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Assimil Using Spanish - A Cautionary Note | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7154 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 9 of 59 30 May 2006 at 6:26am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think it is what we would call an indicator or a blinker in Australia. It is a flashing light on a vehicle that indicates you are going to make a turn.
I have heard them called trafficators before, but I don't think in Australia. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| monax Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6850 days ago 39 posts - 40 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, German | Message 10 of 59 30 May 2006 at 8:45am | IP Logged | |||||
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It's blinker or turn signal in the US, but not indicator. I've never heard of a trafficator, but the dictionary seems to say it's a valid word.
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| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7112 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 11 of 59 30 May 2006 at 10:52am | IP Logged | |||||
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According to Wikipedia, trafficators were used on autos before indicators/winkers were.
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| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7213 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 12 of 59 01 June 2006 at 5:40am | IP Logged | |||||
I'm with you on the fact that some of the English translations are nonsensical. You've helped me by sharing your "using the notes" and "listening for comprehension" strategies. That's helping. I'm doing a passive wave as well, which I agree is effective when using other materials for primary learning (Platiquemos). I'm curious what to do when it comes to the active wave. The English is in Using Spanish doesn't seem like it will be the best springboard for translating back into Spanish. Are you actually writing out your own translation? What does one do during the active wave of an Assimil course that frequently has non-idiomatic, non-literal, and non-sensical translations? Edited by luke on 01 June 2006 at 5:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7111 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 13 of 59 01 June 2006 at 5:52am | IP Logged | |||||
Luke, I haven't been writing out my own translations and I have to confess that at the moment I don't have a clue about how to proceed. Currently I'm on Lesson 20 (of the 60) and I plan on beginning my Active Wave at Lesson 29 - so I've got about a week to come up with some sort of workable strategy. Any suggestions at this point from anyone at all would be extremely welcome. Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7100 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 59 01 June 2006 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
I ran into the same problem in the advanced lessons of French with Ease. The subjective tense and many of the idioms simply don’t translate well from English. The way I resolved the problem was to just back translate the exercise sentences and then read the dialog aloud a couple of times. Finally, I would try to repeat each line from memory, or at least as much as I could in short phrases. I have to confess that I too fell into the trap of trying to hang on to every word and wasted a few weeks in the process. I found it much more effective to take the advanced lessons in groups of 2-6 and repeat them a couple of days in a row. Currently I’m at lesson 30 in Using French -- passive wave. My plan for the active wave is about the same with a few exceptions. Using French is really an anthology of advanced French topics ranging from the use of the subjunctive to the literary tenses and from basic dialogs to complex monologs. The literacy tenses and the monologs represent the type of French I want to recognize but have little need to actively master. According to Using French when the lessons present the “formal” use of the language, the exercise present the conversational use of the language. My tentative plan for these “formal” lessons is to only back translate the exercises and some of the vocabulary. That’s it! I’ll spend the rest of my time on the advanced dialogs using the method I described above. I would be curious if you have any other ideas? John Edited by Farley on 01 June 2006 at 11:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Brent Groupie United States Joined 7022 days ago 55 posts - 54 votes Speaks: English* | Message 15 of 59 01 June 2006 at 11:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I always wondered if all the Assimil courses translated into English are sloppy (I've been using Spanish with Ease). Nearly every lesson has either a typo or an obvious mistake--it makes me wonder if I'm learning the way people actually say things or the way a semi-fluent foreigner says them.
Of course, I'm hoping that the huge number of mistakes come from the fact that it's simply a translation of the French course. For anyone who has used the originals, do they have the ridiculous number of mistakes we have in the English translations? I would consider the Spanish with Ease book bad enough to the point where it shouldn't be published... couldn't they have had a single native speaker look everything over? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7111 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 16 of 59 02 June 2006 at 2:15am | IP Logged | |||||
John, Well, you've answered one of my questions which was - I wonder what Using French is like in comparison? On the Passive side with Using Spanish I've been adopting a similar "grouping" approach to yours with the slight difference that I review the last 6 lessons before moving on to the next one (a sort of "moving group" where the oldest lesson drops off the list). I've found this more useful than simply listening to a new lesson over and over again. I've also been doing the translation exercises and repeating the dialogues out loud a couple of times. I must admit, although I noted (as Brent mentions above) the inconsistencies and typos in the Spanish With Ease course, it appeared to be less of a problem even at the end than now - possibly because the target language was less complex to master. I'm absolutely comfortable with how the Passive/Aural Comprehension side of things is going and on the Active side I may try and "cherry-pick" certain phrases/idioms and vocab items from the dialogues and notes to concentrate on. Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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