Completely agree, I’ve found actually that my ESL students who rely the most on online lessons generally have in fact worse performance than the ones who just simply read, listen and talk with native speakers/native content in a super low-tech way. Something important is lost in the online format, idk what it is exactly but it’s just a really consistent trend I’ve noticed.
2 weeks ago | 45
For Japanese, playing games in Japanese was my "textbook". I have never touched language learning apps.
2 weeks ago (edited)
| 25
About 40 years ago I started learning Welsh with Catchphrase books and cassettes. As there was no Amazon, I had to find the publisher or a bookstore willing to send them to me. After some time of learning I went to Wales and tried to speak Welsh anytime. The people’s response was always very kind and supportive. That’s why Cymraeg, y Cymry and Cymru still has a big spot in my heart and soul ❤️🏴 Cymraeg a
2 weeks ago | 10
Also, I miss the Schoenhof’s bookstore in Cambridge. It was the largest language bookstore on the continent. Hope Dave is doing okay.
2 weeks ago
| 5
These courses along with older versions of Assimil are much better than the current materials imo.
2 weeks ago
| 2
There's also the old FSI language courses. I'm pretty sure there's an online, legal archive of them out there as well.
2 weeks ago | 2
Totally agree. The only think that a textbook misses is the spoken language, but that's something that can be found online... Or offline. I would love to know where to find old-school CD's. By the way, I'm loving the Complete Danish textbook, at least for learning the basics.
2 weeks ago (edited)
| 0
I started learning French by borrowing a beginner French book from the library that included a CD of recordings for all the French sentences in the book. I don't remember the name or publisher or anything, but I really enjoyed that book
2 weeks ago | 0
Physical books is how I learn, but I use online dictionaries for vocabulary. If it was an online course I'd learn nothing and just be frustrated and overwhelmed.
2 weeks ago | 2
Same here! Fond memories on my course in Russian, consisting of 16 books 😀
2 weeks ago | 0
Paul, I always really enjoyed your video exploring all the textbooks you used to learn Japanese. Would you ever think about doing anything like that for the other languages that you've learned?
2 weeks ago | 0
Oh I remember watching a video you made years ago about how you learn languages, and you used that Linguaphone Indonesian course as the example.
2 weeks ago (edited)
| 2
Paul, please don't tempt me... I'm trying to save money 😭
2 weeks ago
| 2
I agree. I still have my Swedish course with tapes. It's more comprehensive.
2 weeks ago
| 0
I don't care for Linguaphone itself that much, but nothing beats a well-thumbed textbook.
2 weeks ago
| 0
I have been trying to learn Japanese by listening to people play it. I dont really do the online apps they dont really work for me. I wish I could get a physical course book like that, actually maybe I should look for one. I remember your video recommending the best JP textbooks
2 weeks ago | 0
Langfocus
I know a lot of you only use smartphone apps to learn languages, but I will never love them as much as I love old school book and audio courses (especially Linguaphone, if we're talking about a series with many languages).
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 638