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Assimil Russian with Ease (2011)

  Tags: Assimil | Russian
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
27 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4  Next >>
dbag
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5023 days ago
605 posts - 1046 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 17 of 27
22 June 2012 at 1:58pm | IP Logged 
Also, you need to think about how much use you are going to get out of it. You are
going to be using it every day for at least 5 months, if not a year. And it works.
I would say Assimil has easily 4 times the content of either TY or colloquial. I've
been introduced to things in Assimil that I've seen nowhere else. A lot more
thought and thus time seems to go into designing an Assimil course.

Bearing the above in mind, to me Assimil doesn't appear to be so expensive.
3 persons have voted this message useful



brian032
Newbie
United States
Joined 5694 days ago
4 posts - 12 votes
Studies: German

 
 Message 18 of 27
14 July 2012 at 8:48pm | IP Logged 
Currently I'm on lesson 36 of Assimil's new Russian. I time all my lessons, and I know
I've spent no more than 25 minutes on each. Aside from real-life exposure in Poland,
Ukraine and NYC, this is my first time picking up a Slavic language. I'm approaching
this course differently than I've approached previous Assimil courses. Instead of
picking up a new lesson from scratch each day, I put tomorrow's lesson on repeat today
and play it during every spare moment I have. (All my courses are on my phone.) It
takes absolutely no extra effort, and it's amazing how much I passively accomplish
while utilizing every spare second. (I'm listening to lesson 37 as I type post.)

Not only do I overlearn and absorb the sounds of tomorrow's lesson without any
extraneous interference, thereby making it easier to echo/shadow during the second
wave, but it also reduces the course's difficulty immensely. Overall I enjoy the course
and I do feel like I'm learning the language with ease. I've used Assimil's German,
French, and Spanish courses before--including the Using series--but this time it feels
different. Because I've altered my demeanor, approach, and level of commitment,
everything just seems simpler. (Though it may change towards the latter half.)

I'm thinking about keeping a small language log in the forum to log my progress. Not
too sure yet; especially since it takes precious minutes away that I could spend on
other stuff. However, when I'm finished with the course's active wave, I will post a
full review documenting how I feel with my Russian endeavor. Accomplishments aside,
Assimil's Russian has been a tremendous joy thus far.
5 persons have voted this message useful



gogglehead
Triglot
Senior Member
Argentina
Joined 6076 days ago
248 posts - 320 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Russian, Italian

 
 Message 19 of 27
15 July 2012 at 12:18pm | IP Logged 
Ok, can anyone answer a question for me, as I seem to have been confused. I need the Assimil Russian with Ease (does this exist?). I can't find the axact one, or the one that I found said the language was French. I need the dual language dialogue one, with the little grammatical parts in each lesson (like my Italian one), the one where you have the same dialogue in English and Russian. I found these courses to be excellent. Can someone post the link on Amazon for me please? I am English, but I live in Spain. Amazon.es is an option, but I am also returning to the UK for 2 weeks in August, so Amazon.co.uk is also an option. Forgive me if I am being ignorant/stupid here, but I can't seem to find it. Remember I need English-Russian. Thanks in advance!
G
1 person has voted this message useful



Elexi
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5566 days ago
938 posts - 1840 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French, German, Latin

 
 Message 20 of 27
15 July 2012 at 2:17pm | IP Logged 
Why not order directly from Assimil? They deliver quickly.

http://www.assimil.com/descriptionProduitDetail.do?
paramIdProduit=3219¶mIdMethode=3219
1 person has voted this message useful



gogglehead
Triglot
Senior Member
Argentina
Joined 6076 days ago
248 posts - 320 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Russian, Italian

 
 Message 21 of 27
15 July 2012 at 2:47pm | IP Logged 
Thanks folks. Sorry, I forgot to mention, I only need the actual book.
1 person has voted this message useful



Irish_Goon
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6416 days ago
117 posts - 170 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 22 of 27
17 July 2012 at 2:08pm | IP Logged 
newyorkeric wrote:
COF wrote:
Assimil is absurdly expensive for what it is. I mean, the actual production costs can't be much more than a Teach Yourself or Colloquial course, and yet they charge up to three times the price for one. Total greed I think.


