A language learners’ forum

http://www.languagetransfer.org/
https://www.youtube.com/user/LanguageTransfer/

I believe no thread about the Language Transfer has been started, even though I know several htlalers (for example Brun Ugle) have experience using it. I tried one Greek lesson a few days ago. It nearly got me tempted to start Greek right away, it felt so much better to me than Pimsleur. What are their other courses like? I am a bit hesitant to start Complete German as it is not complete yet, and I suppose I am far too advanced for Complete Spanish. But there is as well Introduction to Turkish and Introduction to Arabic available.

I've got a few questions:
Do you find the courses to be of good quality?
How far do you think they lead? Complete Spanish or the old Greek course are probably a model most courses will follow, aren't they?
Have you got any experience with Patreon, the service through which you can support LT? I am considering donating a dollar a month (I am a student but I suppose every bit helps). Is the service reliable? Are you charged by mastercard/visa for paying abroad? I wouldn't want to send one dollar to LT only to have two taken away as an international payment fee or something.
Is it any problem that the teacher teaches languages he is not only not native of, but that he claims not to really speak? He writes about natives proofing the courses but this point actually made me a bit worried I might learn mistakes from the courses.

Thanks a lot in advance for information!

My mom did five or six lessons from the Spanish course while I listened in. It was excellent! If I'd known about it when I was new to Spanish, I *definitely* would have used it.

I conducted a "G-search" of the HTLAL using "Language Transfer" as my search criterion which yielded 162 discussion threads wherein this resource is mentioned and, having surveyed a few of them, it seems that most of the comments are fairly positive. This one seems to have drawn the most number of comments:

Language Transfer: the Cyprus Project
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=29668&PN=9

I did the entire Spanish course and it was great. I gave me a good overview of the language and made it all fit together easily in my mind. It helped a lot for seeing how the different tenses worked and for remembering everything. He always tells you not to try to memorize things, but he gives you a lot of tricks so you can remember without memorizing. I would recommend it to anyone from beginner to lower intermediate. If you're having trouble with some verb tenses, it could also also be useful. The early lessons might be a bit boring if you're not a beginner, but there's still some good stuff in them, so I would suggest listening to the whole thing.

I've started the German course, but I'm only up to lesson 13. So far it seems good, but we haven't gotten to anything difficult yet. It's a lot like the Spanish course in approach, but he apparently did it while traveling around and so he used a variety of students. I was a little surprised when I got to lesson 13 and there was a new student because there was only one student in the Spanish course.

I haven't done any of the other courses, but the only negative thing I've ever heard is the the original Greek course had bad quality audio. That's probably why he's redoing it.

Thanks for starting this thread, Cavesa!

I listened to the first 11 lessons of Complete Spanish and my only complaint is that I didn't have this back when I was (relatively) new to Spanish. I'd definitely recommend it to beginners or false beginners. I find the course very enjoyable and think that it's probably quite good at giving you decent basics in speaking the language (something I'm always likely to neglect somewhat XD). I'm usually really bad at listening-only in any way, shape or form (even in my native language!) and basically start drifting off real quick, for which reason neither Pimsleur nor Michel Thomas ever won me over, but for some reason I don't have that problem with LT. That being said, I don't think I'll be continuing the Spanish course, since it doesn't really teach me anything new and I could be using that time more efficiently. I've only been listening to it this far because I was quite intrigued by the method. (I tried out MT French and some Pimsleur course or other once waay back and it definitely didn't manage to hook me in the same way.) If LT existed for any of my wishlist languages (Dutch, Italian or Portuguese, for example), I'd already be doing that course, no questions asked. As it is, I'm quite tempted to try out Arabic, Turkish or Greek just because it's there. (Someone stop me, please!)

Unfortuantely I can't really answer your questions beyond this limited experience.

I recommend the English for Spanish speakers to my Latino friends who do not speak much English. They really like it. There is so much junk out there for English that it is nice to have a free course like this to recommend. Also, as others have said, the Spanish course gets great reviews.

I did a few lessons of the Greek course and was surprised by how much I remembered. When I get around to doing some more Greek, I will definitely start there.

Thanks for all the info! Now I only need to find out a bit more about Patreon and I'll start sending a half a coffee (or perhaps whole, that would mean 2 dollars) per month to support this miracle with my tiny bit. And get a chance to vote for the language, don't forget that

Yuurei wrote: If LT existed for any of my wishlist languages (Dutch, Italian or Portuguese, for example), I'd already be doing that course, no questions asked. As it is, I'm quite tempted to try out Arabic, Turkish or Greek just because it's there. (Someone stop me, please!)

Unfortuantely I can't really answer your questions beyond this limited experience.

I feel the same way. However Yuurei, we cannot grab any of those three languages as our shared Manada wolfskin would fly away

Has it always been an audio-only course? I don't remember it being the case first time I checked it (the Greek one).

Expugnator wrote:Has it always been an audio-only course? I don't remember it being the case first time I checked it (the Greek one).

No clue about the past but in the "volunteer" section, the author is looking as well for people to make transkripts of the lessons, so some kind of written support is probably planned.