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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 |  | |
| jradetzky Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom geocities.com/jradet Joined 7210 days ago 521 posts - 485 votes  1 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, GermanB1 | Message 33 of 184 06 May 2005 at 4:04pm | IP Logged | ||
The very newest Assimil courses come in "software packs", that is, software programmes that include reading, listening, and exercises in an integrated format. The contents are just the same as in the books. I'm currently using "Französisch ohne Mühe" (French with Ease for German speakers) and "Polnisch ohne Mühe" (Polish with Ease for German speakers). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7208 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 34 of 184 06 May 2005 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
Does that mean it only runs on a PC running windows? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Alex Newbie Germany Joined 7191 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes | Message 35 of 184 11 May 2005 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I decided to brush up on my Spanish I started with Barron's Mastering Spanish II (=FSI Spanish Basic Course Lessons 16ff). Having read Ardaschir's praise of Assimil, I decided to give it a try beginning with the second tape of "Spanisch ohne Mühe heute" (German edition of "Le nouvel Espagnol sans peine"). It's a wonderful book with well thought-out, fairly interesting and sometimes quite amusing lessons. Ardaschir's method of simultaneously repeating what you hear on tape without looking at the book is a very effective way to thoroughly internalize the lesson. Even weeks later I can still replay the complete lesson in my head. After doing this for lots of lessons I have developed a much better sprachgefühl and start to instinctively use the right constructions without having to think about the corresponding grammar. The problem is that even for an easy lesson where I can fully understand everything upon first listening it takes quite a long time of looping over the recorded material over and over again, uttering along bits and pieces before I'm finally able to "shadow" the complete lesson. This process is about as tedious and time consuming as doing FSI drills. In the period of time needed to master one FSI lesson I can finish no more than two Assimil lessons. With some more practice of using Assimil in this manner (and some adaption), I might be able to progress a little faster, but currently I do think that the FSI course is more effective. Also, the audio of FSI is closer to normal speech than Assimil, though the latter is ok after editing out the annoyingly long pauses (which can be done with one mouse-click for digitized material). Assimil's follow-up "Spanisch in der Praxis" (Perfectionnement Espagnol) does have recordings at full conversational speech. Given the cheap price of Assimil it's certainly worth a try for everyone. If nothing else, you can always use it for listening comprehension and building vocabulary.
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| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7149 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 36 of 184 11 May 2005 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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It sounds to me like you are making the work for yourself. The fault doesn't lie with Assimil. I am currently working through two Assimil programs, the new Dutch, Dutch with Ease, and the old Spanish, Spanish Without Toil.
I don't edit the tapes or files. I listen to the new lesson a couple of times, read along with it, taking note of any explanations and notes they give, and then either listen to the previous 10 or 20 lessons on my mp3 player when I get the chance or read the book while I have a cup of coffee. It certainly isn't tedious. When I reach the active stage, or second wave, I will go back and do the exercises. I don't think the tedium can be blamed on the course. I think it is how you are using it. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Alex Newbie Germany Joined 7191 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes | Message 37 of 184 12 May 2005 at 12:51am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the advice, fanatic. You're certainly right. The way you are using it (which is more or less what they recommend in the book) sounds more like learning with fun and without toil. This way it should be easy to finish a lesson every day within half an hour or so. Just wasn't sure this would really be effective but I'll give it a try. Edited by Alex on 12 May 2005 at 2:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| roadrunner Newbie United States secretstoimprovememo Joined 7166 days ago 15 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Italian | Message 38 of 184 02 June 2005 at 11:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just received my Assimil Italian With Ease course in the mail and have been reading through the book. My first impression is that it looks pretty good. It appears to have a lot of dialogues and vocabulary in a small and compact book. Having looked through the lessons, however, I don't really see the difference between the "passive" and "active" phases of learning. All of the lessons appear to be in the same format. Any of you guys experienced with these courses have any insight to what Assimil is referring to here? Ardashir? Fanatic? Edited by roadrunner on 03 June 2005 at 12:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7149 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 39 of 184 03 June 2005 at 12:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Roadrunner, you begin with the passive stage, working your way through the book and audio at the rate of a lesson a day. You can do two lessons a day in the early stages if you like. You read through the lesson, taking note of the Notes and explanations, and listen to the dialogue. Do this several times a day and you will find you understand it fairly well. That is all you have to do during the passive stage. Go on to the next lesson on the next day, even if you feel you haven't completely mastered the previous lesson. You will pick it up with repetition. Each day, go back a few lessons to review what you learnt over the previous week.
Then, when you reach where the second wave begins, you go back and do lesson one along with whichever new lesson you are up to. (I have the old Italian Without Toil.) When you go back to lesson one you translate from English to Italian and do any grammar or other exercises they may give you, like fill in the missing words. This should be easy because you are about 50 lessons ahead with the first wave. From this point on you do a new lesson each day and review an old one, translating from your language to the target language. By the time you finish you should be fluent. After completing the Assimil German Without Toil, I got a job with Ericsson translating a technical text from English into German. Assimil was enough for me to speak with anyone in Germany. It was the only German study I had done. My German still improved over time but I could converse and ask what words meant and I was able to tell jokes in German to my colleagues. You will improve your German as you read newspapers and magazines, watch German programs on TV and listen to German radio stations on the Internet. I wish you success with the course. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| roadrunner Newbie United States secretstoimprovememo Joined 7166 days ago 15 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Italian | Message 40 of 184 03 June 2005 at 12:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Okay, I think I see what you are saying, the instructions aren't very clear in the book. So, what you are saying is reaching lesson 50 (beginning of 2nd wave) I will go back to lesson 1 and re-do it, but try to translate the English text into Italian. Then do #51 and #2, #52 and #3, etc. Is this correct?
I'm also wondering why they repeat each dialogue twice per audio lesson as that seems like a waste of space, and the speakers are quite slow as noted in a previous post. What kind of editing software did you use to tighten up the audio? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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