Learning a Language

xueta

johnboyle007 wrote:

I am looking to learn to speak French and ... would like to get peoples views of the various CD systems that are available eg Berlitz, Linguaphone BBC etc etc

I found this offer of 3 free audio-books from www.audible.co.uk using a link from cd-wow. You need to sign up for a free 30-day trial subscription, but you are free to cancel at any time and any audio content that you have downloaded is yours to keep for free.

There's a catchy singalong (!!) Berlitz "Rushhour" series that sounds like a fun introduction to French, Italian or Spanish plus there's loads more on offer. Pimsleur Quick and Simple French for English Speakers (see post #10) is also offered. Might be a way of sampling the language courses for free?

P.S. This probably works best if you have broadband as some of the downloads are quite lengthy (I've just downloaded 60 hours of the unabridged War and Peace... ). Or you could download straight to a MP3 player or PDA.

popapapa

Hi ! I work as freelance interpreter/translator and I agree with what has been said about council run courses. Tutors there are native speakers and you get a good grasp of real language in use but remember they are often not qualified teachers.

Personally, I would recommend an Open University course ( visit https://www.open.ac.uk ) which start from very basic to undergraduate level 3. OU materials are among the best in this field and if you are on a low income you might be able to study free of charge.
Also, the OU provides study groups within your local area supported by a tutor which relieves you from the boredom of independent self study while keeping you in contact with like minded people!

Enjoy!

P.S. I do not work for the OU but have been studying with them for some time.

carol_a_3

I looked at the OU courses and agree they are very good but very expensive. I do not qualify for benefits but do not have the money to spare like that. I disagree that teachers are not qualified. In our area they are not allowed to teach unless they have the City and guilds qualification "teaching adults". Our teacher who had been teaching adults for 13 years and has a degree etc had to do it last year in her own time.

ltlmiles5

popapapa wrote:

Hi ! I work as freelance interpreter/translator and I agree with what has been said about council run courses. Tutors there are native speakers and you get a good grasp of real language in use but remember they are often not qualified teachers.

I am afraid I would beg to disagree that tutors are often not qualified teachers. I am a tutor myself, with a Post Grad Diploma in Ed. (from the Open Uni) and while it is true that a few years back, you might be able to teach without a qualification, I believe that the government introduced regulations (last year?? or the year before? don't quote me on this) which required all existing tutors to be working towards a qualification, in teaching adults, and all new tutors to have a qualification in teaching adults.

It is not the same as having a QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) which is required to teach in a state school, but it is still a qualification, which requires learners to go through teaching practice and lesson observations.

madfrenchgirl

I would go to a class... BF bought a CD rom to learn how to converse with his potential in-laws... That was 3 ya and he never used it, plus they are pretty crap: they teach you sentences, not how to build your own conversation.

I am going to teach BF and record tapes for him so he can listen to the right pronunciation while driving to work.

Claude_2

popapapa wrote:

Hi ! I work as freelance interpreter/translator and I agree with what has been said about council run courses. Tutors there are native speakers and you get a good grasp of real language in use but remember they are often not qualified teachers.

Actually, you will find that teachers ARE qualified. It may not be QTS, but the qualifications are specific to teaching adults. You will also find that teachers in Adult Ed undergo as much training as in schools, and that they are also subject to inspections. We had one last year and it was as tough as Ofsted.

We take our job seriously and are "proper" teachers!!! And we know what it feels like to learn a foreign language... or two!

gizmoleeds

I won a Spanish linguaphone "all-talk" course a while ago and got about half way through in the holidays (before I started my job - just finished college). I think linguaphone are very good, but the course is audio only - there is a dictionary of all the words used in the course, but I would much rather have had a proper course with books which you follow, so I would say whetever you do - don't get an audio only course. I often had to look words up to be sure I was pronouncing them correctly, and the spellings are not always obvoius (b and v sound very similar in Spanish for example).

If you were to get a Linguaphone course though (and they are good) then Linguaphone sell them officially on ebay (for less than normal orders).

Joto_2

Just like to add I love the 'Michel Thomas' CD's. I learn't more this summer from listening to this gentleman than I ever did at school. The CD's made learning French so simple and automatic. If you want to learn the language quickly and speak the language while on holiday I'd certainly recommend them.

Middlestitch

Also try https://www.usborne-quicklinks.com and click on 'Languages' - lots of good stuff there for beginners particularly.