alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7021 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish
| Message 1 of 12 25 March 2015 at 7:45pm | IP Logged |
I have received a message, that MT courses this year are:
Starting Korean, Norwegian and Swedish
The other two programs on the list are Insider's French and Insider's German.
I guess the top four languages now have an intermediate programs according to the MT
company with native speakers. In this case the new courses sequence starts with Total, then
Perfect and finally Insider's program.
Sometimes it is confusing how the MT company just relabels the courses with a new term, so
some researching has to be done to avoid getting the same program or mixing up the order.
If people still remember the old labelling it was Beginner's then Advance. If I saw these
today initially, I would have thought the sequence was Beginner's, Insider's
(Intermediate), then Advance just by titles alone.
Here is a description of the Insider's Italian released last year.
"This is an intermediate Italian conversation course that will help you develop your
communication skills and express yourself with confidence. Through engaging topics and the
unique Michel Thomas Method for teaching languages, it helps you build conversation
strategies and opens the door to topical issues that are key to the Italian speaker today.
The course is ideal for intermediate learners who want to take their conversation further.
It is also the right course for learners who have enjoyed Michel Thomas Total and Perfect
courses.
The Total and Perfect courses give learners a strong foundation in the language, a 'house',
as Michel Thomas called it. Insider's course is designed as a Phase 2 course, which allows
learners to start using that language in more authentic contexts and with more colloquial
language. It is the 'decoration' for the house, which was the next step in Michel Thomas's
learning journey.
This course includes audio featuring native speakers and guided practice, interactive
exercises and self-assessment."
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kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4689 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish
| Message 2 of 12 25 March 2015 at 8:34pm | IP Logged |
This should be interesting - I like Michel Thomas as an introductory course, and am
curious how it would work at an intermediate level.
I actually took notes on the changing names for the courses. I didn't want to buy the
same course twice.
Total = Foundation
Perfect = Advanced
* Master = Language Builder
* This level isn't even a course. It's just Michel Thomas repeating words and phrases
one after the other.
Addendum: I see a lot of online retailers (Amazon, Hachette, Language Direct) selling
Insider's Spanish and Italian, and says they've been available since 2012. But I
can't find a single review anywhere, and I don't see them on Michael Thomas's own
website. It's odd.
Edited by kanewai on 25 March 2015 at 9:31pm
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Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5365 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 3 of 12 25 March 2015 at 11:40pm | IP Logged |
If the names of the authors are anything to go by, these are new courses.
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Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4709 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 4 of 12 26 March 2015 at 12:15am | IP Logged |
This is slightly off topic, but this thread made me search Amazon for "Insider French", and I found (and ordered) this book which looks really useful:
Insider's French
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alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7021 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish
| Message 5 of 12 26 March 2015 at 7:20am | IP Logged |
I forgot to add, the starting courses are coming out near the end of the year. The
Insider's courses are suppose to be December. All we can do is wait.
@kanewai,
I agree it is odd. It was the Michel Thomas company who messaged me back regarding the
courses for this year. Strange why the Insider's Spanish and Italian are not on their
website. I just hope they will have the Beginner's/Foundation/Total for Korean early next
year, as I am going to South Korea for two months and two weeks.
I really enjoy the all audio programs, as I use them on my commutes and actually feel the
time has not been wasted.
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Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5365 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 6 of 12 26 March 2015 at 10:18am | IP Logged |
Has anyone ever used the language builder/masterclass - I have them, but never really
get beyond the first track as a) they are too long to be useful - I could be less lazy
and use Reaper to split the tracks into a manageable size, I suppose - and b) MT seems
to forget the stated method of English statement - pause - Target language and just read
out a string of words, which frustrates me.
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jpazzz Groupie United States Joined 4845 days ago 54 posts - 76 votes Studies: Russian
| Message 7 of 12 27 March 2015 at 9:08am | IP Logged |
Hello all, This is an interesting thread. Thank you all for it. Can anyone tell me where what was called (in the original packaging) the "Vocabulary Course" fits into the current packaging/labeling? I have the Vocabulary Course for German, French, and Russian, and I wish I had it for Polish, but it's my impression that it was never issued for Polish.
Off thread a bit, I prefer the MT Russian and Polish courses to the originals by MT himself who I find difficult to understand...and I might add that I grew up hearing and understanding a variety of accents, including the Polish of MT.
And, finally, again a bit off thread, I believe I remember someone on this Forum some long time ago complaining that Natasha Bershadski asks her MT Russian students to guess about vocabulary, and that MT himself never did this. Oddly enough I was listening last night to the first disc of MT German Foundation (part of my Lenten penance) and MT himself said quite unequivocally, he wants his students to guess about vocabulary...never about structure, but yes about vocabulary.
Cheers,
John
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jpazzz Groupie United States Joined 4845 days ago 54 posts - 76 votes Studies: Russian
| Message 8 of 12 27 March 2015 at 10:17am | IP Logged |
Hello again, I've had one of my much too frequent "Well Duh!" moments. I've answered my own question by the simple expedient of going on the Web and looking up the MT Method on Wikipedia. The Vocabulary course has been broken in two and is included with the Total and Perfect courses. That's interesting since I'd thought that the Vocabulary courses were originally intended for use after the Advanced courses.
Oh well...another set of errors on my part.
Cheers,
John
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