Isarin Tetraglot Newbie Germany Joined 5637 days ago 34 posts - 41 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Japanese Studies: Czech, Mandarin, Italian
| Message 1 of 4 20 April 2014 at 8:22pm | IP Logged |
After reading vermillion's log I realized that some Assimil courses may be way more interesting than others, and that some may actually be funny. I'm currently using "il nuovo Italiano senza sforzo" (it says 1983/1991 on the CDs and 1984 on the book, 105 lessons) and imho the content of the lessons is pretty boring. No witty jokes, no interesting stories etc, just 2 or 3 people doing boring things.
Are the other versions of Assimil Italian any better? Or does this one get better eventually (I'm at lesson 25)?
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Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5597 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes
| Message 2 of 4 21 April 2014 at 1:17am | IP Logged |
Yes, the Italian ASSIMIL course by Giovanna Galdo is no fun and sometimes even dull (compared to the hilarious Scandinavian courses e.g.), but at least it is a solid base to learn Italian. Some lessons like "Come se dice" are totally incoherent and I was totally uninterested in Marcos job application, but I worked through it. Now there is a newer course, which is slightly better, but nontheless rather "serious" instead of the witty style I associate with ASSIMIL. Keep going, even if you suffer, when they go into the details of the medical or scolar system!
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ikinaridango Triglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6123 days ago 61 posts - 80 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, Italian Studies: German, Polish
| Message 3 of 4 28 April 2014 at 6:07pm | IP Logged |
I'm afraid that the Assimil course from the 1980s is pretty dull, but I do feel it's far richer in terms of content than the most recent one, which came out in 2004 or thereabouts.
Italian without Toil is however much closer to the irreverent heart of the Assimil method and is well worth tracking down. You will find some outdated words, expressions and notions, but with the 1980s version under belt you'll be better equipped to identify the first two at least. At any rate the odd old-fashioned turn of phrase here or there is, I reckon, a small price to pay for the wealth of vocabulary (and chuckles) to be found in the course.
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Isarin Tetraglot Newbie Germany Joined 5637 days ago 34 posts - 41 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Japanese Studies: Czech, Mandarin, Italian
| Message 4 of 4 28 April 2014 at 9:44pm | IP Logged |
Thank you both for your answers!
I'll just have work with this one then. I actually like the old-fashioned vocabulary. It's part of Assimil's charme, I guess. At least I'm done with Arcibaldo and Penelope for the time being, they were just really annoying me....
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