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Assimil Icelandic: we got to bring it up!

  Tags: Icelandic | Assimil
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
53 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 46 7  Next >>
Gamma
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 Message 33 of 53
15 February 2011 at 11:02am | IP Logged 
Dear members,

Almost three years have now passed since I started this thread and I sincerely thank you for the support you have provided so far. I hereby post to you the e-mail correspondence I have held with Assimil from 2008 until today, in regard to the possibility of publishing an Icelandic program.

[begin of correspondece]

From Gamma to Assimil on March 12th 2008:

Salut! Je suis passionné de la méthode Assimil, ayant étudié les langues française et russe avec les courses "sans peine". Alors je voudrais savoir si vous créez en ce moment une course de langue islandaise ou bien si vous avez l'intention de le faire. Je vous remercie par votre attention.


From Assimil to Gamma on March 14th 2008:

Bonjour,

Merci beaucoup pour votre message.
Nous n' avons pas de projet de méthode pour l' apprentissage de l' Islandais à l' heure actuelle.

Restant à votre disposition,

Cordialement.

Nathalie Froehly
Assimil


From Gamma to Assimil on March 17th 2008:

Bonjour!

Je vous remercie par votre attention, Valérie Chérel, et je voudrais profiter de cette occasion pour demander à l'Assimil de créer une méthode pour l'apprentissage de l'islandais. Je ne veux apprendre la langue islandaise qu'avec la méthode Assimil. D'ailleurs, je suis sûre qu'il y a beaucoup d'élèves de langues qui voudraient voir publié un tel cours. Pourtant, je vous pose une question: est-ce que c'est possible que ça devienne réel?

Cordialement,

Gamma


From Assimil to Gamma on March 20th 2008:

Cher lecteur,

Nous vous remercions de l'intérêt que vous portez à ouvrages.
Concernant l'islandais, nous avons un "guide de conversation" d'Islandais, mais nous ne pouvons, pour le moment envisager de faire une méthode complète car nous n'avons pas suffisamment de demandes de lecteurs sur ce titre et l'élaboration d'une méthode est un travail long et minutieux demandant un investissement important (2 à 3 ans de rédaction).

Néanmoins, si la demande s'intensifie, nous pourrons envisager de mettre en route la rédaction de cette méthode dans un avenir proche.

Bien cordialement,

Marie Cousin
Direction Editoriale


From Gamma to Assimil on February 11th 2011:

Cher responsable,

En qualité de passionné de votre magnifiques ouvrages, je vous demande si vous envisagez la rédaction d'une méthode d'Islandais sans peine ou bien si vous êtes déjà en train de le créer.

En attendant votre précieuse réponse, je vous pris d'agréer mes sincères salutations.

Cordialement,

Gamma


From Assimil to Gamma on February 14th 2011:

Bonjour,

Merci pour votre message.

Nous regrettons de vous informer que nous ne prévoyons pas de méthode d’islandais à l’heure actuelle.

Cordialement,

Valérie CHÉREL
ASSIMIL

[end of correspondece]

Edited by Gamma on 15 February 2011 at 11:51am

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hrhenry
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 Message 34 of 53
15 February 2011 at 2:15pm | IP Logged 
Gamma wrote:

Almost three years have now passed since I started this thread and I sincerely thank you for the support you have provided so far. I hereby post to you the e-mail correspondence I have held with Assimil from 2008 until today, in regard to the possibility of publishing an Icelandic program.

While future Icelandic learners may appreciate your efforts, hopefully you've spent these three years atually going out and learning Icelandic and not just fretting over Assimil's lack of a course.

There are plenty of other resources available.

R.
==
1 person has voted this message useful



Gamma
Octoglot
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Brazil
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Speaks: Portuguese*, French, English, GermanC2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Finnish
Studies: Icelandic, Dutch

 
 Message 35 of 53
15 February 2011 at 3:50pm | IP Logged 
hrhenry wrote:
While future Icelandic learners may appreciate your efforts, hopefully you've spent these three years atually going out and learning Icelandic and not just fretting over Assimil's lack of a course.

