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Where does FSI leave you? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3702 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 1 of 9 15 August 2014 at 2:00am | IP Logged | ||
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I've searched this site and google, finding next to nothing. I'm asking specifically for the FSI German course, but I figured I'd make this thread general enough so that future readers will have an idea for where FSI would leave them off in the language they are studying.
So at what level does FSI leave a student? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4049 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 2 of 9 15 August 2014 at 3:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I converted the German FSI Vocab & Basic Sentences into an Anki deck and ended up with 3302 cards, so that's probably 1500-2000 vocab words, and I believe the courses cover all the main grammar points.
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| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3702 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 3 of 9 15 August 2014 at 3:44am | IP Logged | ||
Did you finish the whole course (both parts)? How well off were you at the end of it? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4049 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 4 of 9 15 August 2014 at 3:53am | IP Logged | ||
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I took 5 years of German in school years back, and I'm just using FSI to revive it and fill in any gaps my I may have missed. So I can't really say how far it gets you to by itself, and I'm still working through it.
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| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 3847 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 5 of 9 15 August 2014 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Evaluating the CEFR Level of a course is not an easy task and counting the number of words, in itself, is not necessarily a valid indicator. Nonetheless, I have the “feeling” that FSI Basic German would take a serious student somewhere around the B1 level, provided that he/she actually put in the mind-numbing hours of practice. But the same could be said of Assimil German and many other courses that address all of the major grammatical issues, that use a truly “practical, real-world” vocabulary, and that provide sufficient exercise material. For me, the real advantage of the FSI Basic courses lies in the drills; that is, the same basic vocabulary is reworked in vastly more numerous sentence-pattern drills than one would find in a commercial course, thereby increasing the likelihood of automaticity. For me, they operate somewhat like Karate kata; it is the sheer weight of thousands of drills that bring the student towards the B1 level. You might also consider Assimil German, but I would take the publisher’s assertion of B2 level with a grain of salt.
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| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5057 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 6 of 9 15 August 2014 at 5:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think I've seen anyone post about using FSI as their sole course or resource for learning a language in the four years I've been here. I agree with Speakeasy in that it's the drills that are useful and valuable. I don't think that the course, or any course for that matter, is sufficient on it's own in a self-learning environment. Ideally you should be going through another resource- native material, native-speakers, video course (Fokus Deutsch, for example) or the Deutsche Welle courses so you can take advantage of synergy. A disadvantage to going through courses sequentially instead of concurrently is that the benefits of synergy through simultaneous learning aren't as powerful.
To me, CEFR designations for courses can be highly misleading, the vocabulary, constructions and grammar taught may be at that level but a course on it's own offers little opportunity to consolidate what has been taught. When FSI developed these courses, they didn't just print them out and hand them over to the students with a bunch of tapes and say- "have at it". The course was a part of a complete learning strategy in a full day of instruction- involving drills, conversation, writing, speaking and listening. Student's had the additional incentive of "learn this language or lose your job" and the advantage of having learning the language as their job. In self-learning, FSI/DLI are good resources but the learning environment must be supplemented to make up for what's not included in the zipped file download that was included in the actual live course at the time. If you make FSI a part of a learning strategy or approach along with and alongside another resource and/or some comprehensible native material, I think, yes it will do you a lot of good. Edited by iguanamon on 15 August 2014 at 5:31pm 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3702 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 7 of 9 15 August 2014 at 10:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the replies, guys. I'm already working on Assimil (I'm on lesson 89 in the passive wave) and I've finished/am still working with other programs as well. I've never taken the official exam, but I'd say I'm somewhere between high A2 and early B1 (the DW test says I'm B1).
The reason I ask this is I would like a program that has me drilling with speaking. Assimil and DW are great for reading/listening/comprehension but don't have me speaking much. I know I can just read material out loud, but it's not the same as something that's designed for speech drills. Pimsleur was great for that but I finished it about a month ago. I messed around with FSI a while ago and, though it was pretty mind-numbing, it did have me drilling the stuff into my brain, which I like. I guess what I'm asking is: at this point, is there a point to using FSI or have I already exhausted what I could possibly gain from it? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 3847 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 8 of 9 16 August 2014 at 12:45am | IP Logged | ||
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As to using FSI Basic German, to a large extent, it depends on what your goals are. In my opinion, given the state of your current studies, FSI Basic German will help you consolidate your gains at somewhere around the B1 level, but other study materials could have the same effect. Hence, I agree with absolutely everything that Iguanamon wrote. To move to B2, and possibly beyond, I would suggest the following materials:
Assimil Perfectionnement Allemand: Note 1 Living Language Ultimate German, Advanced: Note 2 Linguaphone Deutscher Aufbaukurs Deutsche Welle Native material such as magazines (GEO, Der Spiegel Geschichte, etc.) Native materials from Librivox italki tutoring Move to Germany and marry a local Note 1: Assimil claims that their Perfectionnement courses take the student to a C1 level. In my opinion, they could "help" the student in his/her efforts to achieve B2. Note 2: Sadly, Random House no longer publishes the Ultimate series. However, copies can still be found in libraries, in some bookstores, and on the Internet. Notes 1,2: I used Assimil and Living Languaphone simultaneously (both their initial and follow-up courses) and found that they complemented one another quite well. In my opinion, even when used in pairs, they "help" the student in his/her efforts to achieve B2. Note 3: Unless I were to find a means of living and working 24/7 in a German-speaking environment, for a few years at least, I doubt that I will ever achieve C1. My point of reference is my level of French, which is a C2 (and I'm being both humble and realistic about my ability). I didn't achieve C2 through studying the language, I’ve been living it every day for the past 25+ years. Edited by Speakeasy on 16 August 2014 at 1:43am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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