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Which Assimil Arabic for beginning ?

  Tags: Arabic | Assimil
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
ClaireB
Triglot
Newbie
France
Joined 5044 days ago

4 posts - 10 votes
Speaks: French*, English, Japanese
Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Finnish, Arabic (Egyptian)

 
 Message 1 of 4
01 March 2014 at 11:39am | IP Logged 
I own both generations of Assimil Arabic, the 1970s 2-volume one and the newer 1-volume
one. So far my study plans for other languages (at least Russian and German) for which
I also have several Assimil courses has always been :

- study the old Assimil book (1950s German and Russian)
- use the newer Assimil for reading practice, but not grammar, since I always found
that explanations and content was much better in the older books
- move on to more difficult material with the "Méthode 90" books (these are french book
from publisher Le Livre de Poche, available in a smaller selection of languages than
Assimil, but really good grammar- and vocabulary-wise; however, the 1-lesson-a-day
plan is sometimes difficult to stick to when the lessons get harder) and Assimil
Perfectionnement series (the russian book has just been released ! Yay !)

I planned to do the same with arabic, but when I dug up the newer Assimil course, I was
a bit disappointed to see the contents of the early lessons. There really seems to be a
gap between the two generations; in the newer course especially, the arabic alphabet is
explained a few letters at a time, in each lesson, and it seems that the contents
suffer because the early texts are only written with letters you already know. I am not
sure lessons consisting in a single sentence, or sometimes two, make such great reading
practice. Moreover, the text is vocalised in the whole book. It is not the case in the
old edition.

I am wondering if I should reverse my usual sudy method, and use the newer Assimil
before moving on to the older edition. Or just ditch the new one completely. I can't
read or write arabic at the moment, but I learned japanese kana and the cyrillic
alphabet in a few hours so I am not completely sure you need up to a month of lessons
to learn the arabic script...

Has anyone here experience and/or advice about the two generations of Assimil Arabic ?
I also have the Methode 90 book, but not the tapes, and good as it may be I don't at
the moment have the time to do it full justice in my studies...

Thank you in advance for your comments !

Edited by ClaireB on 01 March 2014 at 11:44am

1 person has voted this message useful



napoleon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
India
Joined 5018 days ago

543 posts - 874 votes 
Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 2 of 4
01 March 2014 at 1:18pm | IP Logged 
Salut!
I love Assimil. I used it when I first studied French.
I think Assimil works best when the base language and the target language are similar.
I tried both the versions you mentioned but I found the going to be terribly difficult.
Anyway, you should follow the method that works best for you.
Vous avez de la chance.
Bon apprentissage!

Edited by napoleon on 01 March 2014 at 1:33pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Al-Malik
Bilingual Heptaglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
arabicgenie.com
Joined 7136 days ago

221 posts - 294 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German*, Spanish, Arabic (Written), Dutch, French, Arabic (classical)
Studies: Mandarin, Persian

 
 Message 3 of 4
02 March 2014 at 5:26pm | IP Logged 
I would recommend the following approach: Learn the Arabic script first. Then go through the old Assimil Arabic (and especially the second part, which I believe is only available in French?) - it's much more interesting than the new one and has a storyline running through it. The new one is not too bad, though some of the voice artists have a rather special accent. So you can always take a look at the new one after you've gone through the old one. To follow up, the Perfectionnement Arabe is quite good, though I would imagine the learning curve to be rather steep for someone who has only done the basic Assimil course.
1 person has voted this message useful



pushkin
Tetraglot
Groupie
France
Joined 5521 days ago

49 posts - 60 votes 
Speaks: French*, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), German, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 4 of 4
02 March 2014 at 5:36pm | IP Logged 
The best way to sart learning Arabic is to use 40 leçons pour parler arabe de Boutros
Hallaq, collection Langues Pour Tous / Press Pocket


http://www.amazon.fr/40-le%C3%A7ons-pour-parler-arabe/dp/226 6189107/ref=sr_1_1?
ie=UTF8&qid=1393778022&sr=8-1&keywords=40+le%C3%A7ons+pour+p arler+arabe

Edited by pushkin on 02 March 2014 at 5:40pm



1 person has voted this message useful



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