FSI Basic German - Response, Conversation, Situation drills

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David1917
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Re: FSI Basic German - Response, Conversation, Situation drills

Postby David1917 » Thu Dec 27, 2018 6:35 pm

Since this is the most recently responded to thread concerning FSI German specifically that I could find, I decided to ask here rather than create a new one in the morass of FSI threads.

My question is - Do FSI German Volumes 3 and 4 exist? I ask because of the following quote from Prof Arguelles on HTLAL:

If you want a slew of comprehensive written exercises, look at Hilke Dreyer und Richard Schmitt Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik. If you like pattern drill style exercises, all recorded on scores of hours, track down the 3rd and 4th volume of the older FSI courses (that most commonly offered by Barron’s as “complete” is the 1st volume, and the one they offer as “advanced” is only the 2nd volume).


I have searched ERIC, WorldCat, ebay, Amazon, etc. and only found one suspect that might be FSI German Volume 3 on a CD-ROM. I address especially @Speakeasy here. Is it possible the Prof made an error and referenced something else entirely like SLS or DLI, or indeed these 2 volumes of FSI exist somewhere out there in the annals of used bookshops or government archives yet to be catalogued digitally?
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Speakeasy
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Re: FSI Basic German - Response, Conversation, Situation drills

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:40 pm

I have never come across any indication of the existence of the FSI German Basic course (circa 1965) beyond the original two volumes (Lessons 1 through 24) with which many of us are familiar. For example, during a period which extended over several years, the U.S. Government’s N.T.I.S. (National Technical Information Service) used to sell copies of the FSI language courses and they always listed just the two volumes. Moreover, the independent publishers Multilingual, Barron’s Educational, and Audio Forum (see separate comment below), along with a number of smaller resellers, all published volumes which contained only lessons 1 through 24. If there ever existed truly “advanced” versions of the FSI German course, containing materials beyond those of the original 24 lessons, then they are the new Holy Grail.

As part of my preparations to my reply to David1917’s question, I scanned the three sets of physical copies of the course manuals that I have in my collection (yes, I know, I’m not your garden-variety nerd).

Original FSI German Basic course (volumes 1 and 2)
U.S. Government Printing Office

1 FSI German Basic (U.S. Government Printing Office).JPG


Reprinted/renamed FSI German Basic course (volumes 1 and 2)
Barron’s Mastering German

2 FSI German Basic (Barron's Educational).JPG


Reprinted FSI German Basic course (volumes 1, 2, 3) (sic*)
Audio-Forum

This publisher chose to split the original Volume 1 into two parts each of which contained six lessons only and, in publishing their edition of the original Volume 2, they labelled it Volume 3*.
3 FSI German Basic (Audio-Forum).JPG


David1917 wrote: … I have searched ERIC, WorldCat, ebay, Amazon, etc. and only found one suspect that might be FSI German Volume 3 on a CD-ROM …
I wonder if the “Volume 3” is a copy of the “third” volume by Audio-Forum? Would you happen to have a LINK to this offer that you would share with us? Thank you.

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David1917
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Re: FSI Basic German - Response, Conversation, Situation drills

Postby David1917 » Thu Dec 27, 2018 10:44 pm

Speakeasy wrote:I wonder if the “Volume 3” is a copy of the “third” volume by Audio-Forum? Would you happen to have a LINK to this offer that you would share with us? Thank you.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/FSI-Basic-German-3-Advanced-21-CDs-Book-by-Foreign-Service-Institute-NEW/141551613266?hash=item20f5223552:g:m6wAAOSw0e9U0Vt5:rk:1:pf:0

Indeed it is the one sold by Audio-Forum, so it must just be the real Volume 2. There must be some error in that old post from Arguelles that went overlooked all those years ago. Or, there really are 2 more volumes for you to hunt for :shock:
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Re: FSI Basic German - Response, Conversation, Situation drills

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:14 pm

Thank you, David1917, for the link to the offer of “FSI German Volume 3” from Planet-Deals on eBay.com. As you confirmed, this offer is for Audio-Forum’s edition of the original Volume 2 of the course. Of minor note is that the seller on eBay (see “visit store”) is offering packages of the Audio-Forum FSI courses at a slight price discount from the latter. LINK to Audio-Forum: http://www.audioforum.com/software/info.php?ID=7205

I would not be surprised to learn that most language learners have forgotten about Audio-Forum and their website and that the offer’s on eBay are an attempt at generating sales. That is, I suspect that Planet-Deals on eBay is Audio-Forum. Audio-Forum and several similar resellers of the FSI courses were, effectively, forced out of business once these materials became freely available via the Yojik website. The owners of the current incarnation of Audio-Forum were likely unaware that they had purchased the inventory and rights of something that was now free.

By the way, would you happen to have the LINK to the Professor Arguelle’s post?
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Re: FSI Basic German - Response, Conversation, Situation drills

Postby David1917 » Fri Dec 28, 2018 3:42 am

Speakeasy wrote:By the way, would you happen to have the LINK to the Professor Arguelle’s post?


Suggested methods for studying German
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Re: FSI Basic German - Response, Conversation, Situation drills

Postby David1917 » Tue Jan 15, 2019 8:43 pm

Speakeasy wrote:I have never come across any indication of the existence of the FSI German Basic course (circa 1965) beyond the original two volumes (Lessons 1 through 24) with which many of us are familiar. For example, during a period which extended over several years, the U.S. Government’s N.T.I.S. (National Technical Information Service) used to sell copies of the FSI language courses and they always listed just the two volumes. Moreover, the independent publishers Multilingual, Barron’s Educational, and Audio Forum (see separate comment below), along with a number of smaller resellers, all published volumes which contained only lessons 1 through 24. If there ever existed truly “advanced” versions of the FSI German course, containing materials beyond those of the original 24 lessons, then they are the new Holy Grail.


Since you posted in the other thread on AudioForum, I decided to try once again to determine the authenticity of Volumes 3 and 4 of the German Basic Course. Check out this eBay listing, which is for a vintage German Basic Course covering Units 1-6. So at some juncture the official FSI "Volume I" we know of was split up as 1-6 and 7-12. Notably, on none of the FSI book covers that you posted nor that I find on ebay are explicit volume numbers stated, just the units contained therein. It stands to reason, then, that "Volume II" was at some point split into separate manuals containing Units 13-18 and 19-24, does it not? This could very well be what Prof A acquired for his collection in the 1990's, and what he referenced as "Volumes 3 and 4."
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Re: FSI Basic German - Response, Conversation, Situation drills

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Jan 15, 2019 10:54 pm

David1917 wrote: … Check out this eBay listing, which is for a vintage German Basic Course covering Units 1-6…
Well, blow me down and shiver me timbers*, this is truly quite a find! I agree with your supposition that, as the Foreign Service Institute itself had published Volume I (Units 1 - 12) and Volume II (Units 13 - 24) but had also published a set of 6-lesson course manuals for Volume I, then the Volumes III and IV to which Professor Arguelles referred were mostly likely the result of a similar subdivision. You are to be congratulated on some very fine detective work!

*Attributed to: Popeye the Sailor

FSI German Basic, Volume I (Units 1 – 6)
FSI German Volume I (Units 1 - 6).jpg


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