I just thought you all might want to check out this sale in case Linguaphone offers a course you are interested in:
http://www.linguaphonelanguages.com/
Looks like many good deals to be had, though I cannot vouch for this company. It appears that Linguaphone courses are British and this is some sort of American distributor for them.
Linguaphone Sale (ends today)
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diplomaticus
- Yellow Belt
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 3:27 am
- Languages: English (N)
- x 83
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Speakeasy
- x 7661
Re: Linguaphone Sale (ends today)
As far as I understand, although the courses can be purchased elsewhere, often at higher prices, Elite Commerce is the official agent for Linguaphone in the U.S.A. and Canada and this is Linguaphone's official website. I ordered all of my Linguaphone CD courses as well as all my Pimsleur CD courses from Elite Commerce and I was quite satisfied with their service. As to the current price reduction, if I did not already have all of the Linguaphone "Complete and Advanced" courses for the languages of interest to me, I would "snap them up" under this offer!
1 x
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diplomaticus
- Yellow Belt
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 3:27 am
- Languages: English (N)
- x 83
Re: Linguaphone Sale (ends today)
Wow! That is quite a collection you have. I am impressed. From reading on the old site, it seems it is sort of like Assimil, but with longer dialogues. Would you mind giving a longer review of them, how they work, and maybe your view of pros and cons? Are any of the courses particularly good or bad in the way that German Without Toil is said to be incredible whereas the Arabic courses are often duds for Assimil?
1 x
Petit a petit, l’oiseau fait son nid.
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Speakeasy
- x 7661
Re: Linguaphone Sale (ends today)
Hi, diplomaticus!
HTLAL
According to the G-Search that I just conducted on the HTLAL, there are 448 discussion threads that touch upon, in one way or another, the Linguaphone courses. As time is of the essence, I will not select any particular threads for your attention nor will I attempt to summarize all of the comments in them. Furthermore, I will not prepare an exhaustive review of the various Linguaphone courses. However, having said that, yes, the Linguaphone courses take a somewhat similar approach to teaching as that adopted by Assimil. I will comment briefly on the “Beginner-to-Advanced” and the “Advanced-to-Expert” courses only …
Production Period
Although the Linguaphone company was created at the beginning of the 20th century and while the courses evolved over time, with few exceptions, many of the Beginner-to-Advanced and Advanced-to-Expert courses presently available were developed in the 1970’s and their approach was more-or-less standardized. A few of the courses, produced in the 1980’s or later, adopted a modified approach to teaching; however, in all cases, the general high quality of the courses was maintained. Updates are slow. The Assimil company was created, I believe, in the late 1920’s. “Real” revisions to the courses (that is, the dialogues) seems to take place about every ten years.
Dialogues
The Assimil courses are based on the presentation of 100 short, unrelated, not-particularly-thematic dialogues, supported by translations and course notes. The Linguaphone courses are based on the presentation of about 30 lengthy, situational dialogues. In lieu of full translations, extensive notes that include partial translations are provided in a handbook. In both cases, the accompanying notes are often interesting, but rather unclear as the to the grammatical points either illustrated or explained and, in my view, require the use of a simple grammar for a more complete understanding.
Exercise Sets
The Assimil lessons contain short exercises for which the sentences are most often of a simpler nature than those encountered in the dialogues. The Linguaphone courses often contain separate audio-lingual-style spoken exercises (although nowhere as complete as the FSI courses) as well as written exercises. However, and I have always found this rather bizarre, there is no directly-apparent link between the numbered exercise sets and the corresponding lesson units. That is, the student must display a fair amount of initiative in using the exercises. Nonetheless, assuming that one can deduce what the exercises are about and how they are linked to the base materials, they do the job.
Recordings
The Assimil audio recordings are presented in the target language only and are spread across 4 CDs. In the initial lessons, the dialogues are read clearly and at an almost painfully slow pace. While the cadence of speech increases in the later lessons, it never reaches that of a native speaker. The Linguaphone audio recordings are presented in the target language only and, depending on the specific course, are spread across from 6 through 12 CDs. The dialogues are read clearly at a more-or-less conversational speed; however, they never reach that of a native speaker. In both cases, the recordings are of a high quality and were made by native speakers of the target language.
Advanced Courses
Assimil offers advanced courses (Perfectionnement) for some languages. The presentation is the same as for the initial courses; that is, dialogues accompanied by translations and course notes. Regrettably, they do not exist in an English base. The Linguaphone “Advanced-to-Expert” courses (dialogues, notes, exercises, everything) are presented in the target language only. I am under the impression that the Linguaphone “Advanced-to-Expert” courses take the student to a higher level than the Assimil “Perfectionnement” courses; however, I refuse to debate the issue.
