've used.
Michel Thomas - Very good for grammar but pronunciation can be an issue. You hear two student with poor pronunciation a lot. Pimsleur - Extremely good on pronunciation but very weak on grammar and spelling. Linguaphone - All Talk - 16 hours of audio but a lot of it is English. I did the French All Talk and I don't think it covers 2,000 words. Vocabulearn - A pleasant way to learn words in isolation, however, the music can grate. My other problem is it's not good on an MP3 player outdoors. Learn in you Car - The first level is a small bit like a phrase book, the later levels drill grammatical concepts. FSI Fast courses - These are not pure all audio courses, but they contain a lot of English cues in the audio. No-Time series - A very strange language product that doesn't use native speakers. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4350 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 10 of 15 04 October 2012 at 7:12pm | IP Logged |
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I've used Learn in Your Car and Vocabulearn for Spanish; they're both made by Penton
Overseas for a number of languages, and are available most cheaply by buying the "Penton's 24" pack which includes all levels of both programs plus the 3 CD "ImmersionPlus" set. The method is certainly nothing special, it's just English phrase (Learn in Your Car) or word (Vocabulearn), followed by L2 word or phrase, listen and repeat. But it covers a lot of vocabulary and grammar and the speakers are very good, clear but quicker than many programs. The sound is also very good. I used it in the car and while doing dishes. There's no built-in repetition; you just have to repeat lessons, and likely many times. It comes with three little booklets that are essentially transcripts, but I only sometimes felt the need to refer to them after listening to a CD the first time, and generally just for a few minutes. Another one that hasn't been mentioned is "Behind the Wheel," which is available for a fair number of languages and is pretty cheap. There are 3 levels for Spanish and 2 for French, but I think most languages only have 1. The creator of the program claims that he has some special method involving memory techniques, and he's on all the CD's explaining things at length in English, which I found annoying. I guess in this way it's kind of like MT, which I've never tried. The native speaker on Spanish 1 has an over-the-top smooth-jazz DJ sort of voice and delivery, and several of the speakers on 2 and 3 have very unpleasant, and uncultured-sounding voices and accents. What's good about them? They cover much more grammar and vocabulary than Pimsleur, have built-in repetition, and are so laid-back that they won't interfere with concentrating on the road (these latter 2 points are in contrast with Learn in Your Car.) I checked them out of the library, and would recommend giving them a few listens if you can do the same. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4410 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 11 of 15 08 January 2013 at 6:27pm | IP Logged |
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A free audio-only program that is available for multiple languages is
Book2 7 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4709 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 12 of 15 14 January 2013 at 8:48pm | IP Logged |
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I don't see them mentioned much here, but Teach Yourself has a couple of all audio courses, that are actually identical:
Teach Yourself X Conversation = Teach Yourself Speak X with Confidence. It doesn't cover a whole lot, but I think it does a good job with what it covers, and the price is usually not too bad. Very useful in the first few months of learning. I used the French version after I'd been learning for about a year, just before visiting France. I found myself using phrases from this course more than phrases from other courses such as Pimsleur. As to content, the French and German courses are very much focused on tourist topics, but the Hindi course is a bit broader. There is a new, updated version of the French course, called Get Talking French and Keep Talking French. These are built around the same dialoges as the previous courses, but include a lot more practice material. I think it's a definite improvement. These courses wont teach you mountains of language, but they are pretty good at what they teach, and fill in some of the vocabulary gaps left by Pimsleur. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5365 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 13 of 15 15 January 2013 at 10:40am | IP Logged |
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The follow on courses to the ones Jeffers mentioned 'Teach Yourself Phone X' are worth doing - same
concept but with harder language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7021 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 14 of 15 13 August 2013 at 2:16am | IP Logged |
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Pimsleur is the most popular all audio course from my experience. Learning Like Crazy
has copied the method and made programs for Spanish and Italian. Abbreviated to LSLC or LILC. Babelyak is another company who also copied the Pimsleur method, but does not acknowledge Pimsleur from what I have read. Upon hearing lesson 2, there were noticeable mistakes. An example is the question: "Can you guess which part of that means Spanish, as in a Spanish woman?" The reply on the audio is "Americana". There are other errors, so best to avoid it, as one would be drilling the mistakes. A Russian course is available and French was suppose to be released, but never has. The copyright is 2010. The phone number and email does not work, so I believe they are likely out of business. This is on the website: "We are the only language learning program with which you can learn to speak fluently, on-the-go and without the hassle of bringing a computer." Notice the part speak fluently. The only resemblance Paul Noble has to Pimsleur is it is all audio. Paul Noble copied the method from Michel Thomas. One other all audio course, which is suppose to be advance and should be taken after the all audio beginner courses like Pimsleur is from Story Time Language Learning. They released a Spanish program. Portuguese, French and Italian courses are in the works. I could not find a phone number and they are copyrighted 2011. I do not know if they are still in business as well. I would not risk buying, unless you are in contact with someone. A person can buy some of the MP3's on Amazon.com under "Story Time Spanish". One so called intermediate to advance Russian course is by Audialearn. The compay acknowledges if you have finished Pimsleur or Michel Thomas, then use Audialearn afterwards. There website does not seem to be around anymore either. You can take a look at reviews on Amazon.co.uk Edited by alang on 13 August 2013 at 2:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5175 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 15 of 15 13 August 2013 at 2:52am | IP Logged |
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Another is Synergy Spanish. I have only heard wonderful things about it. I wish I knew about it when I was starting Spanish.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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