DLI German Basic course (circa 1967)

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karmamen
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Languages: Serbian(N),English(C1),German(beginner)
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Re: DLI German Basic course (circa 1967)

Postby karmamen » Sat Nov 11, 2017 9:58 am

I can't thank you enough for your trouble Speakeasy. After playing around with FSI and DLI courses, my mind simply reacts better to DLI.
Maybe because I have to put a lot of thinking in my day job, and as a result only mind numbing type of courses works best for me :mrgreen:
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Speakeasy
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Re: DLI German Basic course (circa 1967)

Postby Speakeasy » Sat Nov 11, 2017 1:17 pm

Update-2 (Re-loading of the Files)
We have good news! Ericounet has reloaded/reorganized the following courses on his FSI-Languages-Courses (Yojik) website:

DLI German Basic
DLI German Headstart
DLI German Gateway


Vielen, vielen Dank Ericounet!

Here is the LINK to the YOJIK website: https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/

The complete files for the DLI German Basic Course (1967) can be downloaded from the sections displayed in the attached image.
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Melkor
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German (Goethe A2)
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Re: DLI German Basic course (circa 1967)

Postby Melkor » Thu Dec 27, 2018 1:15 pm

I am A2-certified by the Goethe Inst., and thought that I could start Linguaphone Adv to Expert without much difficulty. I grossly underestimated the level at which that course started and swiftly realised that I had bitten off far more than I could chew. I have recovering from that German assault by going through the Linguaphone courses from 1960 and 1990. After being encouraged by Skynet to pick up DLI Basic German (which was gracefully digitized by nameless unsung heroes), I intend to increase my automaticity during that period. For some reason, people voice their concerns and berate FSI/DLI for being too old and formal. I have read Tolkien's work from the 1930s, and I have never struggled to understand it, why would German from the 1960s have changed so much that it would be considered indistinguishable from another language in 2018? I think these concerns are extremely overblown: the only things that have changed in 60 years are orthography, technology and words that are deemed to be politically incorrect like Fräulein. I suspect that these obsolete nouns would make up less than 0.1% of the entire course, implying that the DLI/FSI courses are still relevant today.

I would like to hear from people who have attempted/completed the DLI German course to tell me how they found it. In the great hope that this does not get derailed, please can only people who have worked through the course respond?
Last edited by Melkor on Fri Dec 28, 2018 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SGP
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Re: DLI German Basic course (circa 1967)

Postby SGP » Thu Dec 27, 2018 4:08 pm

Quoting two posts from Skynet's log.
Melkor wrote:
SGP wrote:Since the DLI courses are "very pre-2000" ;), I wonder how exactly you deal with their not-so-current language usage when using them as learning materials.

The only things that have changed in the last 60 years are technology and words that are deemed to be politically incorrect like Fräulein. I suspect that these obsolete nouns would make up less than 0.1% of the entire course, implying that the DLI/FSI courses are still relevant today.

As for me, I wouldn't say that these are the only two matters that have changed. There also are some German phrases from the past decades (especially pre-2000/1990/1980) that today's youngsters wouldn't use at all. They wouldn't use them either after becoming grown-ups. Etc.

Just as I am not advising for or against studying the FSI course, the same applies to DLI, too.

Speakeasy wrote:While I am a strong supporter of the FSI/DLI courses of the 1960’s, I readily acknowledge that these materials have their detractors.

Is there anything in particular that comes to your mind?
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Previously known as SGP. But my mental username now is langmon.

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Speakeasy
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Re: DLI German Basic course (circa 1967)

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Dec 27, 2018 5:00 pm

SGP, if I understand Melkor’s invitation correctly, he is seeking comments from members who have worked through the DLI German Basic course. I suggest that you download the course materials from the Yojik website and that you conduct a thorough review of them from the perspective of the average adult, English-speaking, independent learner who wishes to learn the basics of Standard German as used by adults (not by youngsters) in their daily communications in routine situations. I recommend that you keep an open mind and that you provide true balance in your review which I am looking forward to reading and to which I would be pleased to respond.

While I could expand on my comments in this thread -- which was not launched as an invitation to partake in a debate of the entire range of FSI/DLI courses but, rather, was posted with a view to informing the reader of the availability of the DLI German Basic course along with my own views as to its suitability -- doing so would not provide a great deal of additional information; nevertheless, I am considering adding a few nuances for the benefit of Melkor and other members.

By the way, when I wrote “I readily acknowledge that these materials have their detractors”, I chose my words carefully; to wit, I did not state that I agree with the latter.
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Speakeasy
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Re: DLI German Basic course (circa 1967)

Postby Speakeasy » Sat Jul 06, 2019 10:55 pm

DLI German Basic : Supplemental Introductory-Level Listening Exercises
The Yojik website hosts a set of DLI German Basic audio files, of approximately 2-3/4 hours duration, identified as “DLI German Modular”, that I believe were inherited from the “https://jlu.wbtrain.com/sumtotal/language/DLI%20basic%20courses/ “ website (which appears to be no longer active).
DLI German Modular (Yojik.eu website).JPG

DLI German Modular (Listening Exercises
https://yojik.eu/languages/DLI/DLI-German.html

Although PDF files are hosted along with these sound files, the documents and the recordings do not match one another. For this reason, and given the almost unlimited resources available for the study of this language which includes the FSI German Basic course and the DLI German Basic course, until very recently, I had never paid much attention to these “Modular” files. Having just listened closely to the audio recordings, I thought that my fellow students of German might wish to know that these audio files appear to be supplemental “listening exercises” to the DLI German Basic course, most likely recorded in the 1970’s. The audio files, which run from lesson 1 through lesson 34, are scripted dialogues depicting standard situations and vocabulary as encountered and used in many introductory language courses.

What distinguishes these audio files from many others is that the speakers deliberately “talk over one another”, thereby rendering the dialogues both more challenging to understand and more representative of real-life conversations. They’re great ear-training for the beginner. Viel Spaβ!
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