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Assimil | ||
Tags: Shadowing | Polyglottery | Alexander Arguelles | Reading | Language Program | Learning Technique/Method | Assimil | Book | Grammar | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6907 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 113 of 278 11 May 2008 at 10:14am | IP Logged | |||||
I have found the first lessons to be easier to translate back into the target language (almost word-for-word) while the later have been more difficult. Perhaps I should have worked a little harder. However, Assimil is one of those courses/methods I could really go through a few times for pure enjoyment (the content is good and funny).
No idea, here in Sweden you can get them for roughly the same price (~€35 las time I checked). Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 11 May 2008 at 10:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ficticius Pro Member United States Joined 6105 days ago 23 posts - 24 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German Personal Language Map | Message 114 of 278 12 May 2008 at 1:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks everyone. My plan is to get to lesson 50 and start the active wave and hope for the best.
I guess I should allow myself more time during the active phase. I'd love to hear more personal experiences with Assimil and German with Ease, especially from someone who struggled through the active phase and made it to the end. Can you now speak your target language? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6907 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 115 of 278 12 May 2008 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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It is more difficult to get the longer sentences 100% right, and sometimes the shorter ones fool you - it can be other but perfectly valid options such as "mein Name ist..." instead of "ich heiße...".
As for your question, yes, I can speak German but not at the level I think I would have been at, had I studied harder/focused on German only/et.c. But I have spoken German in Germany with people who barely spoke (let alone understood) a word of English, and managed to get by. Fanatic, on the other hand, got to a more satisfying level with Assimil (although fully immersed in Germany, and for a longer period than my occasional weekends). Ficticius, keep us posted about your breakthroughs, milestones et.c.! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Baryon Newbie United Kingdom corfizz.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6039 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 116 of 278 15 May 2008 at 4:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Assimil claims to have courses available in 65 languages. However, its website, which seems to be down at the
moment - perhaps this is why - only allows me to select a small number of the most popular languages from its catalogue. I am also unable to find anywhere to buy courses for most languages from UK sites. I don't know exactly what language I want yet, but I can't even find Norwegian or Swedish, let alone Tamil or Vietnamese. Where is the best place to get them from, then? And I apologise if I have missed something very obvious. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6907 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 117 of 278 15 May 2008 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Here is what they offer in French (based on "...sans peine"):
Alsatian, Arabic, Armenian, Breton, Bulgarian, Chinese, Corsican, Creole, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Farsi, Finnish, German, Greek (Ancient), Greek (Modern), Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Norwegian, Occitan, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croat, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| bushwick Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6242 days ago 407 posts - 443 votes Speaks: German, Croatian*, English, Dutch Studies: French, Japanese | Message 118 of 278 15 May 2008 at 5:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
its because most of the courses assimil offers are in french. try selecting french as your language and you'll see. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Baryon Newbie United Kingdom corfizz.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6039 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 119 of 278 15 May 2008 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
Indeed you are right. I could have sworn I'd tried that, but, never mind. Now I understand why Professor Arguelles recommends focusing on fluency in French and German before other languages. I think I'd still feel more comfortable learning a new language in my native language, though, especially if it were a very difficult language. Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| pitwo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6157 days ago 103 posts - 121 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 120 of 278 15 May 2008 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I really really like "Le nouvel Allemand sans peine".
The course is so well made that it's a lot of fun just going through lessons! I'm at lesson 26 and can understand a lot of the language already. To give a concrete example, I was listening a movie the other day and most sentences made total sense to me; I had already seen the skeleton of these sentences, all that changed was the vocab and meaning. Assimil just does such a great job at exposing you to the "core" of the language. Of course you still have to supplement Assimil with a lot of reading and listening.. That being said, I only really gave the German course a honest try so I don't know if the other ones are good. I know the japanese one is somewhat weak at the beginning (romaji.. ugh :X). See fanatic's post on page 14 if you haven't, excellent stuff. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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