Linguaphone: Foreign Language Learning Series Reviews
Alexander Arguelles presents a series of video reviews and demonstrations of those foreign language learning series that he has found most useful in his own studies. For further information about the series, please refer to http://www.foreignlanguageexpertise.com/index.html
Duration : 0:8:45
Tags: foreign, Language, Linguaphone, polyglots, polyglottery
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
??????? ?????????! …
??????? ?????????!????? ?????????
????? ?? ????? ?? ???????????????
????????? ??? ???????? ????????????
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I love the old …
I love the old linguaphone courses. It’s such a shame they don’t make them anymore. They are pure genius!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Professor, it is a …
Professor, it is a pleasure listening to your videos, your passion for languages is inspirational! Thank you.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I agree with …
I agree with GustavGans80, you have to start practising actively the language. Leave your fear behind and don’t bother making errors.
If talking seems a little bit too steep for you at the beginning, you should search for a penpal in Germany and start writing regulary. This way you have time to think about your sentences without any pressure.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
The grammar is …
The grammar is regular.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
id just start …
id just start talking with german people.
youll get the grammar.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Professor, German …
Professor, German is my language of interest. However, even after 1 year of study and a great knowledge of the language (I can read German news papers, books, watch TV in German)
I myself cant put together anything more than a basic sentence because of the irregular grammar. Do you have any particular resource that helps exclusively with German grammar?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
The Linguaphone …
The Linguaphone Korean course helped me a great deal when I first went to Korea. It was in Hangul and the audio was very good in terms of speed and quality. One thing to note is that the overall structure of the course was quite different from most other Linguaphone courses – more audio-lingual with drills rather than dialogues and conversations.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Professor,
I am …
Professor,
I am wondering whether you are familiar with their Korean offering; does it use hangul, or is it a romanized job like the Japanese course? Also, is the audio tolerable in terms of speed and quality?
Thank you for any help!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Try the method …
Try the method described in the pamphlet and see if it seems to be working well for you. There are a number of different approaches that you can take to using these courses – which is one reason why I am partial to them. In particular, they can provide excellent substance for use with my shadowing methodology. Shadowing is not the best method for all types of learners, but if it does suit you and you can learn to do it correctly, it is a highly efficient and effective technique.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Hello Professor,
I …
Hello Professor,
I have been able to obtain Linguaphone courses for French, German, Italian, and Spanish that look very similar to the 1970’s Arabic course you showed in the video (despite the fact that they say ‘Printed 1991′ inside the front cover)
Anyways, I am curious to know how you would recommend using these courses. Do you think that the three phase method described by the little leaflet inside the attaché case is an effective way to use the course?
Thank you
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Hello Professor, …
Hello Professor, thanks for having checked that for me. Mine IS the same even though it was printed over ten years after the one you own. I’m also on my search for Mowimy po polsku you’ve recommended me. Keep up the great work!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
My book is @1979 …
My book is @1979 and is the 3rd edition of 1982. It has 346 pages, and the whole course has 30 lessons, lesson 30 being “end of the academic year.” I do not believe they made a newer version of hte course: is your 1997 book different from this? In any case, as an auxiliary course I would recommend Mowimy po polsku (W. Bisko, S. Karlok, D. Wasilewska, S. Krynski), Wiedza Powszechna: Warszawa, 1979.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
This was a …
This was a fascinating video. As the owner of several traditional Linguaphone courses, I think it’s a shame that they have so drastically reduced the number of languages they offer and that they seem to going down the route of ‘quick-fix’ courses such as the ‘All Talk’ products that you mentioned. I don’t want to sound elitist, but it seems to me that they’re trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator and consequently standards appear to be dropping.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Hello Professor, …
Hello Professor, excellent reviews for all who love studying languages.
I saw the Polish Handbook you have and it looks different than mine – mine was printed in 1997, when was that one printed? Is it different to my version? I wonder what the newest version of this course is like, if there is. The course is very good, just the context sometimes is very old fashionable. Also, which other course would you recommend as a second choice?
Thanks for your time and videos.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Neither are at the …
Neither are at the level of the Arabic course, but both are certainly well worth studying. The Hindi course has been an integral part of my own investigations of that language. Although from the 70’s, it partakes of the 50’s/60’s parallel content to many other languages. One caveat – the print quality of the text is very bad – many faint and broken letters. I do not know the Welsh course as well, but it is a perfectly solid example of their 70’s individualized production.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Professor, I am …
Professor, I am curious about the quality of the Hindi and Welsh courses, if you have used them. If so, would do you consider them to be anywhere near as good as the Arabic one, for example? Thank you for your time.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Professor, After I …
Professor, After I asked this I saw a sample of a page from a Linguaphone course on their website. Compared to the Persian course in your video, the new one looks horrible. The graphic design gets an A+, but the content looks to be lacking. Also, the old Persian course seemed to be rich in cultural content–history, etc–while the new ones seem to be concerned with everyday doings of ordinary people. Linguaphone seems to be going the way of Assimil and dumbing down their courses.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I do hope we are …
I do hope we are talking about the same series. All those listed as “Language X Course” and that adhere to their original methodology are fine in principle and each must be judged on its individual merits. Those from the 90’s are the same as those from the 70’s and so are not inferior in any way, it is just that the additional “practice” tapes/CD’s do not add anything being as they are only the dialog with huge gaps, which you can produce yourself by hitting the pause button if desired.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Professor,
Aside …
Professor,
Aside from the lack of cross-course uniformity, why do you feel the newer Linguaphone courses are inferior to the older? Are they dumbed down and in what way? I am talking specifically about the 1990’s course available now.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Thanks a lot for …
Thanks a lot for clearing that up.
I did just recently manage to find the Arabic Course you recommend, selling for $55 which I snatched up immediately, even though I’m not planning on studying it for a few years yet. How lucky was that!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
The text of these …
The text of these courses is always about 2-3 solid hours and can fit on that number of tapes. In the 1990’s, they repackaged the courses with more “practice” tapes/CD’s (and sometimes even a video), often consisting only of the dialog portion of the course with very long blank gaps for you to play one of the roles. All you really need to get the most from these courses is the text and the straight recording. Be aware that the speed of the Russian recordings is abnormally slow.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Professor, you …
Professor, you wouldn’t happen to know the difference between the 1971 and 1995 Russian offerings? The former has 4-cassettes the latter 10. Does this mean the more recent one is in fact more comprehensive? I notice these mid-90s courses (including Welsh for example) seem to be quite readily available and in some cases really quite cheap.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
There are still a …
There are still a few out there, but you do have to look hard. I rescued most of my own as they were being discarded from a language laboratory. I aspire to make an accessible repository from my private collection some day, as these materials are truly worthy of preservation.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I wish I could come …
I wish I could come across the vintage courses