Foreign Language Courses
 

Has anyone been successful at becoming proficient with self paced courses such as berlitz? German in particular.

I have used other self-paced courses for French, Spanish, German and Italian (in particular, Pimsleur's all-audio CDs and BBC's French and Spanish series). However, I haven't relied on them completely - I've used them in combination with short courses.

For example, I started Spanish from scratch with BBC's Suenos series and completed the Beginner book and tapes. Then I took an immersion language holiday for 2 weeks in Spain (starting 1 level above beginner and finishing 3 levels above beginner). Then I took private lessons for about 6 weeks to consolidate what I had already learned (I would have taken a course but I couldn't fit it into my timetable). Then I switched to Pimsleur and completed Levels II and III. Then I went back to Spain for another two-week immersion course (starting at Low Intermediate, and by the end of it, I was assessed at a Medium-High Intermediate, and could communicate about everyday matters, read the newspaper and read simple books.

I think that Pimsleur (although expensive) is the best tool I've used so far, although I'm going to try Rosetta Stone (the internet-based subscription for levels 1 and 2) to refresh my rudimentary German before taking a course again.

Generally, I would recommend that you start by taking a short course at a language school (approximately 16-24 hours of instruction) - either weekly, bi-weekly or immersion classes. You'll benefit from the interaction in the class, hearing the teacher pronounce the language, asking him/her questions and the discipline of completing some simple assignments. Then, if you want to try self-paced courses, switch to a self-paced course like Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone (buy "Level II", not "Level 1") to reinforce what you've learned and move up a level. Then consider enrolling in a course again, particularly if you have trouble with pronunciation or grammar (either learning it or finding the discipline to practise it). I also work through grammar and vocabulary exercise books from time to time, to supplement either the classroom instruction or Pimsleur.

Although I tried to get a jump start on Spanish by studying on my own before taking a course, I found that I didn't make a lot of progress for the time that I invested (I spent about 40 hours studying, but only succeeded in getting myself placed on level up from absolute beginner - ie someone who had had 24 hours of instruction). This is why I'd recommend that you start with a short "live" course, if you can. On the other hand, I learned enough from Pimsleur's short (4 hour) Beginner Italian course to be able to get by on a trip to Italy (but this might be because I already spoke Spanish, which is very close to Italian).

I found German quite hard. I took an intensive German course at the Goethe Institute, and it just didn't stick in my head. While I don't have a natural gift for languages, I'm good at grammar and I have a good memory - but I just didn't get it. I'm going to use Rosetta Stone to refresh what I learned, and then try again.

I would also recommend that, if you have the time, take a language immersion holiday. For example, even if you can only take a two-week holiday, you could spend the first week in a language school in a city taking 3 hours of classes a day, and then spend the second week travelling around the country. The course will get you out of bed, provide you with an orientation to the city, supply you with a group of interesting classmates to sightsee, eat and party with, teach you about the culture, probably supply you with low-cost accommodation and provide you with a sense of accomplishment (one that you can even put on your cv).

steve,
What great advise from Kate. I agree with what she said, have been using the Pimsleur tapes and taking Spanish classes, but haven't taken classes in Spain (yet--but would like to--where did you go Kate?)and am no where as excelled as she is--but am stuggling. Just wanted to add one bit of information--our public library has the Pimsleur tapes, as well as several others (including Berlitz), so it might be worth your time to check out your local public library first.

Good luck!

Language proficiency is a difficult task. I have fairly diligently used the Berlitz series for French and Italian. After a few months of really working at it, I became functional, not proficient, in specific situations. While Berlitz and other self-paced courses have a place, if your goal is to be able to effectively communicate on a broad range of situations, I agree with Kate W. that an immersion class is more useful.

I live in Poland for several years and spent the first 10 weeks of my visit in a 7-hour per day language immersion class. About half way through, I started to feel confident with the language. Best of all, at the end of the course, I had a solid foundation in grammar, syntax, etc. and was able to efficiently and effectively expand my lexicon and ability to converse, read and write.

The bottomline -- it all depends on what you want to get out of language study. If you simply want to be able to confidently travel in a given countrhy, Berlitz may be fine. However, an immersion course will most likely bring greater rewards.

I agree with Kate and the other posters - it takes alot of work, and different methods to really get proficient in a language. I haven't reached the totally "proficient" level yet (in French), but am getting there, and feel pretty good about what I've achieved. I had plenty of grammar (from WAY back!)and can read French fairly well, but no conversational skills, so when I decided a few years ago to start up again, I first used a Berlitz self-paced course, which did help. Then I took a course at Alliance Francaise (several levels, actually). In between those courses I took some private lessons at Berlitz. Then I bought the Pimsleur tapes, and feel like this is what really helped me gain the confidence to speak French.

I highly recommend the Pimsleur tapes! However,I definitely agree that you need to take some courses first, or at least along with Pimsleur. I've been to France 5 times since I started this routine, so that has helped, of course, but I still want to do an immersion course before too long. I practice with tapes practically everyday - for about an hour. All this is time consuming, and I probably wouldn't have been able to do it while I was working fulltime and/or raising my family. But now I have the time, and learning to speak a foreign language certainly is great for keeping your mind active!

I took courses with Don Quijote (well, not the Don Quijote) in Madrid and Barcelona, and with Academia Mester in Salamanca. I was impressed with both schools and would recommend either. Don Quijote has a larger network (including a few schools in Mexico and Latin America), which might make it easier to move between schools (either as part of a single vacation or on separate trips). Don Quijote also has a good website (http://donquijote.org/) with some language resources and destination info.

I found the Michel Thomas cd's to be very helpful since you can just listen and don't need a book. (I was able to call and make reservations in Paris... with just listening to his intro 2 cd course.) I have tried other cd courses and haven't been able to stick to them as easily Probably because with his method I can just listen on my way to work and so can better fit it into my busy schedule.

I have a CD-ROM German course by Transparent Language. It has an interesting feature that I find quite useful: It has actors taking part in everyday conversations complete with video. You can slow down or pause the conversations and it shows you the written script with translations as they speak. I believe the set retails for around $40-$50 but I got it at CompUSA for free (or close to it) due to one of their frequent rebate programs. This course in no way compares to the German courses I took in college (and have forgotten most of!), nor do I suspect it is nearly as good as the well-regarded courses from Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone--but it is a fraction of the price and appealing to visual learners whose eyes gloss over when they try the standard "book with a tape" courses you frequently see.

Thank you Kate for the information. I'd really like to do this someday...ah...someday...

As suggested, start by going to your local library and checking out everything they have. Mine had the Pimsleur Italian short course (which I found great for pronunciation and utterly useless for vocabulary/grammar) and the an audio phrasebook by Living Language (Essential Italian?) and a Berlitz book.

I started with these and then read reviews on Amazon of longer courses and found http://italian.about.com and based on all this information went with Living Language Ultimate Italian course.

However, I am finding that no amount of self study is as good as taking a course. I studied Spanish (high school) and French (college) and both came to me easily, but I am finding Italian much more difficult and I really think it is 80% due to the lack of classroom study with an instructor (and 20% because Italian is the oldest of the romance languages that was spoken long before it was written and is less logical and orderly than Spanish and French).

A community college course will not run you much more than a good self-study course and if you can fit it into your schedule and budget will be much more effective. Unfortunately, the course available to me starts only 2 weeks before my trip, so I had no choice but self-study.