Definitely.

hrhenry wrote:
There are plenty of other resources available.

"Other resources" will always be other resources. Here we should focus on encouraging Assimil to publish an Icelandic program. I kindly remind you, dear language enthusiasts, of the subject of this thread: "Assimil Icelandic: we got to bring it up!". Let's not derail from it.

Thank you for participating, hrhenry.

Gamma

Edited by Gamma on 15 February 2011 at 3:52pm

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Cainntear
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 Message 37 of 53
15 February 2011 at 4:14pm | IP Logged 
Gamma wrote:
"Other resources" will always be other resources. Here we should focus on encouraging Assimil to publish an Icelandic program. I kindly remind you, dear language enthusiasts, of the subject of this thread: "Assimil Icelandic: we got to bring it up!". Let's not derail from it.

Why? It's not going to happen. Even if every single active member of this site wanted it, they won't do it.

Why not? Have a look at Amazon.fr ...

If you search for "islandais" and drill down to
"islandais" › Livres › Dictionnaires, langues et encyclopédies › Langues étrangères
then Trier par Meilleures ventes, you'll find that the first actual Icelandic resource is the 8th result: Parlons Islandais : Langue et culture, CD Audio [Broché]. This is the 80,104th best selling "book" on Amazon.fr (and note that it is only a CD to accompany a workbook, and not a book in its own right).

Looking at some of the lesser-studied languages that Assimil do. The first hit for "Basque" in "livres" is Le basque pour les nuls, rank 19,947. "Breton". Le breton pour les nuls, rank 32,124. And Harrap's parler le suedois en voyage is 42,223.

That's only a crude snapshot of the market, but there is a demonstrable lack of demand for Icelandic courses, so it really doesn't matter what we do or say here -- it's not going to happen.
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Gamma
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Brazil
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Speaks: Portuguese*, French, English, GermanC2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Finnish
Studies: Icelandic, Dutch

 
 Message 38 of 53
15 February 2011 at 5:08pm | IP Logged 
Gamma wrote:
Néanmoins, si la demande s'intensifie, nous pourrons envisager de mettre en route la rédaction de cette méthode dans un avenir proche.

Bien cordialement,

Marie Cousin
Direction Editoriale


I think that proves you wrong. Fortunately, Assimil does not have the same opinion as you.
1 person has voted this message useful



Cainntear
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linguafrankly.blogsp
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 Message 39 of 53
15 February 2011 at 5:26pm | IP Logged 
Gamma wrote:
I think that proves you wrong. Fortunately, Assimil does not have the same opinion as you.

How so?
She said they'd do it if they got enough interest. I said that even all the people on this site wouldn't make a difference. She didn't quote a number, and I'd still say that the number of active members of this site isn't high enough to make a difference. Only around 550 members here have posted over 100 times. Even counting everyone who has posted more than 10 times gives us less than 2500. Even if all of us wanted this (and many members don't), that's not what I'd call much interest.

As a publisher, Assimil have access to lots of data on market trends, including more detailed sales figures from retailers than I got from Amazon. They know that interest for Icelandic is low, and when the talk about increasing interest, they really mean that same marketing data, not an internet petition.
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hrhenry
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 Message 40 of 53
15 February 2011 at 7:42pm | IP Logged 
Gamma wrote:

hrhenry wrote:
There are plenty of other resources available.

"Other resources" will always be other resources. Here we should focus on encouraging Assimil to publish an Icelandic program. I kindly remind you, dear language enthusiasts, of the subject of this thread: "Assimil Icelandic: we got to bring it up!". Let's not derail from it.
Gamma

I don't think suggesting other resources that happen to be available while Assimil is not is derailing the topic. You started this thread saying you wanted to learn Icelandic. To only consider Assimil when it's not even available is short-sighted.

By all means, keep requesting to produce a course ofr Icelandic, but in the meantime, those other resources can serve a purpose.

R.
==




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