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FSI Introduction to Spanish Phonolgy?

  Tags: FSI | Spanish
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
haziz
Bilingual Triglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 3622 days ago

28 posts - 37 votes
Speaks: Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian)*, English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 1 of 2
05 December 2015 at 2:08pm | IP Logged 
FSI has a basic Introduction to French Phonolgy course. Did they ever produce one for Spanish? I realize Spanish pronunciation is a lot more straightforward.

I have the FSI Basic course introductory material in it's incarnation as Barron's Mastering Spanish Level One ("Second Edition"), and can download both the Basic and Programmatic courses. The Basic course does start with pronunciation exercises after a brief section on greetings etc. Was that effectively their Spanish phonology section?

I did try to listen to "tape 1" of the Programmatic course, and other than the endless papa/papá comparison, it seemed to be a little strange. I am not sure I would be able to stick to it for very long. I am also unclear how usable is the material in a setting where you are unable to follow in the book, such as use in a car?

I am trying to develop a decent, if not necessarily native, pronunciation for Latin American Spanish. I would prefer material that can be used in a car without the book. I have done Learning Spanish Like Crazy (LSLC) and am currently redoing lessons 20-30. I like it but find it a little too informal. I also bought the full Pimsleur course, but find it a little slow going. I am also working my way through the current version of Assimil with Ease (2014 edition), including the CDs (obviously using peninsular Castillian Spanish).

Edited by haziz on 05 December 2015 at 2:09pm

1 person has voted this message useful



luke
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6965 days ago

3133 posts - 4351 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 2 of 2
06 December 2015 at 2:44am | IP Logged 
Those first two units of FSI Basic Spanish are pretty good for phonology.

It's been a number of years since I did FSI Programmatic Spanish, but as I recall, the first section of the first fifteen units did constitute an FSI Spanish Phonology course.

The good part about how FSI did Programmatic Spanish is that it's not just Phonology over and over until it's done, but the more gentle approach dividing each unit into 4 parts and only banging the student with phonology the first part of each of those units. (I did FSI French Phonology too, and it's also a good course and a good introduction to FSI Basic French).

Spanish phonology is simpler than French, and that may have permitted the linguists who created the course this latitude.

Both courses are good in and of themselves. They are independent of each other. Programmatic requires working with the textbook and the recording together for many parts. With FSI Basic Spanish, you can do the recordings after looking at the books, but you don't need to be using them at the same time. This makes FSI Basic Spanish a great course while commuting.

If my study was primarily sitting at a desk, I'd start with Programmatic, and then after finishing it and perhaps wandering down a few other learning paths (or tracks as Inguamon likes to call them), I'd do FSI Basic. FSI Basic's drills are much better, but the deliberate, systematic (programmatic) approach of FSI Programmatic Spanish makes it great for a methodical studier sitting at a desk with the recordings.

You may have read in their introductions that FSI Programmatic Spanish is a shorter course in terms of hours, which also makes it a good choice when trying to build up a track record and really lay a solid foundation for learning a language.

Finally, I get the impression Programmatic was a bit of an experiment in how to get early students to a higher level with less "teacher time" at the start. It's probably less overwhelming.

FSI Basic Spanish was the core of my studies for a long time and I did a lot of my study in the car away from the book.

One last advantage of FSI Basic is that it is pretty complete. FSI Programmatic would have relied more on the teacher/classroom for the intermediate/advancing student. Basic would have just the nightly drills after class, but would have accompanied the students from the beginning to the end of the course, although time with the teacher/linguist would have gradually increased and communicative experience would also have ramped up as the students developed more experience saying things correctly.

Good luck in your studies!

Edited by luke on 06 December 2015 at 2:52am

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