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phonology or basic first?!

Printed From: FSI Language Courses
Category: Learning Languages
Forum Name: French
Forum Discription: Discussion about studying French using the FSI course.
URL: http://fsi-language-courses.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=323
Printed Date: 16 January 2009 at 3:32am


Topic: phonology or basic first?!
Posted By: lelemds
Subject: phonology or basic first?!
Date Posted: 21 February 2007 at 9:12am
which one should be done first?! phonology or basic?!

answer me please.... i dont know if i wait the texts or start the basic one.... help me!



Replies:
Posted By: daristani
Date Posted: 21 February 2007 at 10:18am
Just my personal opinion: 

Ideally, one should probably start with the Phonology course first, since that will make it easier to work through the Basic course with proper pronunciation.  (The Basic course doesn't anywhere explain pronunciation, or how the pronunciation and the writing system work together, and so you have to pick these things up by pure imitation.)

The Phonology text is not yet on-line, however, and so until it becomes available, the Phonology course won't be all that helpful.  You can start to work on the Basic course without the Phonology course first, and will learn a good deal from it, but I think that it would still be useful to go through the Phonology course when it becomes available, so that you can get a finer and more systematic understanding of the nuances of pronunciation. 


Posted By: lelemds
Date Posted: 21 February 2007 at 10:23am
i was thinking this way too...

so i'll start the basic course and when the phonology text is here i study it... thanks!!!!


Posted By: Ragtime Willie
Date Posted: 22 February 2007 at 8:45pm
I've never seen the Phonology course, so I can't really say which is better to start with.  For the record, the Audio Forum catalog has this to say about the Phonology course:

"Though the course may be used at any stage of learning, it is especially valuable for those who already have a technical mastery of the language."

So for what it's worth, there it is...


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Will


Posted By: lelemds
Date Posted: 25 February 2007 at 4:12pm
ohhh ok, i didnt know this....

thanks!


Posted By: Ragtime Willie
Date Posted: 15 June 2007 at 1:51pm
I have some updated information on this subject.  I just got a copy of the instructor's text for the phonology course, and in the preface it says the folowing about the phonology course: "In its use at the FSI it serves as the initial syllabus for beginning students, preceeding the French Basic Course.  It is the exclusive syllabus for the first three to six weeks of full time French instruction for beginning students." 

So it looks like Daristani's advice is the best way to go.

By the way, the instructor's text is published by Audio-Form, so I can't share it. 


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Will



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