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Korean Vol. 2 Tapes

Printed From: FSI Language Courses
Category: Learning Languages
Forum Name: Korean
Forum Discription: Discussion about studying Korean using the FSI course.
URL: http://fsi-language-courses.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=695
Printed Date: 16 January 2009 at 2:14am


Topic: Korean Vol. 2 Tapes
Posted By: MartinS
Subject: Korean Vol. 2 Tapes
Date Posted: 07 November 2008 at 3:05am
Thanks to all contributors who made this site such a valuable resource!

I downloaded the audio files of Korean  Vol.2, but found they are of rather bad quality. Apparently, the raw digitized data have undergone some filtering for noise minimization only. As a consequence, the consonants, notably all "s", "sh" and so on, have gone along with the noise. The whole recording sounds like under water. Moreover, the 32kB/sec compression rate is rather aggressive, further diminishing the audio resolution.

Like they are, these recordings do not permit the student to grasp the correct pronunciation.
(By the way, the same is true for several other languages, like the French course, for the same reason.)

Are the raw, unfiltered data sill available somewhere? I would be willing to re-master them, optimizing for understandability.



Replies:
Posted By: thuu
Date Posted: 22 November 2008 at 8:46am
read about alleged poor sound quality of some tapes.
 
I guess those chaps did their best to make it available to everyone for free, but maybe they were not sound engineers, just holding some valuable material already altered in some ways.
 
now, you can make a comparison by downloading the global file for FSI Korean on this equally free website, with recently more ads. they never had ads before.
 
here is the adress of the website :
http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/ - http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/
 
formerly, just had to click on Korean, today, do not forget to click on upper button downloads, sends you right to FSI 'language' downloads page
 
http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/direct-downloads/ - http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/direct-downloads/
 
 
the Korean file is there if you want to download :
http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/korean/korean-language-courses-59/ - http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/korean/korean-language-courses-59/
 
you have 3 items
 
the pauker (German familiar word for teacher) ==> 3 MB
http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/download/pauker-1.7.3.exe - http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/download/pauker-1.7.3.exe
 
 
the FSI course itself (korean basic 320 MO)
http://storage.freelanguagecourses.com/korean_basic_complete.zip - http://storage.freelanguagecourses.com/korean_basic_complete.zip
 
some links (never used them myself)
 
Although hunting for those precious files (freelanguage methods, since year 2003 or 4), (secured on my HDD), never had time to compare both series of tapes : you'll have to do the job all by yourself.
 
would be pleased to know if there is any difference.
 
the same could apply to arabic where some tapes (2 at least) are missing.
 
fsi-languages-courses Team wansui (long live to, as a matter of fact, 10 thousands years).
 
good day to everyone. Ciao. Th.


Posted By: MartinS
Date Posted: 22 November 2008 at 12:27pm
Thanks for the comments!
>  I guess those chaps did their best to make it available to everyone
>  for free...

Absolutely. I did not intend to insult anybody, just ask if there might be better-quality files available somewhere.

I downloaded the audio files from www.freelanguagecourses.com, the site you indicated. As far as I can tell, these files are identical to (or at least of identical quality as) those on www.fsi-language-courses.com. So, that hint from you was indeed worth trying, but did not make a difference.

All the best,   MartinS


Posted By: thuu
Date Posted: 24 November 2008 at 3:55pm

Maybe you could have a try with the guy / girl who runs the following website

the welcome page is  http://outsideinkorea.com/ - http://outsideinkorea.com/
 
then i shifted to http://outsideinkorea.com/inside/language/ - http://outsideinkorea.com/inside/language/
 
then i clicked on the link dowxn the 1st paragraph called
 
A Free Korean Language Course (the first item, as a matter of fact)
 
http://outsideinkorea.com/inside/2007/02/a_free_korean_language_course.php#more - http://outsideinkorea.com/inside/2007/02/a_free_korean_language_course.php#more
 
then you have on the lower part of the page the texts and tapes for Korean lessons 1 to 18.
 
have a try at one of those and if the quality is definitely better than ulterior ones, then you could ask that person if it could be possible to have them posted on his site , provided naturally he still owns them
(at the end of this page,
the link http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/Korean.aspx - http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/Korean.aspx
sends you back to fsi-language-course for lessons 19 and further on.
 
would be pleased to know whether audio quality is better.
 
Tschüss. Annyeong kasibsiyo
 
 
 



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