What to do after Michel Thomas?
Edward
I've almost completed all that's on offer in the Michel Thomas French
range
* 8 cd course
* Language builder
* Advanced course
I'm wondering what would be a good next step. What have other people done
at
this stage of study?
Thanks,
Edward
(remove NOSPAM to email!)
----------------------------------------
I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users.
It has removed 9267 spam emails to date.
Paying users do not have this message in their emails.
Try www.SPAMfighter.com for free now!
Linger
news:4384d779$0$9470$ed26...@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net...
> Hi group,
>
> I've almost completed all that's on offer in the Michel Thomas French
> range
> * 8 cd course
> * Language builder
> * Advanced course
>
> I'm wondering what would be a good next step. What have other people done
> at
> this stage of study?
Sell the Advanced course to me.
--
Linger
gregory
and you are comfortable with the Language builder, then you are like
me. You can probably hold your own speaking french to a point as long
as you can keep talking. BUT what the Michel Thomas program doesnt
prepare you for is LISTENING to french, understanding what you hear.
Ive begun listening to Pimsleur french II, just to hear the
conversations, also I get a lot more from the French In Action series,
and reading whatever french comic books I can get.
I know you wanted to get a response from an expert, but since we're in
the same boat, we can compare my course with that of an expert.
Good Luck
Linger
news:lasbo15qt0gd0teqf...@4ax.com...
> If you are certain that you have mastered the advanced french course,
> and you are comfortable with the Language builder, then you are like
> me. You can probably hold your own speaking french to a point as long
> as you can keep talking. BUT what the Michel Thomas program doesnt
> prepare you for is LISTENING to french, understanding what you hear.
> Ive begun listening to Pimsleur french II, just to hear the
> conversations,
I'm trying the Pimsleur course and it's just soooo boring.
Where MT explains the language and interests you the Pimsleur is just listen
and repeat.
I also find that they use a lot of words that they just don't explain.
And the lesson are too long at 25 minutes, I'm asleep by the end.
--
Linger
gregory
spoken at normal speed. I understand Pimsluer better since I went
through the MT courses.
Linger
> Linger, I agree. But without a french mentor its hard to hear french
> spoken at normal speed.
Totally Agree. I'm fed up with news and stuff from TV5.
>I understand Pimsluer better since I went
> through the MT courses.
Yeah, me too but its still boring.
--
Linger
curiosity
I'm a beginner also. Both MT and pimsleur to saturation over a period
of time - and you're absolutely right, listening and understanding
what you hear is still far and away the most difficult; you can always
cobble together some fractured version of what you want to say but
making sense of a reply is something else entirely. I would recommend
getting a software DVD player for your PC (so that you can play/play
slow/replay) and start watching bilingual DVDs, playing and replaying
what you can hear until you can figure out the dialogue - or at least
some of it - from the subtitles (rarely the same!!). If you stick to
middle of the road films then the vocabulary is usually quite compact.
John of Aix
If you have broadband, which you probably do these days (or I hope so
anyway) you could try French radio stations. they are of all types as
everywhere from the very serious to the silliest possible, so you can
get to hear all types of language. Probably some local station stoo
which might help with accents.
Linger
news:43873229$0$29213$8fcf...@news.wanadoo.fr...
It's still difficult because MT utlises a vocabulary which is based of
French words that are used in English.
This is fine in speaking but they aren't alwas the words you'd use in every
day French.
--
Linger
John of Aix
Strange method, OK for an introduction though I suppose. Give it a try
anyway, they'll give you something to hook on to and you'll often hear
the same words said, which is always the signal to reach for the
dictionary if you don't know them for they are the one's people use not
those that courses often teach you as you say.
curiosity
That's not a fair description of his approach at all. MT starts his
intro for the first 8-CD course by 'reassuring' us that even raw
beginners know a lot of french because we 'know' several thousand
french words which happen to correspond more or less exactly with the
english - pronunciation notwithstanding. But that is just the 'lure'
into his course - it's intended to suggest that the task ahead is
simple and of course it isn't! (most language courses understate the
task purely to boost sales).
