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Classic combinations of language programs | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4677 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 1 of 9 26 February 2013 at 1:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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We have a great thread on our favorite language programs, but I find that it's the
combination of certain programs that really work for me. Background: When I first found HTLAL I asked about materials for pushing my French past the beginner level. The best advice I got was to watch the Prof Arguelles video Selecting Self-Study Materials. His recommendation was to use a combination of materials based upon your personal learning style: ANALYTIC MINDS 1. Start with a short overview that gives a bird's eye view of grammar and structure 2. Do one or two thorough and comprehensive grammar/translation courses. 3. Do a deductive / observational course such as Assimil or Linguaphone 4. Finish with a pattern / drill course LEARNS BY DOING 1. Start with a "full scale" Pimsleur course 2. Do a full pattern / drill course, such as FSI 3. Do a short course with a bird's eye view of grammar and structure to tie things together 4. Follow with a self-paced short pattern / drill course 5. Finish with a deductive / observational course such as Assimil or Linguaphone OBSERVATIONAL LEARNERS 1. Start with one or, if available, two Assimil courses, plus Linguaphone 2. Do a comprehensive grammar / translation manual 3. Finish with a full pattern / drill course, such as FSI Eighteen months on, and with a lot of trial and error, I think I finally have my own ideal method. And it's what I want to recommend every time someone asks, where do I start? 1 Start with a quick overview of the language (Michel Thomas; Teach Yourself or FSI FAST) 2. Pimsleur I & II 3. Assimil and FSI (first half), in conjunction 4. Pimsleur III (sometimes) 5. Assimil Second Book and FSI (continued) 6. Native materials; finish FSI (I've never actually finished a full FSI, but I will one day ...) It doesn't quite match the Prof's categories - it's a combo of Analytic and Learning by Doing - but I still think his overall concept is spot-on. Does anyone else have a favorite order of learning, or favorite combination of materials? Edit: The original post from July 2011 is here Edited by Fasulye on 05 March 2013 at 8:17am 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6370 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 2 of 9 26 February 2013 at 11:00am | IP Logged | |||||
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I find that there are huge differences in how one should approach languages depending on things like one's previous experience, the transparency of the language, the writing system, phonetic distance, complexity of grammar, your skill priorities and what kinds of special opportunities like access to native speakers you might have. All of these factors should influence what method you use, so I think that "general" advice is bad or at least very suboptimal. If you're learning Taiwanese as a native English speaker living in Taipei your methods should not be the same as if you're learning Latin as a native speaker of Spanish.
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4495 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 3 of 9 26 February 2013 at 1:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I sufficed with one FSI course to learn Swedish, that was more than enough.
I use more materials to study grammar/vocabulary based on my previous knowledge of that language and/or its family - for Swedish I had access to almost like 80% free vocab based on my Dutch, English and German and some French and Latin loanwords. I barely need to study vocab or grammar - I can just speak and pick up unknown expressions on the way. On the other hand, Russian requires a lot more concerted study and so does Hebrew, although its grammar isn't as foreign as that of Russian. I have almost the same with Romanian - my knowledge of French and Latin basically bonuses up my Romanian a silly extent, plus some Slavic loanwords I recognise from Russian (bogat means rich) means the effort concerted to speak Romanian is muuuuuch less than it is for Hebrew. I think one Assimil course in Romanian is enough to get me talking probably, although not eloquently, based on my French and my Latin. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jarel Diglot Groupie Turkey Joined 4114 days ago 57 posts - 77 votes Speaks: Turkish*, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 4 of 9 02 March 2013 at 12:24am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've always considered myself as an Analytic Minded person, afterall i work as a
financial analyst. So if i were to begin learning a new language from scratch; I should start with Michel Thomas Foundation; then go through a textbook and a French In Action style program; do Assimil and/or Linguaphone and then finish with FSI ? At least that's what i understood. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6385 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 5 of 9 02 March 2013 at 2:11am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hmm, I don't think MT is a good choice for the analytical mind. It's all about holding your hand and avoiding any grammatical terms and teaching you to combine familiar elements in new ways. It's a 'practical' overview maybe, but many need/like theoretical overviews too - at least reading through the wikipedia info or a grammar book or just a course that is oriented at global learners (not many).
I think these lists are more about *order* than combinations. TBH I'm surprised Prof Arguelles assumes most people need to go through so many courses, though for beginners this would be more understandable. My list is more like: 0. LR (optional at this point) 1. football/soccer 2. LR; lyricstraining; parallel texts (Ilya Frank's method actually) 3. online articles, GLOSS, twitter (including tweeting in the language myself, even if i just quote what the commentator said) 4. books, LR as base language 5. shadowing, practice if possible Otherwise, it basically depends on what's available, what I feel like and what I need. I've done at least a little Assimil in most of my languages, I have some SRS cards in all of them. I watch movies too though there are quite few I like. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jarel Diglot Groupie Turkey Joined 4114 days ago 57 posts - 77 votes Speaks: Turkish*, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 6 of 9 02 March 2013 at 2:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
I actually agree with your comment here; i am getting really annoyed by Michel Thomas foundation for German; because the two students that are present in the recordings are; no offense to anyone; really slow learners and them needing to think 45 seconds before responding and misspronouncing everything is really boring. But i needed an overview of language and i needed it on the move; while running or in the bus to work. So i need a total audio course. I got Pimsleur and Michel Thomas for that purpose. I tend to think Pimsleur German is ( even though it's not really an analytical method ) way better. I also bought Teach Yourself German by Paul Goggle and two Langenscheidt books ( kurzgrammatik and basic vocabulary ) as follow up to audio-introductory phase. Let's how it goes. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6993 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 7 of 9 02 March 2013 at 3:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
As Global learner, my preferred approach is like this: 1) Listen/reading an Assimil course or two a few times to understand the contents of the course and begin to get an ear for the language. Also read through a birds-eye view of grammar such as Essential French Grammar. 2) Multiple Assimil "passive" waves through multiple courses simultaneously. Begin shadowing. Eventually understanding the bulk of several courses and be able to shadow them pretty well. 3) Listen/Reading of interesting native materials with bilingual texts and audio. Support this with noting the finer points on Assimil courses, which will a much smaller part of study time by this point. 4) Continue using native materials, listen/reading, etc. Support with an FSI course to nail down automaticity using irregular verbs, grammar improvement, etc. Edited by luke on 02 March 2013 at 3:15pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6385 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 8 of 9 02 March 2013 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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