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Should I use Pimsleur and/or Assimil? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| demie Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4045 days ago 12 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Japanese, Slovenian | Message 1 of 5 01 January 2014 at 1:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've been studying French since May 2013 and in that time I'm about B2 in some areas
A2/B1 in others. I was wondering what Pimsleur and Assimil are like and if I should have used them earlier or if they're at my level (lower intermediate)? Is it worth getting them? Will I learn anything? Thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4057 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes  Studies: German | Message 2 of 5 01 January 2014 at 1:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
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If you are at A2-B1 level, my experience suggests that you have already progressed well beyond the Pimsleur method. As a follow-up, I recommend:
COURSES Assimil Linguaphone (but not at the regular prices, at the reduced prices only). FSI Basic French (mind numbing drills, freely available at the FSI-Language-Courses.com)(Note1: the sound quality is poor, but the drills are very helpful) (Note2: use an mp3 file splitter to cut the files into digestible chunks) ADDITIONAL MATERIAL FOR DEVELOPING VOCABULARY Graded Readers with audio (A1-B2) Think French! (this is an online audio magazine at B1-B2 level) Librivox website (freely available C1-C2 classic literature) Books Should Be Free website (freely available C1-C2 classic literature) Bonne chance! 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5537 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 5 01 January 2014 at 2:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
The quality of the advice you receive here will depend on how well people can guess your current level. Since you gave your level in CEFRL terms, you might want to double-check the COE self-assessment checklist and make sure that you're in the right ballpark. Or if that seems too formal for you, just go ahead and describe what you can already do in French, are what you're trying to master right now.
In general, Assimil's New French with Ease will get most people to around A2, though it's possible some people might reach B1. At B1 or above, NFWE is maybe worth skimming quickly, but that's it. Assimil's Using French has lots of material that might be interesting in the B1/B2 range, but if it's your only contact with French, it will never get you to B2 on its own. Assimil's Business French, however, really does cover the kind of things you might see on a DELF B2 Pro exam (the business version of the DELF B2). 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5570 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 4 of 5 01 January 2014 at 2:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In what areas have you attained CEFR B2? How are you rating this? Do you mean you have
B2 in one or more of the four 'competences' of CEFR? I say this because 7 months seems to me a relative short time to get to such a level. As well as the tests emk suggested, you can do some CEFR exam practice here based on real CEFR tests: http://www.bonjourdefrance.co.uk/learn-french-online/delf-pr eparation.html 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| demie Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4045 days ago 12 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Japanese, Slovenian | Message 5 of 5 01 January 2014 at 10:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
I get where you're coming from, I wouldn't believe me either xD Basically, I blundered along for two months then I began doing French A-Levels except I'm doing both years in one year. Due to various things, I'm the only person in my second year class so I basically get 3 hours of private tutoring a week as well as first year class time, all that being on top of one or two hours a day on my own. I've basically lived and breathed French for these 7 months. idk, I can read most things I come across (that's kind of vague..I've read a few novels, can follow a newspaper okay, that sort of thing?) and my class writing essays haven't yet dipped below 31 out of 35. It's mostly my listening and speaking that have lagged behind (I've always found these areas most difficult..something to work on definitely) because what with cognates and things, I find it's relatively easily to blag your way through French. I'm not very well versed in CEFR levels, hence the jumble of levels. Is the etiquette to take your lowest level in an area as your overall level or is it an average? In which case I'm A2/B1. I mentioned B2 because, as I said, I'm wondering if those programs would help me, like there's little point in me doing simple grammar exercises that I'm already comfortable with (well, except for revision) etc Andthanks for the advice :D Edited by demie on 01 January 2014 at 10:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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