Linguaphone: Foreign Language Learning Series Reviews

[cril1001001]

I was glancing at the Linguaphone site, and for many languages they do have courses with more than just AllTalk. That's all they offer for Swedish, which is the language I'm after. Have you or anybody used their newest releases (for any language) that are NOT AllTalk?

[Dicedude]

Hello Professor,

Back in 1973 I purchased the Linguaphone Chinese and Russian courses (7-inch vinyl records with hardbound books and soft-cover manuals packed into the leatherette attache case) and loved both of them. Unfortunately, they were both stolen. Do you know where I can purchase these courses (not the newer ones)?

[1xbebebliss]

Hi Professor! I just had a question about the two courses you showed (the Chinese course with the two brown books and the Arabic course with the grey books)... are these courses both from the same era and/or are they the same in context??? I am looking to buy a course and was just wondering if you know of any differences and if you recommend one over the other. Thank you!

[ProfASAr]

@1xbebebliss Both courses are from the same era (mid-1970's) and both are quite excellent and most highly recommended. They both have 30 lessons, but they do not have parallel content or stucture as did the earlier Linguaphone courses, which is a pity, but they compensate for it in their overall quality.

[1xbebebliss]

@ProfASAr Thank you for the reply. This is actually my first time looking into Linguaphone and it really is confusing trying to decide b/w what to buy (I've seen grey/brown books, 4 cassettes, 6 cassettes, even 10 cassettes!). I also saw a course that has apparently two books: "grammar/reference book" and "exercise book" rather than the traditional "course book", "handbook" etc. What are your thoughts on the "grammar book" format (if you're familiar with it). Is it worth checking out? Thanks.

[rayneval]

Where did you buy your 1950's edition? I've been searching and i cannot find any place that sells them.

[Enricogranafei]

Hi there, I just saw your video. I have been using the Linguaphone courses for many years. I recently acquired a Russian course from the early 30s. Only problem is it doesn't have the book with the translations of the lessons. Could you tell me where I can find one?

[Enricogranafei]

Hi there, I just saw your video. I have been using the Linguaphone courses for many years. I recently acquired a Russian course from the early 30s. Only problem is it doesn't have the book with the translations of the lessons. Could you tell me where I can find one?

[nietinho]

Professor,

(dado que usted habla varios idiomas, me voy a tomar la libertad de escribirle en el mio). Le queria pedir un consejo. termine hace muy poco el curso Assimil de aleman.. pero ahora estoy en una encrucijada, dado que nose muy bien con que metodo seguir.. cual es su recomendacion?

usted cree que despues de venir de un metodo tan intuitivo como assimil, valga la pena revisar otros metodos mas estructurados?

Gracias.

[nietinho]

Professor,

(dado que usted habla varios idiomas, me voy a tomar la libertad de escribirle en el mio). Le queria pedir un consejo. termine hace muy poco el curso Assimil de aleman.. pero ahora estoy en una encrucijada, dado que nose muy bien con que metodo seguir.. cual es su recomendacion?

usted cree que despues de venir de un metodo tan intuitivo como assimil, valga la pena revisar otros metodos mas estructurados?

Gracias.

[Mobilecheese]

I am currently looking for a secondhand Linguaphone Afrikaans Course. I did find a mint condition Linguaphone Dutch Course in a local junk shop (no offence to Linguaphone intended) a few years back. Linguaphone Courses are an excellent way to learn a foreign language.

[Mobilecheese]

Oh...I also have the books for a Linguaphone Chinese course. Three black books. The books must be 1950s/60s vintage because they have absolutely no pictures or drawings as can be seen in Linguaphone courses of the 70s/80s and to the present day.Unfortunately I do not have the records to accompany the Chinese course. I dip into it occasionally and once I had mastered the International Phonetic Alphabet Notation System it is quite easy. I have used several Linguaphone courses over the years.

[Mobilecheese]

I have a Linguaphone Russian Course on 78 rpm records. I don't know exactly when it first appeared but some of the lessons mention Stalin.

[troecurov]

Спасибо Профессор!Очень интересно

Может Вы могли бы порекомендовать

материалы для изучения англииского?

[Esoparagon]

I love the old linguaphone courses. It's such a shame they don't make them anymore. They are pure genius!

[jpXt2000]

Professor, it is a pleasure listening to your videos, your passion for languages is inspirational! Thank you.

[daysin1234]

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?

[GustavGans80]

id just start talking with german people.

youll get the grammar.

[orangelixir]

The grammar is regular.

[mxjgr]

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.

[qzchris]

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!

[ProfASAr]

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.

[scootermclean]

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

[ProfASAr]

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.

[storebror21]

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.

[domitato]

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.

[ProfASAr]

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.

[domitato]

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!

[unnuaq]

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.

[ProfASAr]

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.

[kronos77]

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.

[ProfASAr]

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.

[kronos77]

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.

[qzchris]

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.

[ProfASAr]

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.

[qzchris]

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!

[stephen0731]

I wish I could come across the vintage courses

[ProfASAr]

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.