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Assimil versus US language programs | ||
Tags: Learner type | Platiquemos | Pimsleur | Reading | Language Program | FSI | Assimil | Accent | Book | Grammar | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7379 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes  12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 184 16 April 2005 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would like to discuss the quality, efficiency and underlying philosophy of Assimil versus American language programs such as those of FSI, the Defence language institute or Pimsleur.
For several years, I was very critical of Assimil although it's the most available language programs in bookshops where I live (Switzerland). My page attest that - quite caustic indeed. Following the suggestion of people on this forum, namely Ardaschir, I have taken a fresh look at Assimil and wonder whether some of their programs could not be usable and worth the money after all. Let's start by saying that there is Assimil and Assimil. Some programs are very well made, other seem to have been written and edited hastily. Assimil has a gradual approach, with no emphasis on learning the grammar but rather listening and understanding dialogs. The text would then give you some explanation as to why words are written in such a way (declension, plurals, conjugation, etc...). The big difference with FSI is that there are no drills. Generally, Assimil is more book-intensive and FSI more audio intensive. You could not use Assimil without the book, but this would be partly possible with FSI and of course Pimsleur. If given a choice I'd rather have FSI but now I think you could actually learn a language with Assimil, especially if you have already learned a few. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Seth Diglot Changed to RedKing’sDream Senior Member United States Joined 7227 days ago 240 posts - 252 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Persian | Message 2 of 184 16 April 2005 at 3:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm curious as to what Assimil has the others don't. If it's all about listening to and understanding dialogues, then why not Living Language or "Colloquial 'Insert-language-here'"? They seem to baced on the same principle (though I have never tried Assimil.)
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| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7321 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 184 16 April 2005 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm interested to know too. If Assimil is effective - then isn't any ordinary textbook with audio tapes/CDs effective as well?
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| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7318 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 4 of 184 16 April 2005 at 4:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have Assimil Japanese (in French) and Assimil French (in English). I've been planning on writing a review of this course, but I want to wait until I've finished it (I'm currently on Japanese lesson 30 of 99). What I like about the series is that all the vocabulary introduced is common in everyday conversation, unlike other similar courses that focus on business or tourist vocabulary.
The Living Language Ultimate series comes with 8 tapes. 4 of these tapes are for home use, while the other 4 are for "on the go". The recordings repeat the dialogues at various speeds and then pronounce each word on the vocabulary list. If you were to edit it down to just the dialogues, you'd probably have 40 minutes of audio. Most Assimil courses, when edited, have about 2+ hours of pure dialogue. Each lesson is about 1 minute and 30 seconds, so I'll just set it to loop and keep listening to it over and over. I need to use the book at first to understand the dialogue, but after that I can rely on just the audio. I keep "shadowing" each lesson until I've memorized the dialog and can recite it from memory. I can't think of a better way to learn vocabulary. I'm learning everything in context and I know how words are both spelled and pronounced. As for grammar, I'm not sure how this approach would work for other languages, but it's excellent for Japanese. Japanese is the type of language were you need to memorize a lot of sentences to understand the use of particles. However, the best thing about Assimil is that it's available in almost every language I would ever want to learn. This means that I'll never be stuck in the alone-with-a-grammar-book-and-dictionary situation. The only languages they're missing are Cantonese, Latin American Spanish, and Sanskrit. If anyone here is considering buying one of the 10-lesson Pimsleur courses for a less common language, your money would be much better spent on Assimil (which costs about the same by the way). 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7210 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 184 16 April 2005 at 6:59pm | IP Logged | ||
I thought Assimil was much more expensive. Amazon gets US$175 each for the two Assimil Spanish programs. Edited by heartburn on 16 April 2005 at 6:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7318 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 6 of 184 16 April 2005 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Heartburn: I'm not sure what the expensive package on Amazon.com includes, but you'll want to get the cheaper one with the book and CDs. To be sure that you're buying the right thing, first go to the Assimil website.
http://www.assimil.com/ Find the course you want and make sure "Book + CDs" is selected, then copy and paste the ISBN from the Assimil site into the ISBN search field on Amazon.com. This is the only way to be sure of what you're buying. The Book and CD "with ease" volume is $45.36 US on Amazon.com. Keep in mind that this course is in Iberian Spanish, not Latin American Spanish. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7210 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 184 16 April 2005 at 8:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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I see! It's strange that at the top of the page it says "Audio Cassette," and further down it says "Book & CD."
But does anyone know what the difference between these two courses are? Spanish With Ease: Day by Day Method (US$45.36) Assimil Language Courses / Spanish with Ease (US$175.00) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7318 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 8 of 184 16 April 2005 at 9:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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I also noticed that Amazon has a few of the books without CDs for $40 - $50 US. Something tells me this is either a mistake or a marketing scheme. Either way, you'll get the right stuff by following the instructions that I posted above.
Some languages have a CD-ROM available that I'm betting is useless. Perhaps the expensive version includes the CD-ROM. Does anyone know for sure? Ardaschir? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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