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Does Assimil (’with ease’ level) reach B2 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5680 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes  Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 25 of 33 04 January 2010 at 10:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I write out the target language sentences before I start reading the text. Because I'm a
slow writer, I'm forced to stare at the text longer and more intensely than if I were just casually reading it. I find this helps my comprehension and retention. I think this is called scriptorium. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| magictom123 Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5596 days ago 272 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French | Message 26 of 33 04 January 2010 at 10:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the reply Paskwc.
Do you find that writing out the text helps you to understand the target language whilst thinking in the target language. By this I mean, for myself, I can comprehend what is being said and I even have decent retention of the new words and phrases I am coming across but when I read the assimil lessons, or for that matter Italian newspapers online etc, even if I am reading out loud in Italian, my brain is quietly thinking (almost in a ghostly manner in the background) in English. I don't know if this is something that will change the more I work through Assimil or whether it is something I should try to eradicate now if it is going to slow down my comprehension of Italian in Italian either now or later. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5680 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 27 of 33 22 June 2010 at 6:58am | IP Logged | ||
I must have missed this message a few months ago (sorry!). In short: 1) Yes, writing helps me understand and thing in my L2. 2) Writing is still only optional. 3) A temporary emphasis on slowness might be helpful as a beginner. 4) Everything withstanding, I'm sure that your current regimen will eventually allow you to think in Italian. Why I write I don't know about everybody else, but my hands are much slower than my mind. This makes me a slow writer. When writing out a page, I spend about five minutes devoted to the contents of that page, whereas when reading it, I might spend a minute or two. Further, when I write something out, I look at it multiple times while my hand is busy writing it. In comparison, when I read something, I usually only look at it once and move on. While I do some original writing, most of what I "write" as a beginner is stuff that I reproduce from other sources. I do this because of two reasons: it helps me internalize the spelling of words and the structure of sentences AND it forces me to slow down and focus on words and concepts that I would otherwise just glance over. Thus, one of the main benefits of writing is a way of forcing a bit of slowness upon myself. Writing is just something to keep myself busy or an excuse to not speed up; if you have enough self-control you don't need to do it. What this means for me The slow approach lets me introduce myself to a language at an appropriate level. Without a slow approach, I usually just go through a text and apply the phonetic rules that I've learned with little regard for it's content. As a beginner, this lets me start to do some thinking in my target language. That said, I wouldn't encourage anyone to use a slow approach forever or exclusively. It may provide a solid base, but if you ever want to build on that base you'll have to continually challenge yourself. (P.S. for moderators: I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to revive a dead thread, but I felt I should as the question was directed at me. I'm sorry if I shouldn't have done so.) 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| RedBeard Senior Member United States atariage.com Joined 6105 days ago 126 posts - 182 votes Speaks: Ancient Greek* Studies: French, German | Message 28 of 33 22 June 2010 at 8:28am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm sure glad that you bumped this thread. It is a great one and I missed it the first time around, apparently.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Frieza Triglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 5356 days ago 102 posts - 137 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2, French Studies: German | Message 29 of 33 24 February 2011 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I believe the last dialogues must be at B2 level or higher. I say this because I was at A2 level (possibly with one foot already on B1) starting Assimil German with Ease and from about lesson 25 onwards there have always been several new things to learn each lesson, be it words, phrases or grammar. I am currently on lesson 53 and I have struggled a bit to understand the dialogue (especially by listening) on a few lessons.
Whether or not I'll be at B2 level upon completion of the course, well that remains to be seen. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| RogerK Triglot Groupie Austria Joined 5078 days ago 92 posts - 181 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian Studies: Portuguese | Message 30 of 33 24 February 2011 at 9:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm a fan of Assimil and in my experience if and it's a big 'IF' you know 90% of what is in a 'With Ease' book/course, have good pronunciation and are able to use the vocabularly to form your own sentences which are grammatically mostly correct and convey your won thoughts, then I would say you have reached a good intermediate level. Whether this is B1 or B2 or not I'll then people with more knowledge decide. If I were to complete a 'With Ease' course and be able to do what I described with 90% accuracy I'd be more than overjoyed.
I dare say Assimil make this claim on the basis that you know 100% of the course or close to 100%. Edited by RogerK on 25 February 2011 at 10:08am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5347 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 31 of 33 25 February 2011 at 3:58am | IP Logged | ||
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Well I'm currently using Assimil German with Ease and Assimil New French with Ease. The
German version, I'm doing quite well in it. Simply enjoy it, though sometimes I can't remember the words. But I have gotten a good grasp of the German language. I can't really say the same with the French book. I decided to do some Michel Thomas before I restart with Assimil just so I can understand the pronunciation of French. French pronunciation is very hard. I have noticed that in the French audio of Assimil, it doesn't repeat the first 8 lessons like it does in the German version. But overall, I enjoy Assimil. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| thecrazyfarang Diglot Newbie France thefarangsdiary.blog Joined 5054 days ago 18 posts - 25 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Thai | Message 32 of 33 25 February 2011 at 5:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just finished a few days ago to learn the book "introduction to Thai", from Assimil.
According to Assimil, this should give me a B1 level. Now watching a lakorn (= thai soap opera) and some TV shows, I understand quite well when the conversation is about familiar subjects (job, food, family, friends, ....). So, yes ! in my opinion, Assimil is very efficient ! 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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