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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 |  | |
| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7316 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes  5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 17 of 278 31 January 2005 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
And even less if you take Ardaschir's advice and edit out all the spaces. You're left with only 2 hours!
From what I've gathered, there are the standard "sans peine" courses for every language, but some of the more popular european languages also have an advanced level. Also, for some of the more difficult languages, the "sans peine" courses are divided into two levels. As for whether or not 2 hours of pure audio is enough, that remains to be seen. My courses should arrive in a week, and while I want to finish them before writing a review, I might post my first impressions. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7257 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes | Message 18 of 278 04 February 2005 at 6:08am | IP Logged | |||||
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When all is said and done, the quality of taped materials is really more important that their quanitity measured in listening hours. Assimil is definitely not for anyone who learns well through pattern drills, but how many times do or can you listen to a given FSI tape? 4? 5? At 6hours times 12 tapes, that's 72 listening hours. As I described the way I use Assimil type tapes, I shadow them easily that many hours if not more. I have found that even two hours of taped material in a language, provided it is comprised exclusively of relativley natural dialogues and reading passages, is indeed a good, representative chuck of that language. If you internalize such a tape over a period of months, understanding it on progressively deeper levels, you will be on your way towards really knowing that language.
Malcolm, you're right, they did put out an ancient Greek course exactly a year ago, last February. Before you order it, though, read the reviews for it on Amazon.com.fr Apparently the book is great, but the tapes leave a lot to be desired. Now that I think of it, a classics publisher with a lengthy Slovak-Italian name like Bordzoy-Cardassi put out a series of readings of Classical Greek materials in the latest "restored" accent some years ago. If you can't get them direct from the publisher anymore, I imagine you can order them from AudioForum for 2 or 3 times the original price. 7 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7239 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 19 of 278 19 February 2005 at 11:50am | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, here's how i do the FSI myself:
1)Listen to the conversation (in all its forms) attempting to mimic the tapes when asked. I repeat this until I don't make any more progress 2) Go read the script connecting the sounds I made to the meanings (if I haven't already) seeing what i missed completely, and checking pronunication. 3) Repeat 1&2 until I know most of the script 4) Do the drills where they alter the sentences you just learned. Alot of times this helps me fill in some of the blanks with ease. 5) Do the grammar drills. Most of these I only have to do twice (an example of what took significant time is choosing between past tenses in spanish) This is not a strict pattern as I like to jump ahead and learn more scripts first. There are also some patterns I pick up on early, so I don't have to do them. Like in french I figured out the difference between 'ma' & 'mon', 'vos' & 'votre' before it was presented. And yet others show a grammar point and I say to myself, "yeah I guess that's right", but I still have to do the drill to make it more automatic to say (ce,cette, ces) Edited by ElComadreja on 19 February 2005 at 12:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jradetzky Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom geocities.com/jradet Joined 7208 days ago 521 posts - 485 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, GermanB1 | Message 20 of 278 02 March 2005 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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This is my language list:
www.geocities.com/jradetzky/langlist.html There are some Assimil courses I could trade for others I don't have. Edited by jradetzky on 02 June 2005 at 9:49am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jradetzky Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom geocities.com/jradet Joined 7208 days ago 521 posts - 485 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, GermanB1 | Message 21 of 278 02 March 2005 at 12:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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J Radetzky's language list Edited by jradetzky on 02 June 2005 at 9:51am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Flori Newbie Romania Joined 7208 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes | Message 22 of 278 05 March 2005 at 6:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think Assimil Courses are great! I've used "English without a toil" and "el catalán sin esfuerzo" and both were excellent. I've recently been to Barcelona and my language was good enough to talk to everyone without depending on my spanish.
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| ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7257 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes | Message 23 of 278 18 March 2005 at 9:34am | IP Logged | |||||
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In my opinion, el catalán sin esfuerzo is the best language program I have ever seen. The first 1/3 of the book is basic conversation, the 2nd/3rd general cultural information, the last 3rd literary detail. What more could you want? All of this is recorded in progressively "normal" voices. As far as "languages" go, Catalan is unquestionaably Europe's premiere minority (you can do all of your "Yahoo" business in it), so, as I have said before, this course is most worthy of investigation by any anyone who might be interested in learning a language based on the quality of material available for studying it.
7 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| jradetzky Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom geocities.com/jradet Joined 7208 days ago 521 posts - 485 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, GermanB1 | Message 24 of 278 19 May 2005 at 9:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have a rather frivolous question. How should the word "Assimil" be pronounced: A-see-meel (stress on the first syllable), a-SEE-meel (stress on the second syllable), or a-see-MEEL (stress on the last syllable)?
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