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How long does it take to complete the course

Printed From: FSI Language Courses
Category: Learning Languages
Forum Name: Chinese (Standard)
Forum Discription: Discussion about studying Standard Chinese using the FSI course.
URL: http://fsi-language-courses.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=264
Printed Date: 16 January 2009 at 3:30am


Topic: How long does it take to complete the course
Posted By: 667medic
Subject: How long does it take to complete the course
Date Posted: 07 January 2007 at 1:00pm
Hi guys,
            I was just wondering how long would it take to finish the FSI course assuming that I spend around 1 hour every day. I am at the beginner level as I have already completed Pimsleur 1 and 2.
 
Can anybody who has completed the course relate their experience and what regimen they had followed for the material....



Replies:
Posted By: Thomas
Date Posted: 07 January 2007 at 7:58pm
I started in August of last year, so I've been working on it for about 5 months. I just finished Module 4 so I've gone through around 120 lesson segments (tapes as they're described in the recordings). That comes to about a tape every 1.25 days I guess. At that pace, given the number of tapes left I would finish in 7-8 months, or 12-13 months total for the entire course. I probably spend 2-3 hours a day, 7 days a week. It sounds like a lot but for many of us in Silicon Valley in California, that's the round trip commute time to work plus maybe 30-60 minutes at home. I have all the lessons loaded into my ipod so it's easy to listen whenever I have free time.
 
Lately I've also been transcribing some of the target and reference lists so I can load them into flashcard programs and cut and paste the content into other things. I wonder if there are others out there who'd like to use the same format to do their own transcribing. That way we could share the load. Here's what one of them looks like. Note I added Chinese characters which the FSI texts don't have so they'd need to be proof-read by someone else to correct any mistakes I might have made.
 
Cheers, Tom
 
FSI Standard Chinese
Module 4
Unit 3
Reference List
Version 0.9
(In Beijing)
 
 
 
 
 
 
FSI Pinyin
English
Simplified
Traditional
1B
Nǐ chūqu a!
Oh, you’re going out!
你出去啊!
你出去啊!
1A
Wǒ xiǎng chūqu mǎi jiběn shū.
I thought I would go out to buy a few books.
我想出去买几本书。
我想出去買幾本書。
2A
Láojià, nǎr yǒu mài shūde?
Excuse me, where is there a place to buy books?
劳驾,哪儿有卖书的?
勞駕,哪兒有賣書的?
2C
Wángfǔjǐng Dàjiē yǒu yige Xīnhuá Shūdiàn, hěn dà.
There is a New China Bookstore on Wángfǔjǐng Boulevard that is very large.
王府井大街有一个新华书店,很大。
王府井大街有一個新華書店,很大。
3A
Xīnhuá Shūdiàn lí zhèr yuǎn ma?
Is the New China Bookstore far from here?
新华书店离这儿远吗?
新華書店離這兒遠嗎?
3C
Bù yuǎn, hěn jìn.
It’s not far; It’s very close/
不远,很近。
不遠,很近。
4A
Zěnme qù? Zǒuzhe qù kéyi ma?
How do I go? Is it possible to get there by walking?
怎么去?走着去可以吗?
怎麼去?走著去可以嗎?
4C
Zǒuzhe qù kéyi.
It’s possible to get there by walking.
走着去可以。
走著去可以。
5A
Zěnme zǒu?
How do I go?
怎么走?
怎麼走?
5C
Cóng dàmén chūqu, cháo běiguǎi, jiù shi Wángfǔjǐng Dàjiē.
You go out the entrance, turn to the north, and that’s Wángfǔjǐng Boulevard.
从大门出去,朝北拐,就是王府井大街。
從大門出去,朝北拐,就是王府井大街。
6A
Wǒ cóng dàmén chūqu, cháo běi quǎi, duì bu dui?
I go out the entrance and turn to the north. Is that correct?
我从大门出去,朝北拐,对不对?
我從大門出去,朝北拐,對不對?
6C
Duì le.
That’s correct.
对了。
對了。
7A
Zǒu duó yuǎn?
How far do I go?
走多远?
走多遠?
7C
Zǒu bù yuǎn, lùdōngde dìyīge dàlóu jiù shi Xīnhuá Shūdiàn.
Go for a short distance, and the first building on the east side of the street is the New China Bookstore.
走不远,路东的第一个大楼就是新华书店。
走不遠,路東的第一個大樓就是新華書店。
8A
Láojià, nèige dàlóu shi Xīnhuá Shūdiàn ma?
Excuse me, is that building the New China Bookstore?
劳驾,那个大楼是新华书店吗?
勞駕,那個大樓是新華書店嗎?
8D
Shì.
Yes.
是。
是。
 


-------------
Tom


Posted By: lucvileyn
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 3:35am
I’ve been working on Pimsleur mandarin I, II, III and I master them really very well. If you have done Pimsleur, you shouldn’t have much trouble to study Modules 1, 2, 3 and 4, but certainly do the drills and the reference notes, which are the most interesting stuff. Of the rest, I prefer the optional modules personal welfare and restaurant. I also take evening courses, in a small group (6 persons) and we do a lot of talking and the teacher does correct our pronunciation.
I’m also looking, as an exercise, and to help other people, to transcribe completely the Pimsleur course in simplified Chinese. I looked up all the vocabulary of the third volume.
Also, at the evening course, I create a list sorted by radical, helpful for remembering and understanding Chinese characters.
However, you will need a lot a time to study the FSI course. It is almost ideal to do the Pimsleur course before starting.


Posted By: onebir
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 1:03pm
There's some Pimsleur transcripts here:
http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?t=11204
(only vol 1, but maybe she's done some more since then)
& another one here:
http://ezmandarin.com/
(I think you have to register to download it)


Posted By: rathpy
Date Posted: 09 January 2007 at 3:20pm
Like Thomas, I have transcribed a couple of lessons.

eg.
RES: CE1 - Classroom Expressions 1
1 早!
Zǎo! Good morning
2 我們上課吧。
Wǒmen shàng kè ba. Let's begin class.
3 你聽我說。
Nǐ tīng wǒ shuō. Listen to me say it.
4 你懂了嗎。
Nǐ* dǒng le ma? Do you understand now?
5 我不懂。
Wǒ bù dǒng. I don't understand.
6 懂了。
Dǒng le. I understand.
7 請跟著我說。
Qǐng gēnzhe wǒ shuō. Please repeat after me.
8 請你再說一次。
Qǐng* nǐ5 zài shuō yícì. Please say it again.
9 對了。
Duì le. That's correct.
10 不對。
Bù* duì. That's not right.
11 我不知道。
Wǒ bù zhīdào5. I don't know.
12 是甚麼意思。
Shì5 shénme yìsi? What does it mean?
13 好,我們下課吧。
Hǎo*, wǒmen xià kè ba. Okay, class is over.

I use a spreadsheet format, which is fine for viewing, editing and printing. I think someone could then load into a database and produce an Acrobat document or a set of web pages, or whatever.

It is a bit slow for me to create these though. With person's names I have to guess what appropriate characters might be. Perhaps if the Vocuabulary sections were already transcribed into characters I could recreate the dialogues more easily.

The tapes are there for the aural side. If Chinese characters existed, then that would great for leaning to read. One could practise with the tapes then them.


Posted By: 667medic
Date Posted: 14 January 2007 at 10:20am
Thanks for all the replies guys. Even though I have been through Pimsleur, I think I had better start from the scratch for FSI for the sake of completion. I would probably have to wait for 6 months before I can start with FSI as I would graduate from my studies only in July...



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