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For dummies language series


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I'm just curious guys, just wondering if any of you had ever given a try to one of those ''for dummies'' language  learning courses?  I'm a big fan of the ''for dummies'' series, and I've been knowing for a while they also have a couple of language courses, but haven't given them a try. 

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then please take a look:

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Haha yes I know this book. I actually haven't bought any of these stuff. It seems effective though. I browsed on them in the bookstore and they seem legit!

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I haven't seen them in any book stores here in my town so I haven't bought or tried them yet but looking at its title it seems like a good starter for a beginner.

I always think book like this is always better than a dictionary.

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Actually most of those books come with an audio CD!  The the for dummies language series are very professional.  I think they're fool-proof as the title suggests.  I have several books that belong to these series, including language courses and they look like any other language course, sometimes they are even better than some similar language courses.

It really depends on the author, but in genera I really like how the contents are organized in these books.

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Haha yes I know this book. I actually haven't bought any of these stuff. It seems effective though. I browsed on them in the bookstore and they seem legit!

They are.  I actually like this kind of courses, because you can browse thru the pages and just find what you need.  The language courses of these series are well organized most of the time, and they always come with an audio CD (almost always).  I find that to be really useful and nice :) 

I actually have the dutch for dummies course, it comes with a nice audio book.  Sadly the contents are not so well organized, not like other courses in the series, but it still is good for the price.

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The for dummies series is know for producing excellent results. It might be worth checking out in order to have an actual reference book to learn from. It is become harder to find real books that help teach language in this digital age. I will be looking for these books.

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I ran into one of those books sometime ago but I can't recall which. never even scan through it or thought of using one. I know it wouldn't hurt using one though.

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I have never tried the For Dummies language books, but I have tried some for learning the guitar. I can say that the For Dummies books are very well written and seem to explain things in an amazingly efficient manner.

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Foster, what I love of those series is the fact that there seems to be a for dummies book for everything you need to learn!  Even the most unlikely topics, like for example raising chickens!  I love that.  They also have books that show you how to use some of the latest gadgets and some really useful secrets.  I love the for dummies series, these are my fav non fiction book series.

As for the language courses...  I really have liked most of them, but the quality of the material will depend a lot on the author, most of times they're really high quality.

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Wow, they are fool proof. My husband purchase the one for Hebrew so this is really good to know. I will be trying this out some time this week.

Oh really? I want to get the Hebrew one as well in the future!  How is it going?!  Did your husband like it?  Is he already learning something?  Did it come with a CD?

I ask because most of the for dummies language courses come with a CD, at least the ones I have bought, but I know that a few of them don't.  Did your husband order the course online?

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Oh really? I want to get the Hebrew one as well in the future!  How is it going?!  Did your husband like it?  Is he already learning something?  Did it come with a CD?

I ask because most of the for dummies language courses come with a CD, at least the ones I have bought, but I know that a few of them don't.  Did your husband order the course online?

Oh, I didn't know there's an online course. I've read the "for dummies" series before but not about languages. I like the way they teach. Do you think it's possible to take the online courses even without buying the books? It sounds so interesting!

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Oh, I didn't know there's an online course. I've read the "for dummies" series before but not about languages. I like the way they teach. Do you think it's possible to take the online courses even without buying the books? It sounds so interesting!

No, I think you need to buy the book, as far as I know online courses aren't offered. But you can easily find those language courses online, amazon has them all, I believe. So if you are looking for a title in particular, then that's the place to go.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I never thought to check if they had a "For Dummies" language learning books. I am definitely going to get several of these! I want to learn Chinese and several Hindi languages! My recent employers and now good friends are from India and are always speaking to each other in their native language. I want to freak them out by saying something in their language to lead them to think I know what they are saying.  :wacky:

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I don't actually think that this book series is very good for learning a new language, or anything else for that matter. It is true that I do not have the greatest experience with these books, but with the limited amount of experiecne that I do have with them, I feel like they're not worth my time nor my money.

I feel like these books are meant more as a joke than as a really good book.

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I don't actually think that this book series is very good for learning a new language, or anything else for that matter. It is true that I do not have the greatest experience with these books, but with the limited amount of experiecne that I do have with them, I feel like they're not worth my time nor my money.

I feel like these books are meant more as a joke than as a really good book.

Well, after reading your post I can conclude two things: 1)  You have never had one of those books in your hands (or maybe did but didn't take the time to thoroughly inspect it).  2) You did check a book from this series, but the course you got was poorly edited and full of mistakes or it simply wasn't of your liking.  It happens.

Truth is not everyone likes to use self-teaching courses, this isn't for everyone. Personally books never worked for me, no matter how easy or well organized the course seemed to be; I just couldn't focus and learn something.  I have a very peculiar way to learn a new language... some think is kinda unorthodox, so do I.

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I never thought to check if they had a "For Dummies" language learning books. I am definitely going to get several of these! I want to learn Chinese and several Hindi languages! My recent employers and now good friends are from India and are always speaking to each other in their native language. I want to freak them out by saying something in their language to lead them to think I know what they are saying.  :wacky:

Hahaha, Irene!  Well thought!  I'd definitely do the same if i had the time and could afford to invest that kind of effort on a similar enterprise ;)  Sadly I no longer have a lot time to spend, not feeling so well lately either...  But in the future I do plan to get the Hebrew for dummies book ;)  And hopefully learn some colloquial Hebrew.

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