Michel Thomas Portuguese/Bilinguals & L3s
Foreign Language Blog has a post on whether bilinguals learn new languages more easily. Suggests the FLD, it's probably easiest for people who have learned their second language when they're old enough to have learned the adult way, not by soaking them up as kids. Certainly, this is on target:
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The other day, I picked up Michel Thomas Portuguese. I listened to disc 1 last week and to discs 2-4 today. This is the first Romance language program from Michel Thomas not by Michel Thomas. It's clear, however, that Virginia Catmur has a handle on the Method and how to apply it to another Romance language. This is the best of the post-Michel Michel Thomas programs that I've encountered (I've also used the Arabic and Mandarin). One caveat: It's European Portuguese. That said, if you're looking for a foundation course in Portuguese, the 8-disc set looks like a good investment.
As Dr. Marian states, the facility of L3 learning by bilinguals is often attributed to natural aptitude towards language learning, but it’s much more attributable to the greater linguistic awareness enjoyed by bilinguals. Simply put, they have more resources (phonetically, grammatically, etc.) to pull from when learning the new language. I’ve always told people that after about 3 languages, new ones become progressively easier…Learning your second language is a challenge because it's going to seem to you like language, in general, should work the way your language works. When you've got a good handle on a second language, you know a fair amount about the pitfalls and stumbles of language learning, so you know more about what to do with your next efforts.
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The other day, I picked up Michel Thomas Portuguese. I listened to disc 1 last week and to discs 2-4 today. This is the first Romance language program from Michel Thomas not by Michel Thomas. It's clear, however, that Virginia Catmur has a handle on the Method and how to apply it to another Romance language. This is the best of the post-Michel Michel Thomas programs that I've encountered (I've also used the Arabic and Mandarin). One caveat: It's European Portuguese. That said, if you're looking for a foundation course in Portuguese, the 8-disc set looks like a good investment.
5 Comments:
The newly released Michel Thomas Japanese program is also excellent.
MT Portuguese is great. I have done it and it has really helped me out with my Portuguese at the beginning in an incredibly little amount of time.
Although there is room for improvement. For example, she goes over the past endings (ou, eu, iu) all at once making it a bit confusing and difficult to remember. These things sometimes happen here and there in the course.
Still, I would recommend it for people learning Portuguese.
santu: I'm glad to hear about the Japanese. No immediate plans for learning it, but should I decide to, I'm glad there's a good program out there.
lyzazel: I haven't made it to the past tense yet - just started disc 5. But I've been impressed with the program so far, both as a post-MT Michel Thomas program and in general. Thanks for the note on it.
How do these programs compare to a good face to face program? At our language school we often get people who spent a lot on the CDs and then come to classes out of frustration.
Language Classes:
Michel Thomas had a gift for teaching European languages with a building block approach. If that's the way you learn, CDs by him are very good. Of the MT CDs not by him, I found the Portuguese to be excellent, the Arabic to be pretty good and the Chinese to be better in conception than execution. The drawback is you're not there so the teacher doesn't know to help you along if you get stuck. But, let's face it, the same can be true of face to face instruction.
At the language school where I work, we also get people who didn't get as far as they'd hoped with the CDs. Those with the time, the money and the commitment to make full use of one-on-one lessons generally do quite well. Those who squeeze in group classes a couple times per week and don't do much outside of class don't do so well.
The problem with your question is that every school that offers it believes they have "a good face to face program." But they often disagree on what that means or on how much of the responsibility for learning rests with the learner vs. their program. It's my own belief that if you want true fluency you're going to need 1) lessons with a native speaker, 2) CDs for outside of class (unless you can afford to hire a teacher to follow you around all day for a couple months) and 3) time in the culture of native speakers. Just taking a class isn't going to cut it.
For people with objectives short of fluency, it's a trickier question. For some people, face to face instruction is the best answer, provided they can find a good teacher for them. For others, eight hours with a world class teacher like Michel Thomas, or 15 hours with the Pimsleur folks is enough for humbler plans. It's not a question of what's best. It's a question of what's best for your learning style, your schedule, your time horizon, your commitment to learning and your budget. And that's something every learner has to figure out for himself or herself. Sites like this cannot solve this riddle, merely point out resources so that people can make an informed decision.
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