General Linguaphone Discussion

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David1917
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby David1917 » Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:22 pm

I can't seem to find in this thread, do we have a comprehensive list of which languages were offered in each edition of Linguaphone?

Specifically, I'm interested in knowing if all of: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Dutch were all part of the 1950's format with the same lesson plan across. Asking...for a friend... :oops:
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Speakeasy
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby Speakeasy » Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:33 pm

David1917 wrote:I can't seem to find in this thread, do we have a comprehensive list of which languages were offered in each edition of Linguaphone? ...
Linguaphone Publishing History
https://www.publishinghistory.com/linguaphone.html

I would assume that this “publishing history” references the “standard” Linguaphone courses and not the less comprehensive PDQ, AllTalk, and other courses. Nevertheless, in addition to the publishing history, I would point out that, in the 1970’s, Linguaphone published a superb “Business” series (French, German, Spanish) which covered more-or-less the same ground as that of the “standard” courses but which employed a less intensive version of the audio-lingual method (see the review on page 5 of this thread).

David1917 wrote: … Specifically, I'm interested in knowing if all of: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Dutch were all part of the 1950's format with the same lesson plan across. Asking for a friend.
Apparently so! Please note that, earlier this year, Linguaphone began offering copies of their courses going back to the 1950’s. It seems most likely to me that these courses are sold as sets of PDFs and MP3 files. Should your friend be interested in acquiring a copy of any of these courses, he need only submit a request to the publisher via their website.

EDITED:
Typos, of course.
Expanded reply.
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Speakeasy
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby Speakeasy » Fri Dec 14, 2018 9:29 pm

Generations of Linguaphone Dutch
I am offering the following information in response to a private request that I recently received concerning the different generations of the Linguaphone Dutch courses.

Linguaphone Dutch: 1920’s – 1930’s
Although I do not have a copy of the Dutch course from this period, I do have a three sets of the German course. As the Linguaphone courses of this period were so uniform in their approach to teaching that the dialogues could be matched on line-by-line basis across the different target languages, it is reasonable to assume that the Dutch course resembled the image below which is drawn from the German course of the period. The printed materials accompanying these courses seem to have been varied: (a) a leaflet containing a printed transcript and translation of the 78 rpm shellac record sets, ,with the subsequent addition of (b) a grammar, and (c) a supplement on writing business letters. Elexi would know more about this.

Example: Linguaphone German 1920’s – 1930’s Main Course Manual
1 1920s Course Manual.JPG


Linguaphone Dutch: 1940’s – 1960’s
A major revision to the Linguaphone courses was effected during the period from the 1940’s through the 1950’s and, during the process, a number of languages were added to this publisher’s catalogue for this new generation. Linguaphone retained their practice of using a uniform approach to teaching and story line thereby permitting the line-by-line matching of dialogues across the different target languages (a few courses, notably those covering some of the less-frequently-studied languages, were reprints of materials published by Teach Yourself and, possibly, by Hugo). The image below is drawn from the Dutch course of the period; by comparing it to others from the same period (see other posts in this thread), the uniform approach and story lines become quite clear.

Example: Linguaphone Dutch 1940’s – 1960’s Main Course Manual
2 1950s Course Manual.JPG


Linguaphone Dutch: 1970’s (No Revision)
In the 1970’s, a large portion of the Linguaphone courses underwent major revisions, yielding an entirely new generation. While the approach to teaching was fairly uniform (in that the courses from this period tended to present the language through the experiences of an expatriate family who has returned to their native country for an extended visit), the story lines differ across the different target languages and the dialogues can no longer be matched line-by-line. Note carefully that there was NO REVISION to the Linguaphone Dutch during this period; that is, the publisher continued to offer the course of the prevision generation.