From that point on he pretty much forgets about this opening
revelation - and this applies to all 3 of his courses - focusing
instead on essential core language.
gregory
going to be 8 ours this, 4 hours that, 2 hours on the finer points and
off to Paris! Wrong!!
But it got me started in a way that made me think I had a head start.
I am a defender of the MT method, but it didnt take long for me to
realise I was going to study frech for a long, long,time.
At least I enjoy it.
Edward
course -
I've just picked up all the DVD's on Ebay. I need to track down the
accompanying audio cd's first (v expensive!). I think this should give me
a
respecatable vocabulary and consolodate all the grammar MT taught me. It
should also expose me to idiomatic French.
Cheers,
Edward
----------------------------------------
I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users.
It has removed 9477 spam emails to date.
Linger
news:or9jo1tb4q3g10rau...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 22:46:34 -0000, "Linger"
>>
>>French words that are used in English.
>>This is fine in speaking but they aren't alwas the words you'd use in
>>every
>>day French.
>
> That's not a fair description of his approach at all. MT starts his
> intro for the first 8-CD course by 'reassuring' us that even raw
> beginners know a lot of french because we 'know' several thousand
> french words which happen to correspond more or less exactly with the
> english - pronunciation notwithstanding. But that is just the 'lure'
> into his course - it's intended to suggest that the task ahead is
> simple and of course it isn't! (most language courses understate the
> task purely to boost sales).
> From that point on he pretty much forgets about this opening
> revelation - and this applies to all 3 of his courses - focusing
> instead on essential core language.
But didn't you find at the end that you could speak French but not
understand it at speed?
I also found that although excellent for confidence boosting, Pimsular gives
better 'real life' French.
IMHO
--
Linger
curiosity
I couldn't claim to be able to speak french after MT, but after both
MT and pimsleur I am still a beginner speaking beginner's french. I
think it will be a while yet before I could say 'I can speak french'.
As to understanding, yes I would have to agree, at speed it's very
tough, but to be honest I find it hard at moderate speed also! Success
here depends so much on the speaker, the context, whether someone is
responding to your own questions (easier) or addressing you for some
unknown reason (more difficult). Sometimes also latching onto
keywords can lead you to successfully guess what people are saying but
this isn't really understanding the language.
>I also found that although excellent for confidence boosting, Pimsular gives
>better 'real life' French.
>IMHO
Both MT and Pimsleur are beginners' courses - both very useful and
only slightly overlapping in their respective coverage. But I much
preferred the MT approach for a number of reasons. For example, he
teaches with explanation and this enables the student to 'build' a
sentence. Pimsleur is totally devoid of explanation and so one can
only learn parrot-fashion. This isn't necessarily a condemnation
because that's how infants learn also, but to do this effectively for
a whole language requires much more scope than pimsleur can offer(even
in a 30 cd course!). A couple of examples; coverage of pronouns in
pimsleur is very poor, also, would/should/could gets a reasonable
airing in MT where this is almost absent in Pimsleur. MT discusses
the future tense complete with an explanation of the future tense
endings, whereas Pimsleur just uses futur proche ('aller' followed by
infinitive).etc.etc..
For me learning language is like a large jigsaw, each student will
fill in different pieces in different places at different rates
(obviously, there'll be a similar pattern for students doing identical
courses). I like MT's courses because his pieces are quite well
clustered and he provides the seed for growing. Pimsleur has most
certainly added a few more pieces but I find them more diffuse and
there's no basis at all for practise or advancement.
(I'm not on the payroll!!)
curiosity
Same here! And as you say, once you realise it's going to take longer
than MT says, you can at least forgive him for drawing you in.
Linger
news:4384d779$0$9470$ed26...@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net...
>
> I've almost completed all that's on offer in the Michel Thomas French
> range
> * 8 cd course
> * Language builder
> * Advanced course
>
> I'm wondering what would be a good next step. What have other people done
> at
> this stage of study?
OK, I submit. I've just bought the Advanced course and its very good.
--
Linger
gregory
explainations of the tenses, a little bit more vocabulary. Now when I
listen to Pimleur II, or French In Action I recognise why they say
things the way they do.