Questions about several language courses

[Speakeasy]

Ug, I share PeterMollenburg’s views concerning Pimsleur and his general advice that consistency and perseverance in studying are more important than the materials themselves. Coming back to the upper levels of the Pimsleur programme, in response to a recent question, similar to the one that you have posed, I replied as follows: “… even upon successful completion of Pimsleur V, the student will not yet have been presented with a number of essential verb tenses, will have a vague notion of the passive voice at best, and will have been exposed to perhaps only 1,100 vocabulary items (please note here that I do not accept Pimsleur’s definition of a “new word” as including each and every conjugation of a verb which appears numerous times throughout the programme, any more than I accept as a “new word” the separate introduction of variants of a word based on gender, number, case, and the like). So then, while elements of grammar which are often presented in A2-B1 level courses do appear in the entire Pimsleur I-V programme, in many respects, the level on completion of the full five levels might actually be something more akin to A1+ (with some gaps) …”

In addition, I recommend that you read through “Pimsleur IV & V” – LLORG – February, 2016
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2080

[haziz]

.....................................
1) Are there any families of language courses which include Spanish, French and Italian (and potentially
Portuguese of either variety) that teach the languages in a uniform manner (IE: all vocabulary and
constructions from one language would also be taught the same for the other two, so you effectively learn like-for-like phrases in all languages)?

2) What is the intended way to use a reading like “Spanish for Reading” by Sandberg? If there is no "intended" way, are there any ways that fellow language learners have found work for them?

...............

4) Is Linguaphone used in a similar way to Assimil? I’m intending to buy Linguaphone Dutch soon but can’t
find anywhere which lists instructions for use of the course or examples of people using it.
...........

1. The 1960s and earlier Linguaphone courses (generally 50 lessons/course) followed a fairly rigid script across multiple courses, so in lesson one for example you meet the family, lesson 2 you visit their house (I don't recall the sequence precisely) so theoretically you could pick up multiple language courses and follow very similar (though not necessarily identical) scripts.

2. I loved “Spanish for Reading” by Sandberg. Highly recommended. It is mainly focused on reading skills but it covers a lot of territory in a very compact space. The introduction to the book explains its method well

4. Linguaphone is a bit different from Assimil but it works well in it's own way. This video covers the method fairly well:
Linguaphone: Foreign Language Learning Series Reviews

[Ug_Caveman]

I’ve noticed several people mention “Living Language” - compared to “Assimil with Ease”, how do these courses stack up for difficulty, content and method?

[Cavesa]

I’ve noticed several people mention “Living Language” - compared to “Assimil with Ease”, how do these courses stack up for difficulty, content and method?

The real Living Language courses, the older editions, compared very well. They were of solid quality and lead far. I've seen pdfs of the French course and almost regretted being too advanced for the book at that point You can still buy some of the courses, with names like Ultimate French, Ultimate Russian, and so on.

The new ones are trash, just milking the good reputation built before. From what I have read about them (I compared the curriculum, saw the samples), the "Advanced" is somewhere around A2. Some members of this forum have been satisfied with these courses for the more exotic languages with fewer resources. But when it comes to the mainstream ones, you can get the same results for much cheaper. Also, I remember having tried their "learning apps" and I found them toxic and harmful for learning, as they included exercises like adding a foreign word to an English sentence.

[Ug_Caveman]

Sorry for coming back with another question, but I've not been able to find the answer I was looking for (although I suspect it is buried somewhere within the forums of this website) - do Linguaphone courses change much content-wise between editions (other than changes in vocabulary to reflect times, IE cassette might change to CD or something similar)?

I see there's lots of different generations, and older ones seem to be more highly regarded? But I don't understand if this is because the content has changed or if because the course is simply with better instructions (or indeed if it contained more content in earlier editions)?

Thanks all,

[Speakeasy]

Many publishers, Linguaphone included, issue numerous editions for which the course content is unchanged throughout the series. For a list of the periods, please consult …

General Linguaphone Discussion – Page 10
Linguaphone Publishing History
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3249&start=90