kealist Senior Member United States kealist.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6234 days ago 111 posts - 124 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Uyghur, Mandarin, Shanghainese
| Message 105 of 278 14 December 2007 at 12:53pm | IP Logged |
Thanks for the suggestion. I understand that, I wouldn't overwrite pinyin at least, but the Romanji really serves me no purpose at this point, and because of multiple lines per sentence, the card idea would be a little troublesome to switch lines quickly.
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ficticius Pro Member United States Joined 6105 days ago 23 posts - 24 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German Personal Language Map
| Message 106 of 278 05 May 2008 at 10:21am | IP Logged |
After reading these posts, I was sold on Assimil!
I'm up to lesson 34 and find this to be the best method that I've ever worked with. I actually look forward to the next lesson.
How much effort should I spend on each review exercise? Am I expected to know each review exercise by heart?
Since there is no "Using German", what should I do once I've completed the German with Ease course?
I'd be interested in reading more individual experiences with this great course.
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jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6907 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map
| Message 107 of 278 05 May 2008 at 4:43pm | IP Logged |
With "review exercise" I assume you mean every seventh lesson, on which I have spent anything from 15 minutes up to an hour depending on the content. If the grammar is difficult I may go back to the lesson in which the new concept is introduced, and read through it once or twice.
What I have done after "German with Ease" is to give FSI German a chance (it is freely available), and I am now pretty close to the end (although I haven't done each lesson with 100% focus - however, I can always repeat them if I want).
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ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6314 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French
| Message 108 of 278 05 May 2008 at 7:02pm | IP Logged |
I think ficticius may have meant the review exercises at the end of each lesson, which rehash dialogues, in which case I don't bother. I do try to shadow them, however, but I don't write them out.
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fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7144 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 109 of 278 06 May 2008 at 8:19pm | IP Logged |
ficticius wrote:
After reading these posts, I was sold on Assimil!
I'm up to lesson 34 and find this to be the best method that I've ever worked with. I actually look forward to the next lesson.
How much effort should I spend on each review exercise? Am I expected to know each review exercise by heart?
Since there is no "Using German", what should I do once I've completed the German with Ease course?
I'd be interested in reading more individual experiences with this great course.
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Don't worry about memorising the lessons or exercises in the passive stage. Just read and listen to the lessons until you can understand what you read and what you hear. If you forget a word you will encounter it again tomorrow.
My method is each day to review the previous three or four lessons before beginning the new one. I read through the new lesson and note the new words and their meanings. I then listen to the lesson a few times while I read along, then just listen to the lesson and I should understand what I am hearing. At most, this takes around 15 minutes. Then I review several times during the day, reading the lesson when I can and, by use of my mp3 player, I can listen to the audio any number of times. I might spend a total of 30 to 40 minutes a day split into short chunks of time. I will also replay some old lessons when I get the chance.
That is it. No hard work or drills.
I do talk to myself from time to time in my target language to give me active practice with the language, even though this activity really belongs to the active wave.
I learnt German with Assimil German Without Toil and was able to work in Germany without difficulty and to write technical reports, having learnt German without any classes, only using Assimil. I never felt like I was working at learning the language. Assimil made learning German something to be enjoyed.
German was the first language I learnt by myself with Assimil and I put in more work than I needed to. I felt I had to master a lesson before I moved on to the next. As a result I spent two days on one lesson sometimes instead of moving on to the next. Now I move on regardless and find I learn just as well and enjoy it more.
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Feculent Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6159 days ago 136 posts - 144 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German
| Message 110 of 278 07 May 2008 at 8:21am | IP Logged |
Hi Fictitious, if i were in your position i would just start getting audiobooks in German, along with the English and German book, and then treat each chapter like a lesson of Assimil, thats what im going to do with French and the end of Using French. I'm just going to carry on until I dont need the translation anymore =)
As you don't have an advanced course you may need to look at a grammar to be able to understand some advanced aspects of German grammar that weren't covered in Assimil though
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ficticius Pro Member United States Joined 6105 days ago 23 posts - 24 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German Personal Language Map
| Message 111 of 278 08 May 2008 at 9:03am | IP Logged |
Thank you for your helpful replies.
My concern now is what to do after German with Ease. After the enjoyment of Assimil, I can't imagine attempting a tedious drill course like FSI again. Any ideas?
What about the active wave? I'm concerned about having to translate from English to the target language. I'd be curious to hear your success stories.
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dancc Newbie United States Joined 6162 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese
| Message 112 of 278 10 May 2008 at 10:44pm | IP Logged |
Does anyone know why the "using French" and "using Spanish" cost 3 times more than the "with ease" books + cds?
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