Linguaphone Dutch: 1984 to the Present
In the early-to-middle 1980’s Linguaphone issued completely revised versions of their Dutch and Portuguese courses. It would appear that no other languages were included in these revisions. The DUTCH course presented the target language in two complementary manuals. (1) The main course manual, which is designed to be a “stand alone” course, includes a series of situational dialogues and narratives wherein numerous characters assume major or minor roles. Each lesson is accompanied by exercise sets which are directly related to the texts. (2) A second manual includes supplementary exercise materials for practicing the language and for expanding one’s knowledge of it. These materials are both optional and totally unrelated to the main course manual’s dialogues and narratives. It seems that the authors wished to offer a “short course” via the main course manual to people wishing to acquire only an elementary knowledge of the language and, through the use of the supplementary materials, an “expanded course” for those wishing a greater depth of coverage. The supplementary materials may be integrated into one’s studies according to a suggested study sequence which, rather curiously, for the Dutch course but not for the Portuguese course, the publisher chose to include in a separate, small leaflet which can be easily misplaced (please refer to one of my previous posts, above, for a copy of the leaflet).

Example: Linguaphone Dutch 1984 – Main Course Manual
3 1984 Course Manual.JPG


Example: Linguaphone Dutch 1984 – Supplementary Materials Manual
4a 1984 Suppl. Ex..JPG

4b 1984 Suppl. Ex..JPG
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Ug_Caveman
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby Ug_Caveman » Sat Dec 15, 2018 2:11 am

Speakeasy wrote:Linguaphone Dutch: 1984 to the Present
In the early-to-middle 1980’s Linguaphone issued completely revised versions of their Dutch and Portuguese courses. It would appear that no other languages were included in these revisions. These courses presented the target language in two complementary manuals. (1) The main course manual, which is designed to be a “stand alone” course, includes a series of situational dialogues and narratives wherein numerous characters assume major or minor roles. Each lesson is accompanied by exercise sets which are directly related to the texts. (2) A second manual includes supplementary exercise materials for practicing the language and for expanding one’s knowledge of it. These materials are both optional and totally unrelated to the main course manual’s dialogues and narratives. It seems that the authors wished to offer a “short course” via the main course manual to people wishing to acquire only an elementary knowledge of the language and, through the use of the supplementary materials, an “expanded course” for those wishing a greater depth of coverage. The supplementary materials may be integrated into one’s studies according to a suggested study sequence which, rather curiously, for the Dutch course but not for the Portuguese course, the publisher chose to include in a separate, small leaflet which can be easily misplaced (please refer to one of my previous posts, above, for a copy of the leaflet).


So If I understand you correctly, a Linguaphone course from the 1984-1990s period should only come with two books (and a small leaflet)?

Also, looking through Linguaphone's publishing history - I noticed a title of "The Language of Rugby" - which apparently is a humorous title, has anyone ever bought it just to find out what it's all about? I've played the game of rugby on and off for nearly ten years and never thought there was a language barrier :lol:
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Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby Speakeasy » Sat Dec 15, 2018 2:54 am

Ug_Caveman wrote: So If I understand you correctly, a Linguaphone course from the 1984-1990s period should only come with two books (and a small leaflet)?
Not exactly, in fact, not all. The most reliable source of this type of information is Linguaphone. https://www.linguaphone.co.uk/

Ug_Caveman wrote: I've played the game of rugby on and off for nearly ten years …
Soccer is a gentleman’s sport played by hooligans and Ruby is a hooligans’ sport played by gentlemen. (Winston Churchill)
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Dec 20, 2018 5:38 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:I have some questions regarding the Linguaphone Dutch Course (1984). I’ve never completed, or for that matter even started a Linguaphone course before. I thought I’d try out the Dutch one from 1984 since it seems pretty meaty and gets general good feeback on the forum here.

I own the audio, I own the handbook and the tekstboek, but...

...there a 176 page Supplemental Exercises guide that is meant to accompany the supplemental audio tracks found over four CDs which I do not own.

Since the supplemental audio takes up four CDs out of the 8 CDs in total for the content supplied by Linguaphone with this Dutch course, it’s a LOT of content. Yes, I could skip pas this bonus content, but I’d rather make use of it if I can, since it’s so extensive and is likely to, quite simply, improve my Dutch! So, has anyone used this course and the supplementary content as well? How important is the so-called Supplemental Exercises guide? Can you do the exercises without the guide? Is it available somewhere independently?


