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Assimil v. Living Language | ||
Tags: Living Language | Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4721 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes  Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 17 of 24 19 November 2013 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | ||
I used the German Beyond the Basics and it was great. Long natural dialogues and lots of good explanitory text. If this is any indication of the other Beyond the Basics courses, then I highly recommend. I also have Assimil German with Ease , but I did not start it early enough I think as I got it pretty late in my German learning process, so I found it very boring. I'm sure it would have been much better at earlier stages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5407 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 18 of 24 19 November 2013 at 6:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah... and I forgot... the beyond the basics series are super cheap. I think I got mine new for $7 (and I got the audio from the library). I did the Spanish one and I also looked at the French one and the English one (for Spanish speakers) and they all look essentially the same. A great feature is that the English translations are directly below the Spanish text so it is very easy to look at both at the same time when you are listening to the audio.
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| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4941 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 19 of 24 24 November 2013 at 10:28am | IP Logged | ||
Sadly, French Beyond the Basics is going for about £77 in the UK. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5407 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 20 of 24 24 November 2013 at 12:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Amazing!!! Right now on Amazon's US site there are a whole bunch of used French ones for $0.01 plus shipping. I am amazed how prices can differ so much between countries. Those Beyond the Basics books are all over the place here like super cheap paper backs.
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| Kunji Newbie United States Joined 4073 days ago 19 posts - 24 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 21 of 24 25 November 2013 at 4:31am | IP Logged | ||
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I am trying Assimil based on recommendations at this forms (I have tried a few lessons
before but never got into it). So far I am on lesson 11. I have spend a little over a week and a half. I like the method, however I don't feel like I am getting much out of it. How long does it take before things start to come together? I do know 65-75% of the phrases so far. Even with that, it is still a lot of new vocabulary every day and it is still a struggle. It's not so difficult I feel overwhelmed, but not too little that it seems too easy either. I feel like I should be getting more out of it. When I do Pimsleur I always feel like I am growing just a little bit every lesson. Why do I not feel this way with Assimil? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5407 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 22 of 24 25 November 2013 at 5:11am | IP Logged | ||
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You are making progress with Assimil. You just won't really notice it until you do the active wave. For the reasons you mentioned, I like to recommend Pimsleur for absolute beginners... the users really can see the progress.
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| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7237 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 23 of 24 25 November 2013 at 12:19pm | IP Logged | ||
"Come together" is a gradual process with language learning. Assimil covers a lot more of the language than Pimsleur, so it's normal for it to take longer to really get down an Assimil course. Pimsleur with 3 levels is 90 30 minute lessons. If one repeats the last 30 to help them sink in, 120 30 minute sessions. About 60 hours of total study time. Depending on how one approaches Assimil, one can spend 15-60 minutes a day. 15 to get familiar with the dialogue and grammar points. 30 if you do 2 to 5 sessions per day on the current and several prior lessons. 60 if you write the lesson out and review a lot and get the words in your mouth (pronunciation). 60 minutes can also be split up in multiple sessions. One can take a second and third trip through the course. The subsequent trips will take less time if you put in more on your first trip. Overall, an Assimil course may have 120 or more hours of study material, especially if you include writing. If you carry on with Assimil from where you are now, 65-75% of the phrases and at times struggling to where 95-100% of the lessons are easy, you'll have come a long way. The big difference between the Pimsleur and the Assimil "graduate", seems to be the Pimsleur graduate has fairly high confidence in a very small part of the language. An Assimil graduate will feel more modest progress, but in a much larger part of the language. The Assimil graduate will not only be a lot further along, that person will have a much better idea of where they really stand. 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5407 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 24 of 24 25 November 2013 at 2:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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"The big difference between the Pimsleur and the Assimil "graduate", seems to be the Pimsleur graduate has fairly high confidence in a very small part of the language. An Assimil graduate will feel more modest progress, but in a much larger part of the language."
This is a great way of putting it. Nice post, Luke. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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