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SLS Spoken Langage Services Russian | ||
Tags: Audio-lingual | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| jpazzz Groupie United States Joined 4843 days ago 54 posts - 76 votes  Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 4 16 March 2014 at 8:53am | IP Logged |
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Hello, As I mentioned recently in another post, I'd like to find a course that uses modified Audio-Lingual techniques (Pure AL probably doesn't exist) for some pattern drills in Russian. For my purposes, Modern Russian is overkill. What I'd like to find is a Russian equivalent to FSI/Barron's Basic German. I've acquired the textbooks to the Spoken Language Services Russian. The course looks interesting and suitable, but the tapes are quite expensive, and I should appreciate any experiences with this Russian course, or, I suppose, any of the SLS courses. And, if anyone can comment on the differences between the original Russian tapes and the extended tapes, I'd be very appreciative.
Cheers, John 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 3850 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 2 of 4 16 March 2014 at 4:03pm | IP Logged |
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INITIAL REPLY:
I have not used the Spoken Language Services Russian course and cannot comment on it. However, I found that the SLS German course was extremely limited; it appeared like an ersatz precursor of the first few units of FSI Basic German course, which is both superior and more complete. If you're looking for an "FSI-style" Russian course, I would recommend "Modern Russian" by Clayton L. Dawson et al. The Foreign Service Institute was one of the sponsors of this course and the presentation of the material follows exactly the same format as the FSI Basic courses of the same period. There are two textbooks, two workbooks, and one Instructor's manual. The accompanying audio files are 50+ hours in length. The initial sound files are keyed to the Instructor's manual. You can still find some resellers of the textbooks on the Internet and there may even be some sites that offer the original audio recordings. As to the latter, you need only visit the Indiana University website Recorded Materials Archives (Celtie), where the sound files are still freely available. Here's the LINK: http://www.iu.edu/~celtie/catalog1.html FOLLOW-UP REPLY: I have just reread your post and noticed that you find Modern Russian to be overkill; sorry for the oversight. You might try Assimil Russian which, in some respects, functions as an abbreviated-mini-FSI surrogate. Edited by Speakeasy on 16 March 2014 at 4:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jpazzz Groupie United States Joined 4843 days ago 54 posts - 76 votes Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 4 16 March 2014 at 9:33pm | IP Logged |
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Hello Speakeasy,
Thank you very much for your thoughts and sharing the benefits of your experience. I have the First volume of Modern Russian and the accompanying tapes. As I said, it is a bit much for my purposes. I've read (somewhere on this forum) that the later, expanded tape versions of the 1971 Linguaphone Russian has some pattern repetition/substitution drills, but I haven't checked to see if that is, indeed, the case. Thank you again for taking the time to respond to my post. Cheers, John 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 3850 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 4 of 4 16 March 2014 at 11:52pm | IP Logged |
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Hello jpazzz,
Well, blow me down and shiver me timbers! I have a copy of the Linguaphone Russian course, as well! It is the 1971 version and, as I bought it about a year ago, I assume that it is the latest edition, which was reprinted in 2004. I have not yet taken the time to delve into it. Nonetheless, I understand that, like all of the Linguaphone courses, it is very highly regarded. The central part of the course is a manual that contains a series of dialogues that increase in length and difficulty. The dialogues take up the major part of the audio. There are also two manuals containing extensive exercise material, both oral and written, along with a handbook. The oral exercises are "not quite" like the sentence pattern exercises in the Modern Russian course. The audio is spread over 8 cds. A couple of other points: If you are just embarking on the study of a language, my experience, along with that of some other independent learners, is that the older Linguaphone courses, such as the Russian course, while truly excellent, are "a little bit of a stretch" for the absolute beginner and this might be even more so with languages that are quite some distance from English. That is, it might be worthwhile gaining an elementary knowledge of the target language through the study a more basic course before attempting the Linguaphone courses. Perhaps other forum members would like to comment on this point? While I could be wrong, as far as I understand, there are two suppliers of the Linguaphone courses in North America: Linguaphone U.S.A. (Elite Commerce), and Multilingual Books. I might be breaking the forum rules by suggesting that you deal with Linguaphone U.S.A. However, they offer the courses at (1) regularly reduced prices, as well as (2) inventory-reduction prices. They also offer (3) refurbished courses at reduced prices. Apparently, the refurbished courses have merely been opened for display purposes but are intact in every respect. I purchased all of my Linguaphone courses (German, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish) at reduced prices. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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