Formiko wrote:I think Linguaphone is good if you have the cash.
They just cover the "big" languages though, don't they? I have just had a quick look at their website, and found nothing of interest to me
Formiko wrote:I think Linguaphone is good if you have the cash.
noir wrote:I think it's quite hard to say. Both TY and Colloquial vary in quality depending on the language and author. I haven't used many from Colloquial series, but I definately loved TY Hindi, while despised TY French. They can be anywhere from a bloated phrasebook to a good introduction.
nighean-neonach wrote:Formiko wrote:I think Linguaphone is good if you have the cash.
They just cover the "big" languages though, don't they? I have just had a quick look at their website, and found nothing of interest to me
nighean-neonach wrote:You probably misunderstood my remark. Linguaphone obviosly doesn't exist in the languages I'm learning or interested in. Besides, I'm not that convinced about it - from what i've seen of it it doesn't suit my needs. And I've seen lots of very good study materials at fairer prices. 6 months is not that "huge", by the way. The stuff we use at university is usually designed to be used during one or two years.
Formiko wrote:nighean-neonach wrote:You probably misunderstood my remark. Linguaphone obviosly doesn't exist in the languages I'm learning or interested in. Besides, I'm not that convinced about it - from what i've seen of it it doesn't suit my needs. And I've seen lots of very good study materials at fairer prices. 6 months is not that "huge", by the way. The stuff we use at university is usually designed to be used during one or two years.
I know what you mean, I meant it's huge for a home study course. Unfortunately, they only have 10 or 12 of the most common languages. I tutored Russian using the Linguaphone course. If one is diligent, near fluency can be reached with linguaphone. SInce I teach at a University, I have first hand experience that University Level language materials are a waste of time. You're better learning yourself, and then taking a couple of advanced classes to smooth out the rough edges I personally have always recommended a missionary crash course or a military course. I had a friend who took a Mormon Dutch Missionary course for 5 months and wasn't even Mormon (he had to pay for it though). His wife said his Dutch was flawless after 5 months of immersion. (He had just gotten married to a Dutch lady and felt it imperative to learn the language of his amour. )
Formiko wrote:SInce I teach at a University, I have first hand experience that University Level language materials are a waste of time.
loqu wrote:How much was it? I'd have no problem in pretending to praise any god I don't care about for a couple of months if that means being fluent in one more language!
ILuvEire wrote:This is true. Colloquial Portuguese is great, but TY Japanese, and TY Greek were terrible. It was less just an expensive phrasebook. Colloquial Irish was pretty straightforward, but at the end of the book I didn't know enough to hold a decent conversation, whereas Colloquial Portuguese has got me to the point where I can understand basic conversation in already (I'm around half-way through the book).
Smitty wrote:TY Japanese was pretty bad, but at least the bookstore gave me my refund. So would you recommend Colloquial Portuguese then?
SInce I teach at a University, I have first hand experience that University Level language materials are a waste of time.
Narbleh wrote:They also use conjugated nouns/verbs in the vocabulary lists
nighean-neonach wrote:Narbleh wrote:They also use conjugated nouns/verbs in the vocabulary lists
"Colloquial" also does that. Lots of "self-taught" language courses do that. That's what I meant when I said they don't really count as textbooks for me, and that I prefer the materials we use in university. Those usually expect the readers to be thinking persons who don't fall of their chairs in horror when an inflected word form appears in the text, and the basic form appears in the glossary. And those materials are intelligently structured so that there aren't any random inflected forms thrown in, everything in the texts and dialogues is based on the grammar you have learned so far.
ILuvEire wrote:I think they are useful for travellers, or for people like me, who are interested in the language but don't want to spend ~50USD on a uni level textbook and not like the language.
Also, in all my formal language learning expirience (community college courses on ASL, and one for German) the teacher uses more than just one text. In German we are using two textbooks, a workbook, Primsleur (sp?) courses, plus bits of various other texts. It's impossible to pick up one book, work through it, and be fluent in the language.
Narbleh wrote:Stereotypes, stereotypes. All the French materials I used in university classes were excellent. The ASL materials I used at community college were excellent. The Swedish materials I used were also excellent. When I went to Quebec, the materials there were excellent as well. Maybe it's just your university
Formiko wrote:You're misunderstanding me. Teaching yourself is a LOT better than a classroom setting. 4 years of University level French MAY of may not get you to a decent level. Teaching youself, learning what YOU want instead of having to keep at the pace of the professor is far superior.
Nighean-neonach does exactly what I'm referring too.
Narbleh wrote:And after a certain level, it's very, very hard to make any more progress unless you have the help of a native speaker there to practice with and delve into complex grammar/vocab stuff with.
Formiko wrote:You're misunderstanding me. Teaching yourself is a LOT better than a classroom setting. 4 years of University level French MAY of may not get you to a decent level. Teaching youself, learning what YOU want instead of having to keep at the pace of the professor is far superior.
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