Quality
Both the Assimil and Linguaphone courses are widely-recognized for their high quality.
Value
In my view, at regular pricing, the Assimil courses represent one of the best values available, providing that one adapts well to their method. Price reductions are rare and they tend to precede the publication of revised editions. In contrast, while the Linguaphone courses present more materials, I find the regular pricing simply too steep, particularly given the availability of lower-priced, high-quality materials elsewhere. However, Linguaphone often has “price reductions” of 50% that render their courses much more attractive. Furthermore, they regularly offer “refurbished” courses at reduced prices that, in my view, are also quite attractive (this is how I purchased all of my Linguaphone courses).
Recommendation
Buy BOTH the Assimil and Linguaphone courses.
HTLAL
According to the G-Search that I just conducted on the HTLAL, there are 448 discussion threads that touch upon, in one way or another, the Linguaphone courses. As time is of the essence, I will not select any particular threads for your attention nor will I attempt to summarize all of the comments in them. Furthermore, I will not prepare an exhaustive review of the various Linguaphone courses. However, having said that, yes, the Linguaphone courses take a somewhat similar approach to teaching as that adopted by Assimil. I will comment briefly on the “Beginner-to-Advanced” and the “Advanced-to-Expert” courses only …
Production Period
Although the Linguaphone company was created at the beginning of the 20th century and while the courses evolved over time, with few exceptions, many of the Beginner-to-Advanced and Advanced-to-Expert courses presently available were developed in the 1970’s and their approach was more-or-less standardized. A few of the courses, produced in the 1980’s or later, adopted a modified approach to teaching; however, in all cases, the general high quality of the courses was maintained. Updates are slow. The Assimil company was created, I believe, in the late 1920’s. “Real” revisions to the courses (that is, the dialogues) seems to take place about every ten years.
Dialogues
The Assimil courses are based on the presentation of 100 short, unrelated, not-particularly-thematic dialogues, supported by translations and course notes. The Linguaphone courses are based on the presentation of about 30 lengthy, situational dialogues. In lieu of full translations, extensive notes that include partial translations are provided in a handbook. In both cases, the accompanying notes are often interesting, but rather unclear as the to the grammatical points either illustrated or explained and, in my view, require the use of a simple grammar for a more complete understanding.
Exercise Sets
The Assimil lessons contain short exercises for which the sentences are most often of a simpler nature than those encountered in the dialogues. The Linguaphone courses often contain separate audio-lingual-style spoken exercises (although nowhere as complete as the FSI courses) as well as written exercises. However, and I have always found this rather bizarre, there is no directly-apparent link between the numbered exercise sets and the corresponding lesson units. That is, the student must display a fair amount of initiative in using the exercises. Nonetheless, assuming that one can deduce what the exercises are about and how they are linked to the base materials, they do the job.
Recordings
The Assimil audio recordings are presented in the target language only and are spread across 4 CDs. In the initial lessons, the dialogues are read clearly and at an almost painfully slow pace. While the cadence of speech increases in the later lessons, it never reaches that of a native speaker. The Linguaphone audio recordings are presented in the target language only and, depending on the specific course, are spread across from 6 through 12 CDs. The dialogues are read clearly at a more-or-less conversational speed; however, they never reach that of a native speaker. In both cases, the recordings are of a high quality and were made by native speakers of the target language.
Advanced Courses
Assimil offers advanced courses (Perfectionnement) for some languages. The presentation is the same as for the initial courses; that is, dialogues accompanied by translations and course notes. Regrettably, they do not exist in an English base. The Linguaphone “Advanced-to-Expert” courses (dialogues, notes, exercises, everything) are presented in the target language only. I am under the impression that the Linguaphone “Advanced-to-Expert” courses take the student to a higher level than the Assimil “Perfectionnement” courses; however, I refuse to debate the issue.
Quality
Both the Assimil and Linguaphone courses are widely-recognized for their high quality.
Value
In my view, at regular pricing, the Assimil courses represent one of the best values available, providing that one adapts well to their method. Price reductions are rare and they tend to precede the publication of revised editions. In contrast, while the Linguaphone courses present more materials, I find the regular pricing simply too steep, particularly given the availability of lower-priced, high-quality materials elsewhere. However, Linguaphone often has “price reductions” of 50% that render their courses much more attractive. Furthermore, they regularly offer “refurbished” courses at reduced prices that, in my view, are also quite attractive (this is how I purchased all of my Linguaphone courses).
Recommendation
Buy BOTH the Assimil and Linguaphone courses.
5 x
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