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FSI German -- Taking me backwards? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| derefed Newbie United States ultimatejourney.net/ Joined 6114 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, French | Message 1 of 6 02 August 2007 at 3:12pm | IP Logged |
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I've been studying German for the better part of two years (albeit with a few gaps here and there), and am currently working toward the ultimate goal of fluency for this year. I've been finding articles in German online and making flashcards out of words that I don't know to improve my vocabulary, and have recently begun to try FSI again to improve my speaking skills as well as to get a refresher with the grammar.
Today, however, after stumbling helplessly through one of the drills in Unit 2, I've been thinking that perhaps FSI isn't what I wanted. You see, I've been doing this unit for a few days now, and though I am aware that ideally it should take a week of study per unit, I am troubled that perhaps I'm not learning word order correctly. As it asks you to immediately translate an English sentence, I'm having trouble keeping the English in my memory while rearranging the German words in my head to fit properly. In the past year or so, I've been either using Rosetta Stone or have otherwise been immersed in the language so that I wouldn't have to juggle translation along with "thinking" in German. I believe that normally, when using only German and not translating from English, German word order comes easier to me. I'd like to hear from some people who have used the FSI Basic German course about this. Do you think that asking for translations from English is going to take me a step backwards in terms of "thinking" in German, or does it not really matter? Am I wasting my time with FSI? If not, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could adapt the course to better suit my needs? Edited by derefed on 02 August 2007 at 3:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 6931 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes  Studies: Uzbek | Message 2 of 6 02 August 2007 at 4:18pm | IP Logged |
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I'm generally a fan of the FSI courses, including the German one, but I tend to agree that the translation drills are less helpful than some of the other ones, especially because it's usually possible to translate the English sentences into German in more than one way, particularly in terms of word order (with different nuances in the German.)
I think that the repetition and substitution drills are quite useful for getting up to speed on genders, adjective endings, and all the other little details of German that English-speakers have a hard time getting accustomed to, but generally don't worry so much if my translations in the translation drills aren't identical to the ones in the course. On the other hand, I think that going from one language to another is also a useful skill, and people often want to be able to do on-the-spot interpreting for tourists, visitors, shoppers, etc., and so a little bit of this type of activity, especially if you don't become too much of a perfectionist, is also useful. In any event, good luck with your studies of German. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| derefed Newbie United States ultimatejourney.net/ Joined 6114 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, French | Message 3 of 6 02 August 2007 at 4:35pm | IP Logged |
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So would you suggest, for my purposes, to just do the substitution drills? It's the variation and vocabulary drills that get me. I would like to do them, as they appear to contain a lot of material, but I just want to be sure that they aren't just hurting me in the end / wasting my time. It takes me a few days to get those ones down, and I fear that that may just be a result of overlearning, or learning the drills themselves and not so much the structure that it intends to teach.
And as for translation, I really don't mind foregoing development of the ability to instantly translate. At this point, I'd much rather develop the ability to think in terms of German and let the word order come naturally. Edited by derefed on 02 August 2007 at 4:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6879 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 6 02 August 2007 at 5:03pm | IP Logged |
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I had the same problem last year. I worked my way through the first 6 lessons or so. I’m planning on going back over the course again this fall. What I found that worked for my own purposes of self-study was to go through the dialog pronunciation and grammar drills just as described. I used the book (Barron’s Mastering) often so I could associate the sound with the text review the text as much as possible. For the variation/vocabulary drills I kept my eye on the German sentences and used the English cue as prompt to anticipate the proper pronunciation of the corresponding German sentence, I’d say it, and correct the pronunciation with the response. Every so often I’d stop the tape and look over the past couple of drills and ask myself “What is the pattern of the drill”? I’d then try and make up a few variations of my own using the German base sentence. I skipped the translation all together.
It worked better than you’d think. You might try your own variation of the above and see how it works. One thing I like about the course is that it produced results even when I did not follow the directions step for step. John 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| derefed Newbie United States ultimatejourney.net/ Joined 6114 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, French | Message 5 of 6 02 August 2007 at 11:35pm | IP Logged |
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Ah, thanks, Farley. Such techniques are what I am currently looking for; I'm going to give your method a try over the next few days.
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| derefed Newbie United States ultimatejourney.net/ Joined 6114 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, French | Message 6 of 6 03 August 2007 at 2:08pm | IP Logged |
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I'm curious, does anyone else out there have further suggestions as to how to study with FSI?
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