<p>Seeking advice about independent study for Foreign Language--Does anyone have any recommendations? i.e. Power-Glide, or Rosetta Stone are some I hear about. The Power -Glide has only a few languages vs. Rosetta Stone which has many. If you chose one of the languages that was available in both programs, which would you prefer? Also I noticed Power Glide has a credit granting program if you pay a fee and send in a portfolio. Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks.</p>
<p>I don't know about Power-Glide, although I've heard a lot of people use it. People also like Pimsleur; again, I have no experience. I personally have used Rosetta Stone for a couple foreign languages and liked it. I do think it is better for spoken languages, however. For Latin and ancient Greek, my daughter used other things.</p>
<p>She just informed me she is going to self-study French this summer, because she needs it and can't fit it into her college schedule. (Which will be strange to do in Bolivia, where she will be at an archaeological field school for six weeks.) Primarily she needs to be able to read academic literature in French, although she wouldn't mind being able to understand the spoken language as well. So I would be interested in people's suggestions here as well. Unfortunately, her college only offers the reading French course in the summer, and she has other languages she needs/wants to take during the school year.</p>
<p>Dianer: what does your daughter need French for? Does she want to converse, or does she need to read it? Pimsleur is good for conversation. </p>
<p>Bolivia sounds like an amazing experience.</p>
<p>Personally, as someone who has studied 3 foreign languages for almost 8 years, get a tutor for the first language. When I was younger, I tried to self teach Spanish and it really is almost impossible to get the nuances of a language, especially when your brain isn't trained to learn another language.</p>
<p>Since then I've studied Spanish up to Spanish 7 and taken 2 AP courses through my school, 2 courses of French, and have successfully taught myself to at least read Portuguese decently. However, its rare to meet anyone who can teach themselves a first new language without some form of tutor or immersion process.</p>
<p>I'm a native Spanish speaker, and I was able to teach myself French and Italian to a fluent level in practically no-time. Yes, granted, being a fluent speaker of Spanish, it's easier to pick up another Romance language. However, I recommend you go to Borders (or your favorite bookstore) and sit in the foreign language section for a few hours. Compare a few different books. See what you'd feel comfortable learning from. <a href="http://www.Amazon.com%5B/url%5D">www.Amazon.com</a> is also a good resource for this (as you can compare users' reviews on language-related products). Just don't forget - ultimately, it's your own comfort w/ the material that matters! Oh... and I used Rosetta Stone for French but didn't find it very useful (but then again, that's just me). The teaching style just didn't particularly appeal to me. Good luck!</p>
<p>-Jon ;)</p>
<p>DianeR, how about college distance courses?</p>
<p>homeskulmom, my daughter needs French to be able to read academic literature in her field, Egyptology. She already studied three years each of Latin and Greek at home, has a year of ancient Egyptian at college under her belt (and needs at a minimum one more, although she will probably take more since this seems to be her top course so far and there are other courses on the differences in dialect and script), took the reading German class already (will probably take the advanced course next year), and needs/wants Arabic to boot. She is also considering Akkadian for next year and Mayan just for the heck of it. A very language intensive discipline! It would probably be useful to have some Spanish for Bolivia, but everyone she is going to be around for the program in from the US ...</p>
<p>nan, I've looked for college distance courses, but I've only be able to find conversational French. The sort of "reading French for grad school" course she needs never seems to be available that way. One possibility I just thought of is to talk to the French department and see if she can set up a self-study course during the year. Brown says that if a student wants to study something that isn't offered, (s)he can design a course and do so if a professor goes along. They already offer the course but only in the summer, so all she would need is someone to correct her work and answer her questions. I've told her before to talk to the department; there must be other kids in the same boat that would like this course during the regular school year.</p>
<p>Oh well, we'll figure out something. She theoretically could wait until grad school to take this but she has run across French resources in doing research for papers already (same with German), so she thought the earlier the better. Since she has studied Latin, it shouldn't be as difficult to pick up French.</p>
<p>Diane-Try the University of Nevada, Reno. <a href="http://www.istudy.unr.edu%5B/url%5D">www.istudy.unr.edu</a> They have a reading French course as well as a reading German. That would be in the college section. However it looks like there is a prerequisite regular course first. Anyway, my dad was a college professor and he always said, "get your French or German in early, so you don't hold up your Phd. while you're trying to learn it. " People don't seem to even say that it's a requirement now, as I haven't heard that for years. Anyway, there is a website that lists the Distance Language programs by language, and grouped by HS or College, most of them run by universities. I'll find it again I know. French is readily available, my daughter was interested in Italian, which seems to be only available in a couple of college courses. Anyway--the Univ. of Nev. Reno, has the Italian, plus a whole lot of other courses (Basque!--up to 2 years, ) They have a Minor (or major) called Basque Studies which seems quite unique. (all Distance Ed.) Check it out!</p>
<p>DianeR: good luck to your daughter. It sounds to me like she will be able to put together some kind of French reading course, either by talking to the professors or online. She sounds like a fascinating individual.</p>
<p>Thanks, lotsofbooks, we'll look into that. She hasn't taken French before, but she may be able to finesse any prereq through some preliminary self-study (or even telling them she does know Latin?) My daughter said she was going to talk to the French department yesterday; we'll see how that goes.</p>
<p>I think the foreign languages required (if any) depend on what the advanced degree is in. So much of the literature of Egyptology is in French and German, she really needs both. Now, any new discoveries in Egypt must be written up first in Arabic, so she figures she needs that as well.</p>
<p>homeskulmom, well, I think she is fascinating too! I'm so happy she is able to be studying what she loves -- Egyptology has been it for her since 3rd grade.</p>
<p>Look up the French lessons at Learner.org. The "Capretz Method." These are shown on some PBS stations. 52 lessons, I believe, and you can watch them on-line for free. (Same exact course H took at Yale in 80's).
I found it entertaining, and a good review for me, even if a bit dated. The textbook is expensive, but excellent and very detailed. You don't need the book if you just want comprehension. It is completely painless--you don't realize you are learning--you figure out the meaning of words and phrases in the context of a story. (Cute story of an American student in Paris who meets a French girl and her family--all rated G). My kids picked up a lot just watching the videos. Sometimes we watched them twice each as they got more difficult. There are also Spanish and German lessons in the same style--no translation, story/characters that you follow. I intend to do those also, someday.
(When I get off CC. . .)</p>
<p>This is a possibility ... I remember watching the Spanish program like this (Destinos) as a supplement to learning that language. I'll have to see my dd's preference. Right now she is waiting to hear back from the French department (you would think they would have a regular address wouldn't you -- they only have a box office box! so she emailed ...) and thought she would talk to her advisor too.</p>
<p>Even if she doesn't do this program, I might!</p>