PeterMollenburg wrote:
Speakeasy wrote:I have a copy of the Linguaphone Dutch (Curus Nederlands) which was completely revised in 1984. The main Course Book and accompanying Handbook are divided into 45 lessons, which are presented in 4 Levels. The accompanying Supplementary Exercises book is divided into 20 lessons, which are also presented in 4 Levels. The supplementary exercises do not follow the themes and characters portrayed in the main lessons directly. Rather they contain supplementary materials, quite separate from those of the main course, to expand your knowledge of the language and to give you extra practice. In my view, one could ignore the exercises; however, this would be depriving oneself of their value. Earlier this year, Linguaphone U.K. began offering to sell copies of their courses going back as far as the early 1950’s which, I presume, might be digitized in some cases or print-on-demand in others. You could contact them and request to purchase a copy of the Supplementary Exercises manual only. In passing, the CDs contain the recordings for the following lesson materials:

CD1 Lessons 1-15, test 1
CD2 Supplementary Exercises 1-6
CD3 Lessons 16-25, test 2
CD4 Supplementary Exercises 8-12
CD5 Lessons 26-35, test 3
CD6 Supplementary Exercises 13-16
CD7 The sounds of the Dutch language, Lessons 36-45, test 4
CD8 Supplementary Exercises 17-20

The Course Book, Hand Book, and Supplementary Exercises book do not contain instructions on how to integrate the 20 exercises into one’s study plan for the 45 lessons. However, there is a slim “Study Leaflet” which does provide two suggested study plans which in my opinion should have been included in the manuals. I have appended a copy of the plans below.


Thank you, Speakeasy, for your, as usual, help and very useful information. I will update this thread of any relevant findings, as I plan to contact Linguaphone UK.


Suite / Follow up:

FR (why not!)
J'ai écrit à Linguaphone UK pour leur demander le livre des exercices supplémentaires du manuel de néerlandais. On m'a dit que je pouvais le leur acheter (broché seulement, pas numérique) à £12.95 pour le livre et £5.95 le coût de l'envoi en Australie. Je me suis décidé immédiatement de l'acheter. Le livre est arrivé peut-être dix jours plus tard à peu près, sans problème.

EN
I contacted Linguaphone UK to ask for the Dutch Supplementary Exercises book from them. They told me that I could buy it from them (paperback only, no ebook) for £12.95 plus another £5.95 for postage to Australia. I made up my mind immediately to buy it. The book arrived, perhaps about ten days later, without issue.
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby Speakeasy » Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:56 am

Generations of Linguaphone Portuguese
I am posting this description of the Linguaphone Portuguese courses in partial response to Dtmont’s questions under his thread “European Lesson books with audio?” Some of my comments are repeats of my presentation of the Linguaphone Dutch course, above.

Linguaphone Portuguese: 1920’s – 1930’s
While I do not have a copy of the Portuguese course from this period, I do have a three sets of the German course. As the Linguaphone courses of this period were so uniform in their approach to teaching that the dialogues could be matched on line-by-line basis across the different target languages, it is reasonable to assume that the Portuguese course resembled the image below which is drawn from the German course of the period. The printed materials accompanying these courses seem to have been varied: (a) a leaflet containing a printed transcript and translation of the 16 x 78 rpm shellac record sets, with the subsequent addition of (b) a grammar, and (c) a supplement on writing business letters. Elexi would know more about this.

Linguaphone Portuguese: 1940’s – 1950’s (until 1987)
A major revision to the Linguaphone courses was effected during the period from the 1940’s through the 1950’s and, during the process, a number of languages were added to this publisher’s catalogue for this new generation. Linguaphone retained their practice of using a uniform approach to teaching and story lines thereby permitting the line-by-line matching of dialogues across the different target languages (a few courses, notably those covering some of the less-frequently-studied languages, were reprints of materials published by Teach Yourself and, possibly, by Hugo).
0 Linguaphone Portuguese 1950s.JPG


Linguaphone Portuguese: 1970’s (no revision)
In the 1970’s, a large portion of the Linguaphone courses underwent major revisions, yielding an entirely new generation. While the approach to teaching was fairly uniform (in that the courses from this period tended to present the language through the experiences of an expatriate family who has returned to their native country for an extended visit), the story lines differ across the different target languages and the dialogues can no longer be matched line-by-line. Note carefully that there was NO REVISION to the Linguaphone Portuguese course during this period; that is, the publisher continued to offer the course of the prevision generation.

