FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

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kunsttyv
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby kunsttyv » Tue Jun 07, 2016 7:50 pm

Great work! I will soon finish Assimil Spanish, and I'm thinking about continuing with FSI. Your refurbished version looks like a great improvement when it comes to ease of use. Will probably buy.

The unit 2 book is not yet available in Norway it seems.

Do you have any idea when you will finish unit 3 and 4?
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ilmari
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby ilmari » Tue Jun 07, 2016 8:09 pm

Thanks for you kind words.

Apple has asked for a small correction in a glossary entry, this is why you can't find the book right now. I am now uploading the new version, and hopefully it will be online again in the coming hours.

I intend to keep up with levels 3 and 4, but it may take a bit of time, as some lessons are quite dense. I also have to decide what to do with the second section of readings you have got in these upper levels. I may scrap some of them, as too outdated, but I will certainly keep others, as they allow to practice important written elements.

Anyway, I will keep releasing the individual units one by one as soon as they are ready.

All this work is not purely mechanical, but I am carefully looking into each element of the course. For example, the latest updates get rid of some of the peculiar FSI grammatical terminology (for instance, I have replaced FSI "Past I" and "Past II" with standard "preterite" and "imperfect.").
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby kanewai » Mon Jul 11, 2016 8:22 pm

I saw your post over on the old HTLAL before the exodus, and glad to see you made it over here. Your work is fantastic. I've seen other digitized copies of FSI that mostly suck, that are nothing more than bad scans attached to the recordings. I like the way the audio is broken up here - one of the challenges with FSI audio is that it is in 30-minute plus chunks, and it can be hard to repeat a lesson - or even find it again. And I love the fact that I can use FSI on my ipod, and do it at my own pace. Good job :P

For the rest of the gang, here are some screen shots I took:

opening dialogue:
Image

pop-up translations if you need help with a new construction:
Image

color makes life easier:
Image

sample drill page:
Image

drill page with answers:
Image

Now if only someone would follow your lead and digitize the other FSI courses like this. Or if the professionals like Living Language, Teach Yourself, and Assimil would.
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ilmari
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby ilmari » Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:29 am

Your work is fantastic. I've seen other digitized copies of FSI that mostly suck, that are nothing more than bad scans attached to the recordings. I like the way the audio is broken up here - one of the challenges with FSI audio is that it is in 30-minute plus chunks, and it can be hard to repeat a lesson - or even find it again. And I love the fact that I can use FSI on my ipod, and do it at my own pace. Good job :P


Thanks for your kind words.
Happy you like it.
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ilmari
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby ilmari » Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:01 am

I am in the process of updating all released units, dividing each unit into clear sections, which makes for easier navigation and a smoother learning curve. The main sections are: Dialogue, Grammar Drills (each grammar point and its own separate section), Conversation Drills, Review Drills, Review Dialogues, Readings (from Level 2).

Any feedback will be welcome.
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ilmari
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby ilmari » Thu Nov 16, 2017 7:51 am

Some of you may be interested to know that version 3 of the books is progressively released these days.

The main new features:
- interactive practice exercises with instant feedback (dictation, sentence, dialogue, grammar)
- flashcards with study and practice modes (and optional timer)
- better grammar tables and explanations
- more consistent grammatical terminology
- vosotros forms added to grammar tables (and to some exercises)
- translation drills replaced by repetition drills

For now, only level 1 has been updated (all the books will be released in the next days), but levels 2 and 3 will follow in the coming weeks.

You can find more details, along with screenshots, here:
http://www.dicendipublishing.com/spanish-whats-new/version-3-now-with-interactive-exercises

Feel free to try unit 1 and unit 3, which are already available on iBooks.
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ilmari
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby ilmari » Wed Jul 17, 2019 1:39 am

It took quite a long time, but Level 3 one-book edition (units 31-45) has just been released. Thanks to all of you who have expressed their support for this endeavour. You can find more details here: http://www.dicendipublishing.com
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ilmari
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby ilmari » Sun Oct 13, 2019 2:18 am

Some of you may be interested to know that Level 4 Unit 46 has been released a couple of weeks ago. It is available for free on Apple Books: http://books.apple.com/us/book/id1480970157?at=1000l8rM
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ilmari
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Would love to study - Norwegian, Swedish, Ancient Greek, and so many more.
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby ilmari » Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:22 am

I have recently released two new Level 4 units: 48 and 49.
You can find more information here: http://www.dicendipublishing.com

Thanks to all those who have expressed appreciation and support!
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Lysander
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Re: FSI Spanish Basic Course for iBooks

Postby Lysander » Sat Apr 30, 2022 2:24 pm

ilmari wrote:I have recently released two new Level 4 units: 48 and 49.
You can find more information here: http://www.dicendipublishing.com

Thanks to all those who have expressed appreciation and support!

ilmari, I hope you are doing well. I just came across this thread, and what a cool project you have undertaken. I hope you have gotten a lot of support for this! I just downloaded the first unit with lessons 1 through 15 :)

I see from your website that 50 of 55 total FSI units have been digitized. That is a phenomenal effort by you, and seriously impressive!

My question is, of those 50 lessons, is all the content originally there still part of your updated version, and just formatted in an easier to use manner with cleaned up audio? Or did you cut certain exercises or drills or anything like that?

Finally, will you be digitizing the final 5 lessons, or do you consider this project completed now?

Thanks for your time, and bravo again for the effort that went into this!
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