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How effective is this?

PostPosted: May 19th, 2010, 1:52 am
by vibe
Hi all, I just stumbled across the FSI materials and before starting to try to learn French, I was wondering if anyone has successfully become fluent in French using these materials and how long did it take? I've taken a year of french at a university but when traveling to France quickly realized I was completely unable to communicate or understand people :) so I'm looking for a more effective learning method.

Also, the audio recordings all seem to be around 25 - 30 minutes long. Is it sufficient to listen to 1 recording per day to progress? (that would only be about 30 minutes per day of practice) Should I be spending more time than this?

Re: How effective is this?

PostPosted: June 2nd, 2010, 1:54 am
by Hongarije2010
vibe wrote:Hi all, I just stumbled across the FSI materials and before starting to try to learn French, I was wondering if anyone has successfully become fluent in French using these materials and how long did it take? I've taken a year of french at a university but when traveling to France quickly realized I was completely unable to communicate or understand people :) so I'm looking for a more effective learning method.

Also, the audio recordings all seem to be around 25 - 30 minutes long. Is it sufficient to listen to 1 recording per day to progress? (that would only be about 30 minutes per day of practice) Should I be spending more time than this?


I am native Dutch. I started learning Hungarian last year. Hungarian is very different as you know and no family of the Dutch or French language.

The course has been designed for American diplomates working abroad. This method has been designed to learn the language fast. The system uses every day situations like asking directions, buying things etc.

The system is the same for every language which is available here. I spent the last 2 weeks in Hungary and I have used the language.

If you have a background in French, you should be able to spend 30 minutes a day. It also depends on your ability to learn languages.

I can only tell you that this system is very usefull. Maybe it's old but that's no problem.

Good luck and if you have any questions, let me know.

Esther

Re: How effective is this?

PostPosted: July 14th, 2010, 7:56 am
by mani_pit
hi.
I am an iranian student who wish to learn french.i know english about intermediate.
first of all I want to know that would learning french (with 1.5 hour per day)will hurt my english knowledge or not?
and how much will i be professional in french if i take both frenchphone and basic course in this site
consider this that my talent in learning language is very good but i am not a very hard working person!
I appreciate your help so much .also I dont look forward that s.o will answer my question!

thanks.

Re: How effective is this?

PostPosted: July 24th, 2010, 9:56 pm
by cynthiarm2000
Hi, I am learning French also. I have been practicing for two months now and this fall I will go to Quebec City for two weeks of French immersion.
The French speakers I know all complement me on my accent and how fast I am picking up the language.
Here is my learing schedule:

-I practice with the FSI tapes daily. I listen and practice with one tape daily for a week before moving on to the next tape.
-I spend at least a half hour every day listening to Radio Canada's French language station (online).
-Every Sunday my local library hosts a French conversation group. I go and speak as much as I can.
-In my every day job, I come into contact with a lot of French speakers. Sometimes I am to shy to talk, but sometimes I will.
I go online to Babblefish and other translators and type in phrases I would typically use in my work situation and try these out in my conversation group and on the people I meet at work.
I am lucky to live in a tourist area near the border with Quebec and so I hear people speaking French all the time, and that is also why I am learning French.
I hope this helps.

Re: How effective is this?

PostPosted: November 8th, 2010, 10:26 am
by duke
Hi,

I've been using the FSI French for a few months consistently, mostly the audio tapes, and French people have told me they hear the improvement week to week, so if you practice with the tapes, it's very effective.

I also tried the Pimsleur tapes, but this system is much more comprehensive and useful because of the repetition in exercises.

Re: How effective is this?

PostPosted: July 10th, 2011, 9:49 pm
by BeeEssDee
It is very effective.

I am currently up to Unit 13 of the basic course.

I went to New Caledonia for a holiday last week, and to my delight I had no problems understanding the locals or making myself understood. My questions and responses came automatically.

My conversations were fairly basic - asking directions, asking how much things cost etc, but I cannot emphasise enough the value added to my holiday from doing this course.

I had forgotten what it is like to be in a country where you don't understand the language -- it is the equivalent of being deaf, dumb and illiterate.

Thanks to this course, I was able to converse with the locals and read the signs in the shops etc, instead of wandering aimlessly through the streets. A fellow-traveller expressed her disappointment at not being able to find a jewellery shop (bijouterie) in Noumea. They were everywhere, but she couldn't read the signs on the shopfronts.

Also, I am Australian, and relatively few of us speak French. I could see the surprise and delight in people's faces when they could see that I was making an effort to communicate to them in their own language.

Generally speaking, people are patient and want to help you out, but they can't do that if you can't communicate with them.

By studying this course, the entire French speaking world has been opened up to me. My trip has inspired me to complete it, and I will then tackle Spanish or Italian.

Thank you so much to the people who have established and maintained this website. It is an incredibly valuable resource.