Linguaphone Portuguese: 1987 to the Present
In the early-to-middle 1980’s Linguaphone issued completely revised versions of their Dutch and Portuguese courses. It would appear that no other languages were included in these revisions. The materials presently included in this generation of the Portuguese course are (a) a 343-page Textbook which contains all of the dialogues and reading materials in the target language only, (b) a 392-page Handbook, for each of the language bases, containing precise instructions for study, glossaries by lesson, translations, exercises, culture notes, and notes on grammar (which are unusually clear for this publisher), and (c) 8 compact disks which contain the recorded dialogues and exercises in the target language only. In addition, the publisher’s website advises that purchases will have access to (d) “online audio”, something that was not available when I purchased my own copy several years ago. The materials are delivered in a plastic carrying case and include a Study Guide (I always misplace the latter). Finally, a “digital” edition of the course is available for download (computer, tablet, smartphone).

The language presented in the course is described in Handbook as follows: “It is written in the Portuguese of educated people throughout the Portuguese-speaking world. The accent and pronunciation are mainly those of Portugal, but there are also some speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. There are strong regional differences in the Portuguese spoken in the various parts of Brazil and the Brazilian speakers in your course speak the Portuguese of Rio de Janeiro. The emphasis throughout is on using Portuguese for practical, day-to-day purposes.” The Handbook includes a summary notes on Brazilian Portuguese usage throughout the lessons.

The Linguaphone Portuguese course comprises four progressive levels, each divided into 10 units/lessons, including 2 reviews and a progress test at the end of each level. The language is presented through a combination of dialogues and exercises which force the student “to discover” the language through thoughtful analysis of the materials. That is, the student is not invited to simply repeat the dialogues; rather, he must “solve a language puzzle” (my own admittedly-weak description) in order to progress, a teaching method which might require some adaptation on the part of students who are accustomed to using more conventional self-instruction language courses.

The publisher estimates that the course can be covered within 3 months and that, upon completion, the student will have achieve a level of CEFR B2 competence in all four skills. I find both estimates a bit ambitious and would suggest that the average person would likely require at least 6 months to cover the materials adequately and that, upon completion, would likely be able to function somewhere within the CEFR A2-B1 range. I have attached, below, images drawn from the Textbook and the Handbook.

Textbook: Unit 28
1 Linguaphone Portuguese.JPG

Handbook: Unit 28
2 Linguaphone Portuguese.JPG


Inserted 29 October 2019 (from the "European Portuguese lesson books with audio" thread:
[
quote="Speakeasy"]
Gemuse commenting on Linguaphone Portuguese (first published in 1987) wrote: I went through most of the Linguaphone PT course and I was not happy with it.
1. In the beginning lessons, the audio is just too fast for beginners. I had to supplement it with Hugo Portuguese (I managed to get a used copy of Hugo together with audio).
2. After the beginning lessons, it covers materials too fast without giving the readers enough practice. I would read many constructs but I would not assimilate them. A proper course, covering the same material would have 3x the number of pages…
Two quick comments:

As I remarked in my own review of the Linguaphone Portuguese, this course is very demanding. However, I was not referring to the cadence of speech. Rather, I found that the manner by which the authors chose to introduce the language was something of a departure from what seems to have become the standard in commercially-prepared language courses (dialogues, exercises, notes). While I cannot quite put my finger on it, the effect almost seems to be that of a “total immersion” course; that is, from the outset, the user really has to “think” in the language. While this means that progress through the lessons will be slower than with competing approaches (viz., Assimil, Cortina, Linguaphone from the 1920’s through the 1970’s), it should result in a higher level of integration of the materials or, so I assume.

