FSI Languages Site Question

November 7, 2007 1:51 PM

I'd rather not clutter up nickyskye's Mango post with this question, but I've noticed that the FSI Language Course site Vacapinta mentioned in the thread (here, previously) is inaccessible. Does anyone know if the site is down for good?

I remember trying to access it when it was first posted as an FPP, and it was down then, too. Could it be a mac or browser issue? I reeeeally want to try it out.

posted by maryh to MetaFilter-Related at 1:51 PM (17 comments total)

Did you guys know that if one of your contacts makes a MeTa post and you see it show up in the "new activity" sidebar within the first few minutes before it shows up on MeTa itself, you can swoop in and post early, as if you had freaky admin powers?

Maybe that should be corrected. Sorry for the derail; carry on.
posted by yhbc at 1:56 PM on November 7, 2007

Hi yhbc! Have a super day, y'hear?
posted by maryh at 2:03 PM on November 7, 2007

To atone for the derail, at least I found the google cache for you. It is my bet that someone at the Foreign Services Institute decided that the courses are not in the public domain, since they are still selling them on their official website here.
posted by yhbc at 2:16 PM on November 7, 2007

I was able to access it this morning. So it'd be wierd if it went down today...

yhbc: Us RSS folks have been able to do that swooping for a long time. Usually posts show up in RSS before they show up on the main page too.
posted by vacapinta at 3:14 PM on November 7, 2007

The interesting thing about that link, yhbc, is that it's owned by "foreignserviceinstitute.com", not the US Foreign Services Institute. They - nor any of the incredibly overpriced reprinters of the materials - wouldn't have any ability to shut the site down.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:27 PM on November 7, 2007

Does your RSS reader update every four seconds?
posted by Plutor at 3:27 PM on November 7, 2007

It is my bet that someone at the Foreign Services Institute decided that the courses are not in the public domain, since they are still selling them on their official website here.

You may want to scroll down to the bottom of that official website, where they say that they are not, in fact, the official website.

The FSI courses are in the public domain. These guys are trying to make money by putting them on a CD for you.
posted by vacapinta at 3:28 PM on November 7, 2007

If one were so inclined, one could find all the pimsleur cds at isohunt. I found them useful for picking up basic spanish.
posted by empath at 5:10 PM on November 7, 2007

Okay, you guys are right, but we have still not answered maryh's question. Are the (public domain) FSI courses available online?
posted by yhbc at 6:05 PM on November 7, 2007

The site has gone down in the past for a couple days at a time, I'd try again tomorrow or the day after.
posted by gubo at 6:29 PM on November 7, 2007

Archive.org doesn't have any of the mp3 links.
posted by puke & cry at 6:32 PM on November 7, 2007

*waits for a takedown notice for the FSI Korean course materials I host*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:25 PM on November 7, 2007

Well, if the site is prone to go down a lot, as gubo says, I'll just keep checking back and hope for the best. I'm not finding any of the Spanish courses (free ones, that is) through googling, and bittorrent isn't really an option for me. Thanks for the help anyway, folks.
posted by maryh at 7:42 PM on November 7, 2007

maryh, try the free resources on Learn Spanish and the Spanish links from Word2Word (a directory of free online language courses).
posted by mlis at 8:22 PM on November 7, 2007

Thanks MLIS! I'm looking forward to exploring those links further in the morning. Looks like some good stuff!
posted by maryh at 9:34 PM on November 7, 2007

Don't forget everyone's favorite cringey Spanish-teaching soap opera, Destinos!
posted by that girl at 5:59 AM on November 8, 2007

The site's back up!
posted by gubo at 12:25 PM on November 13, 2007