Makaveli1989 wrote:The real question is why after 60+ years isn't there a better course that blows FSI out of the water and renders it obsolete
If I want to be a bit cynical? For most buyers, language courses are a vague "aspirational" purchase. It's like a gym membership. People think, "I should get in shape! I'll buy a gym membership." After the first two weeks, they disappear for good. Similarly, people think, "I should learn French! Let's buy a course / download Duolingo!" Popular language course publishers could save quite a lot of money by leaving everything after Chapter 3 blank. Duolingo is "sticky", at least, but I've seen people keep up a streak for
years without reaching A2.
Occasionally, a company makes course for serious learners who have a concrete plan to succeed. Assimil, Pimsleur and Michel Thomas are popular among serious language learners because lots of people who use them actually reach a good level.
Similarly, if you go shopping for a German course, in Germany, and look for something aimed at professional immigrants, you'll probably find some good options. Because those buyers
need to succeed.
FSI is an even more interesting case. If the United States government asks, "We need 500 B2/C1 Arabic speakers in 3 years. What budget and timeline will this require?", they want an answer. And they fully expect to get those 500 B2/C1 Arabic speakers according to the promised schedule. FSI courses were designed to actually produce competent speakers at an "industrial" scale.
So this is why we don't see modern technology automatically leading to more effective language courses. There's simply too big a market of people who couldn't tell the difference between a good course and a bad course. So there is little market pressure pushing for quality.
So my recommendation is to take a tried-and-true course, basing your choice on the advice of people who've learned at least one language to a solid B1 under similar circumstances. (Better yet, ask a bunch of people who've made it at least that far, and pick whatever course seems most agreeable. If it doesn't work, try another.) And then you might supplement with a bit of modern tech: Anki, Language Reactor, Migaku, online correction sites, "assisted reading" tools, etc., with a focus on mixing in interesting native materials as early as possible.
We won't get another big drop of fully modernized FSI-like courses unless another giant language school that's
required to succeed decides to release their materials and tools. Sometimes we'll see a good single-language course like Destinos or French in Action, or a good course aimed at immigrants. But mostly the market forces aren't demanding that level of quality. At least not in anglophone countries.