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Living Language Complete Edition? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5139 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes  Speaks: Spanish* | Message 17 of 26 11 August 2014 at 1:05am | IP Logged | |||||
I believe actually the Japanese Linguaphone course relies on romaji, which is why I have avoided it. The Arabic course is highly regarded and of course employes the native script, as do the Hebrew, Thai, Hindi and Chinese ones (I have not been able to get my hands on the Korean course). The Persian and Cantonese courses are repackaged Teach Yourself books. What you say regarding the audio on the Living Language Complete courses is appalling. Based on what we have been able to gather on this thread so far, it seems to me few of these courses represent anything special considering what else is available for each language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4683 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 18 of 26 11 August 2014 at 8:19am | IP Logged | |||||
This is not remotely true for Japanese or Italian. I'd put the recordings closer to 60-75% in the target language. Some sections are 50/50, some are 100%. We all will like different courses, and have different opinions on them, but you should at least give a fair review. @Cavesa - the exaggerated claims irritate me too. Sadly, almost all the major courses seem to do this. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6950 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 19 of 26 11 August 2014 at 8:44am | IP Logged | |||||
The implicit preponderance of audio in English doesn't jive with Complete Korean either regardless of the other faults of the course. At this point, I think that it's better to look at a potential target language, and then check out which courses are available no matter who the publisher is. If I had done things the other way round, and let a big-name publisher's reputation, past successes or accounting goodwill be the deciding factor on whether to start learning a new language or not, then there's no way in hell I would have bothered with the Saamic languages, Finnish or Ukrainian to name a few since they're rather poorly served (if at all) by the big-name publishers and their shiny-ass marketing blowhards. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5139 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 20 of 26 05 October 2014 at 10:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, I finally decided to go ahead and order the Arabic course, which I received a few days ago. Naturally I haven't used it yet, but my initial impression is that it is indeed a basic introduction thinly spread out over as many volumes as possible. There is a lot of blank space on the pages and very little Arabic overall, few full dialogues, and almost no reading passages as far as I could see; many tables and lists, much explanation in English though. One positive aspect is that it indeed uses the Arabic script throughout.
For the price I find it acceptable as a basic introduction for select languages and will probably get the Hebrew one as well. For other languages with more resources from which to choose, such as the main European ones, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or even Hindi, and assuming they are of a uniform standard, I would not consider it. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5649 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 21 of 26 05 November 2014 at 5:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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I am interested in the differences between LL Complete Russian and LL Ultimate Russian
(Beginner-Intermediate). I have the latter, so I wonder if it is worth to but the "newer" version. Thank you. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 3846 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 22 of 26 07 November 2014 at 4:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hello QiuJP,
I have a copy of both the Living Language “Complete” and “Ultimate” courses for French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. While others may choose to disagree, in my opinion, the “Ultimate” versions are superior in every respect to the “Complete” versions. Assuming that you have adapted to the method of the “Ultimate” version and that you are making satisfactory progress, in my opinion, there is absolutely no advantage to buying the “Complete” version. If you want additional study material to supplement the “Ultimate” course, my initial recommendation would be that you consider using Assimil Russian. The Living Language Ultimate courses provide a more solid explanation of the structure of the language, but lack the (somewhat) pattern-drill nature of the Assimil course. The Assimil course provides more varied opportunities for practicing the language, but it is rather poor on structure. I don't think that a combination the Ultimate and Complete versions would provide as much benefit as the Ultimate and Assimil courses. However, if you are NOT are making satisfactory progress with the Living Language “Ultimate” course, several issues could be at play. Using the “Complete” version might help but, then again, it might not and this opens up an entirely different discussion and I am rather ill-placed to advise you on this. Edited by Speakeasy on 07 November 2014 at 4:36am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5649 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 23 of 26 07 November 2014 at 5:26am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi Speakeasy,
Thanks for the input. I have already completed the course LL Ultimate Russian(Beginner- Intermediate) and would actually like to buy and use LL Ultimate Russian (advanced). But it is already out of print and is "replaced" by LL Complete (It has three levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced). It seems that the "advanced" course in LL Complete Russian is lower in level than LL Ultimate Russian(Beginner-Intermediate). It seems that it will be better to use other courses which I bought in Russia earlier this year, or import more of them latter. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 3846 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 24 of 26 07 November 2014 at 6:02am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi QiuJP,
Random House, the publishers of the Living Language series have very deliberately attempted to create the impression (the illusion) that the latest edition of their "Complete" series will take the student to the "Advanced" level. IT WILL NOT! The series was previously entitled "Complete: the Basics" and it was just that, a BASIC introduction to a given language. With this latest edition, the publishers removed the first Study Unit and replaced it the contents of the previous "Starting Out" series and they labelled this part "Essential". Then they took the remainder of the previous "Complete" course, separated it into two sections, and labelled them "Intermediate" and "Advanced". This was a MARKETING PLOY and nothing more! Oh, I almost forgot, they included a few website "learning activities" that a four-year-old would find boring. If you want the Living Language Ultimate "Advanced" course, which Random House ceased publishing, you can still find copies on the Internet. Simply conduct a search by the title. Here's one from Amazon.COM Russian Ultimate Advanced. Try the Internet generally and Amazon, Alibris, AbeBooks, EBay specifically. If you want additional advice on advanced material for the study of Russian, I suggest that you open a separate discussion thread, explain that you have just finished the Living Language Russian Ultimate course and that you are seeking advice on where to direct your studies. Good luck! PS: J'ai remarqué que vous parlez français. N'oubliez pas donc Assimil "Perfectionnement Russe"! 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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