Or that's what people are willing to pay for it?


Absolutely, people seem to not understand the concept of the interaction between many buyers and sellers.
1 person has voted this message useful



Random review
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5784 days ago
781 posts - 1310 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German

 
 Message 23 of 27
17 July 2012 at 11:31pm | IP Logged 
Irish_Goon wrote:
newyorkeric wrote:
COF wrote:
Assimil is absurdly expensive for
what it is. I mean, the actual production costs can't be much more than a Teach
Yourself or Colloquial course, and yet they charge up to three times the price for one.
Total greed I think.


Or that's what people are willing to pay for it?


Absolutely, people seem to not understand the concept of the interaction between many
buyers and sellers.


That's actually an inherently political point of view. In spite of the fact that our
current legal system gives companies the right to charge what the market will bear (and
please note that the market for educational products is far from competitive) many of
us of a different political persuasion believe in the concept of a "fair price" and do
not hesitate to think some companies greedy even for PLC's (where their directors are
only doing what they're legally bound to do and maximising profit). Now mine is also a
political point of view and I'm not trying to persuade you (I know that for good
reasons political debate is forbidden plus I respect your point of view even if I
disagree with it) but I need to make it clear that it is perfectly
possible to be fully aware of the dynamics of supply and demand and yet call a company
greedy. COF is not necessarily ignorant.

Disclaimer: ironically I think Assimil is excellent value for money and really can't
understand where COF was coming from with this. In addition though I can think of a
couple of companies where this "greedy" label might apply, I no longer think it's
helpful: firstly because where price is concerned I consider the issue of accessibility
far more important than whether a company is being greedy; secondly because I have
neither the time nor the expertise to do the necessary research before publicly calling
a company greedy (as opposed to just thinking it in private). Something COF clearly
didn't do. So all in all I found that post by COF extremely unhelpful.

Edited by Random review on 17 July 2012 at 11:41pm
3 persons have voted this message useful



Irish_Goon
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6416 days ago
117 posts - 170 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 24 of 27
18 July 2012 at 1:09am | IP Logged 
Random review wrote:
Irish_Goon wrote:
newyorkeric wrote:
COF wrote:
Assimil is absurdly expensive for
what it is. I mean, the actual production costs can't be much more than a Teach
Yourself or Colloquial course, and yet they charge up to three times the price for one.
Total greed I think.


Or that's what people are willing to pay for it?


Absolutely, people seem to not understand the concept of the interaction between many
buyers and sellers.


That's actually an inherently political point of view. In spite of the fact that our
current legal system gives companies the right to charge what the market will bear (and
please note that the market for educational products is far from competitive) many of
us of a different political persuasion believe in the concept of a "fair price" and do
not hesitate to think some companies greedy even for PLC's (where their directors are
only doing what they're legally bound to do and maximising profit). Now mine is also a
political point of view and I'm not trying to persuade you (I know that for good
reasons political debate is forbidden plus I respect your point of view even if I
disagree with it) but I need to make it clear that it is perfectly
possible to be fully aware of the dynamics of supply and demand and yet call a company
greedy. COF is not necessarily ignorant.


Actually it was purely economical. Basic economic principals apply because scarcity exists regardless of your type of economy. That is not a political view, just a fact.

If I were to make a political point I would ask how can you determine what a "fair price" (not just currency but time or labor depending on your economy)is for someone else? Do you actually believe that there are people who are not greedy? Is being greedy synonymous with being evil or non-charitable?

Words like "greed" are thrown around by people and politicians without understanding what they actually entail. The term "fair price" is always thrown about but usually not by a person who is involved in the transaction. But that is enough.

My apologies to the OP for aiding in the derailing of this thread, I won't post in this topic again. On a side note I wonder how Assimil Russian is compared to the other European languages?


1 person has voted this message useful



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