General Linguaphone Discussion

[Seneca]

Has anyone here ever seen the reel-to-reel tape generation? I couldn't help myself, so I bought Russian one just for the sheer novelty




From that last picture, it seems this was a 30-lesson course. I found another course that is on 7" vinyl. I contacted the seller, and I was told this course is also 30 lessons:



Just for pure curiousity's sake, does anyone know if the content itself actually changed between these two generations? Or was it simply a reissue of the same course on a new medium?

[devriesp]

Just for pure curiousity's sake, does anyone know if the content itself actually changed between these two generations? Or was it simply a reissue of the same course on a new medium?

I'm quite sure they will be different. The rough scheme is that the pre-50s generation courses were called "Conversation xyz" and had 30 lessons. The lessons center around an illustration that has a bunch of stuff pointed out in it. That seems to be what you have with the real tape version.

The 50s/60s era courses generally have 50 lessons, and those a quite formulaic (see Arguelles video).... there is 1:1 correspondence across each language, chapter by chapter, section by section..

Then in the 70s (seems to be the newer course you have).. they went back to 30 lesson format.. although, each lesson is broken into 3 parts, so it is really like 90 sublessons. The 70s courses are also fairly similar in structural style, although there is more variation then the 50s courses. The 70s ones always start with some family coming back to the home country either on vacation or back from some long visit.. and then different things happen to family (chapter 2.. they check into a hotel etc).

[n_j_f]

Has anyone here ever seen the reel-to-reel tape generation? I couldn't help myself, so I bought Russian one just for the sheer novelty




From that last picture, it seems this was a 30-lesson course. I found another course that is on 7" vinyl. I contacted the seller, and I was told this course is also 30 lessons:



Just for pure curiousity's sake, does anyone know if the content itself actually changed between these two generations? Or was it simply a reissue of the same course on a new medium?

I can confirm — as I have copies of both — that the two courses are completing different. I am only a beginner with Russian (despite slogging away at it for the last eighteen months) but my first impression is that the first course would be of more use to an intermediate learner. The course only loosely follows the 1st Generation structure of, say, the French or German course. The first lesson starts off with various cases and fairly complex grammar. The other course, however, is excellent from the extracts I have reviewed. I would definitely recommend getting both.

[Seneca]

Has anyone here ever seen the reel-to-reel tape generation? I couldn't help myself, so I bought Russian one just for the sheer novelty




From that last picture, it seems this was a 30-lesson course. I found another course that is on 7" vinyl. I contacted the seller, and I was told this course is also 30 lessons:



Just for pure curiousity's sake, does anyone know if the content itself actually changed between these two generations? Or was it simply a reissue of the same course on a new medium?

I can confirm — as I have copies of both — that the two courses are completing different. I am only a beginner with Russian (despite slogging away at it for the last eighteen months) but my first impression is that the first course would be of more use to an intermediate learner. The course only loosely follows the 1st Generation structure of, say, the French or German course. The first lesson starts off with various cases and fairly complex grammar. The other course, however, is excellent from the extracts I have reviewed. I would definitely recommend getting both.

Nice! Now can you solve the mystery of Linguaphone VHS tapes?!

[n_j_f]

[/quote]
Nice! Now can you solve the mystery of Linguaphone VHS tapes?!

[/quote]

Unfortunately, I haven't ever seen the Linguaphone videos apart from this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSRUKjAP7NA
Which, along with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MekRsMhfXq0
Has provided much amusement in our household

[Elexi]

The video on YouTube is what these videos are. They come with the 'Video Plus' edition of the 1980s-1990s edition of the third generation 30 lesson course. They are supposed to be used before the main course and are essentially a video phrase book following a tourist around a hotel, the town and shops. Really slow going and a bit of a gimmick unfortunately.

[Speakeasy]

Recently, I purchased a vintage Linguaphone German course from a vendor on EBay. What surprised me about this particular edition, is that the course is entitled "Sonodisc German Course", the cover of the course books identify the publisher as "Interlang Ltd", and the name "Linguaphone" does not appear anywhere in the books or on the accompanying 45 rpm vinyl records. I have compared the two course books to the (undated) Linguaphone German course that seems to have been published circa 1950-1955 and, save for a few minor differences, the texts are identical. My searches of the Internet have not yielded any information linking this publisher to the Linguaphone courses. Would anyone happen to know what this was? Was this course was a licensed copy of the original? Was this an effort to re-brand the Linguaphone courses? Was it an unlicensed copy? I would include photos, but the "insert image" function does not work for me. In the absence of photos, I have provided a LINK to a similar offer on EBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272388911136?clk_rvr_id=1102347871630&rmvSB=true

EDITED:
1) typos, formatting, link.
2) image of "Sonodisc" course

[Adrianslont]

I'm not sure how relevant this is to this thread but nearly two years ago I studied with the 1970s Linguaphone Indonesian course and our protagonist, Budi, travels to Medan and Lake Toba in lessons 27-30.

And now, this week, I find myself in Lake Toba, having come from Medan. I'd actually forgotten about those Linguaphone lessons but remembered during the journey. Then we stopped in the town of Siantar for lunch and the name seemed so very familiar, and through the Simalungun Regency and then we arrived in Parapat and caught the ferry to Samosir Island. All of these places are mentioned in the lessons and the crops that are passed on the journey.

So last night I found the lessons on my phone and replayed them for kicks. I basically replayed the five hour car trip. Interestingly, I actually felt like I "heard" the lessons better. Sure, my level has improved since I first used them but they were now much more salient to me.

Edited - previously less articulate!

[Elexi]

The link below appears to show that Sonodisc was a company connected with Jacques Roston in 1933 - Jacques Roston was also the founder of Linguaphone - like Michel Thomas, he was a Polish polyglot (real name Jacob Rozenblum) who created a sense of mystique with a French name.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vlx ... ge&f=false

[Speakeasy]

... Sonodisc was a company connected with Jacques Roston in 1933 - Jacques Roston was also the founder of Linguaphone ...

Elexi, thank you very much. This is fascinating!

Still, I find it somewhat perplexing that Linguaphone should, apparently, publish their standard German course under another name.

As an aside, before posting the information above, I sent photographic images of the materials to Linguaphone U.K., along with a brief description, asking them if they might have any information concerning this vintage course. As for my past queries, I received a terse reply "these materials are not available."