Ogrim wrote:Hi Gary, have you considered Colloquial Greek? If you are mainly after a text-based course then I think it can be a good alternative to Colloquial. Less expensive, and the audio files are all available free for download on Routledge's website.
I've not but I'll look into it, thanks! I've heard the name Colloquial but never looked into their offerings.
trippingly wrote:I see that Greek is a heritage language for you and that you might have a trip coming up. Both excellent motivations! I'm in a similar situation with German, and not coincidentally, I'm finding myself very motivated and moving right along. Whereas I'm interested in Greek but don't have a strong personal connection to it, and that's probably why I'm just dabbling for the moment.
Indeed, I respect those who can find the motivation to learn a language they have no use for or connection with, but I can't do it!
I wonder how many lessons Mihalis records in a single sit-down with a student. It could be that in some cases they're remembering something from five or ten minutes earlier rather than the previous day.
Quite possibly! Although if I try to do more than three or four lessons in one sitting, my brain reaches capacity and I still keep forgetting everything... it might be different they're in a room being recorded with their full attention on the lesson though.
Out of curiosity, which "vintage" of Assimil Italian did you do?
"Le nouvel italien sans peine", published 1983. I thought it was great: not too easy or too hard (given that I knew French and had already done MT Italian), good balance between touristy dialogues and other subjects, and recent enough that the language felt modern and everyday.
eido wrote:Your location says Scotland - so you're Scottish? That's cool! Scottish accents are bomb! I find them very interesting. I understand your point, though. Not many English learners study the accent from your country. They pick English or American. (And there seems to be a divide on what's right to choose, just like there is with what we consider foreign.) Are you proud of your accent? I can't tell. If you're not, you should be
I'd say I'm proud of it and I wouldn't want to lose it completely, but in practical terms it can be a hindrance. I said in a recent thread that I'd love to have an accent that's clearer and easier to understand but still obviously Scottish, like the people you hear on the radio and TV here, but I grew up in a working-class area in the centre of the country where the accent is a strange mix between those of different areas - a bit of Glasgow, a bit of East Coast, a bit of North. I can't lose it even if I try, even if I did manage to tone it down a little when I went to university and most of my fellow students were from England or abroad, and then made a lot of international friends in more recent years.
It's not a bad accent for learning foreign languages though! As long as I pay a little attention to rhythm and intonation, I don't usually sound like an obvious English-speaker and people are more likely to think I'm German or something. We often use pure vowels where standard English uses diphthongs, so we avoid butchering Romance language vowels in the typical way.
Sandía wrote:Is the e-method version you are referring to the app version? If so, I own the Spanish course and would be happy to give you more information over it.
I think so! It's called e-méthode on Assimil's site but it just looks like an app version of their courses. Sure, let me know!