Prior to tackling the Linguaphone Portuguese, I had studied Portuguese with a number of other courses. As a result, I was prepared for the cadence of speech. Nevertheless, there are two schools of thought on this aspect; that is, either introduce the spoken language: (1) at a speed that is laboriously slow (viz., Assimil) and, while it increases, it never achieves the conversational speed between native speakers, thereby causing problems of adaptation later, or (b) at a speed which closely resembles that of conversational speed between native speakers (viz., FSI Italian FAST, Linguaphone Portuguese) which risks terrorizing the students who may react by abandoning all efforts at learning the target language. Personally, I would favour an approach which gradually increase the cadence of speech throughout the course, with the dialogues of the final third of the course delivered at a speed resembling that of conversation between native speakers.

Although “double posting” is discouraged on the forum, given Gemuse’s strong reactions to the Linguaphone Portuguese course, I will be inserting a copy of this post into the “General Linguaphone Discussion” thread.

EDITED:
Tinkering.[/quote]

Gemuse wrote: Demanding in what sense?
Speakeasy wrote: From the very first lesson, there was, for me, something very different about the presentation that sets the most recent editions of the Linguaphone Dutch and Portuguese courses apart from anything else that I have ever encountered. As I commented, I cannot quite put my finger on it, but it’s there and, for me, it felt like I was being dragged into a total immersion situation. The effect was so powerful that it caused me to view the “standard” approaches as too easy by comparison which might explain why so few students can actually interact with native speakers upon completion of the average CEFR B1 level course. Not particularly specific, I know, but that’s what I’ve got. Perhaps, were someone like Cainntear, Aokoye, Inguanamon, RandomReview, Elexi, or others to use these courses, we might get a better appreciation for the differences in approach and the effects they have on learning.
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David1917
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby David1917 » Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:02 pm

Elexi wrote:Here are some answers:

I have those Danish records - they are produced by Linguaphone but they go with the old Blue/Yellow book Teach Yourself Danish course (the original grammar translation course). They have the dialogues and most of the readings read out by native speakers.

The Cantonese course is the other TY/Linguaphone collaboration - but there is a newer Linguaphone Chinese course.


I was perusing WorldCat today to see about getting one of the old hardback copies of John Mace's Teach Yourself Modern Persian course, since it is supposed to have larger script in it, and discovered that it also has a Linguaphone collaboration with tapes. I've had trouble getting Linguaphone items via Interlibrary Loan in the past, but I'll try to get one of these if only to photograph for the forum.
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Daristani
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby Daristani » Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:44 pm

To clarify re the old "Teach Yourself Modern Persian" course by John Mace, since I've remarked on the better quality of the original hardcover book before, the hardcover didn't in fact have LARGER script, but only CLEARER script. In the later reprints of the book, the script was a bit blurred.

I think the progression/learning curve for the script in the Mace book is also excellent, since it teaches the script in small groups of letters, rather than in one fell swoop as some other books do.

For a Persian textbook with large script, you might take a look at L. P. Elwell-Sutton's
"Elementary Persian Grammar" (Cambridge University Press, originally published in 1963), which has very large and clear script.
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David1917
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Re: General Linguaphone Discussion

Postby David1917 » Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:58 pm

Daristani wrote:To clarify re the old "Teach Yourself Modern Persian" course by John Mace, since I've remarked on the better quality of the original hardcover book before, the hardcover didn't in fact have LARGER script, but only CLEARER script. In the later reprints of the book, the script was a bit blurred.

I think the progression/learning curve for the script in the Mace book is also excellent, since it teaches the script in small groups of letters, rather than in one fell swoop as some other books do.

For a Persian textbook with large script, you might take a look at L. P. Elwell-Sutton's
"Elementary Persian Grammar" (Cambridge University Press, originally published in 1963), which has very large and clear script.


Ah OK, my mistake. Either way I find some of the longer reading passages to be a little difficult to follow because of the script, so any improvement would be ideal. Total agreement about the teaching progression. Another reason I was looking it up was because I wanted to find a good version to give to a friend of mine thinking about studying Persian, and figured this is still the best English-language introduction available.
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