Voted Best Answer
Mar 01, 2014 - 12:24 PM
I have used many different resources in my study of the French language. Of all the things I have used Fluenz is absolutely the best single resource. Taking a college course versus Fluenz are very different experiences. Fluenz in my opinion teaches you how to communicate in French or whatever you chosen language is. Taking a class is much more structured. So lets say a complete beginner spending a month with Fluenz is likely to have the ability to communicate with more variety. While a college student putting in the same effort is likely to know more French but perhaps may not have as much diversity in their French as the Fluenz student. The advantage to being in the classroom is that the student gets much more opportunity to practice their French.
It's much easier to place a "level" on college learning because again the lessons are more structured. Much more difficult to place a "level" on Fluenz learning as it is formally measured. In addition to my Fluenz training, I am also taking classes at Alliance Française. Those classes are formally structured in such a way for students to be able to pass the DELF tests. In June I am planning to take the DELF A1 test for French. If I pass that test I will have an officially recognized diploma that I have passed the beginning level of French. Future tests are measured, A2 = Advanced Beginner, B1 = Intermediate, B2 Advanced Intermediate, and so forth.
There are requirements on the A1 test that are not taught in the Fluenz lessons, but at the same time there is some material taught in Fluenz that goes beyond the A1 level. The point is that the Fluenz education vs college or Alliance Française can't be measured the same way. I think that Fluenz provides an excellent foundation for language learning and the ability to communicate. Without Fluenz there is no way that I would have ever gotten to the level I am with French. In the real world I exchange emails with native French speakers every day, and I've had live conversations with French speaking people. None of that would ever have been possible without Fluenz for me.
It's much easier to place a "level" on college learning because again the lessons are more structured. Much more difficult to place a "level" on Fluenz learning as it is formally measured. In addition to my Fluenz training, I am also taking classes at Alliance Française. Those classes are formally structured in such a way for students to be able to pass the DELF tests. In June I am planning to take the DELF A1 test for French. If I pass that test I will have an officially recognized diploma that I have passed the beginning level of French. Future tests are measured, A2 = Advanced Beginner, B1 = Intermediate, B2 Advanced Intermediate, and so forth.
There are requirements on the A1 test that are not taught in the Fluenz lessons, but at the same time there is some material taught in Fluenz that goes beyond the A1 level. The point is that the Fluenz education vs college or Alliance Française can't be measured the same way. I think that Fluenz provides an excellent foundation for language learning and the ability to communicate. Without Fluenz there is no way that I would have ever gotten to the level I am with French. In the real world I exchange emails with native French speakers every day, and I've had live conversations with French speaking people. None of that would ever have been possible without Fluenz for me.