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Assimil Adventure: 6 languages at a time | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4676 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes  Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 89 of 94 15 November 2012 at 2:37pm | IP Logged | ||
Note that out of the 6, only 3 have B2 written on their cover: Egyptian, Latin and Indonesian make no claim at all as to what level you would reach. I believe Indonesian could be quite good, if only the content of the lesson was not so boring. For Latin, it's far too dense for me to absorb, and for Egyptian I don't suppose there's any way to relate it to CEFR. But for Polish, I remember from the very beginning predicting that my level would be quite poor due the very small size of the book (easily a half only of the content of Norwegian, though having 100 lessons as well). For Swahili, a lot of the topics don't relate to my life at all, and that is of course limiting. One thing that lacks in Assimil, I believe, is the extra thought process required to have a conversation: you never get to think of actually introducing yourself in the language, because the lessons are never presented from the point of view of a learner in the country. As for dishonest advertising, I totally agree with you. The thing is that the CEFR is not a legal certification, so there is no way to enforce its proper labelling. We know how some learners easily get around the definitions of the various levels to call themselves B2 when they barely have an A2... The solution sometimes suggested that if most students of Assimil cannot pass a B2 exam by the end of the book is not practical: there's no certification that the test is indeed B2 and not something above. It's very likely that if you "master" all the content of the Assimil book, you'll be at B2, but then following the method is not mastering every sentence and word. We'll see what I can get out of it if I still find enough motivation over the next month to pursue the active wave, but I still believe Assimil can be a nice introduction to the language (I believe Norwegian and German were just perfect). It's certainly much better for "easier" languages, and I wouldn't hesitate a second if I wanted to learn another Romance or Germanic language. I may add Breton and Arabic soon, just for fun (and considering it purely as an introduction to those languages). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5530 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 90 of 94 15 November 2012 at 5:56pm | IP Logged | ||
I seriously doubt that it's possible for an English speaker to pass the DELF B2 even if they memorize every word of Assimil New French with Ease, and they internalize all the grammar notes. There just isn't enough vocabulary in NFWE to cover the kind of detailed reading comprehension that the graders demand, or to discuss the typical oral presentation topics. And the listening comprehension on the DELF B2 can be a lot harder than what's on the NFWE CDs. I was actually very happy with Égyptien hiéroglyphique, even though it's relatively hard Assimil course. It's a lot more in-depth than something like Collier's How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs, and—despite the piles of rare vocabulary and the grammar tables—it's a lot less brutal than typical grammar-based courses. Maybe it's not the best Assimil course, but it's an excellent introduction to the language. Fundamentally, I really like the idea of graded L1/L2 reader with audio and convenient daily lessons. But it's been really interesting seeing how different you've found the various courses to be, depending on a lot of factors. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5007 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 91 of 94 16 November 2012 at 12:35am | IP Logged | ||
Some of the Assimil courses do have the introduction and hello, how are you conversations. But I prefer the other beginnings. Introducing myself and the rest of the boring things is in any other course I use aside/before/after assimil. I love that assimil is different and I usually combine courses anyway, so I don't miss it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5164 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 92 of 94 29 November 2012 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Mantenant j'ai Ankimobile sur l'iPad. vermillon, est-ce que ça te dérange si je te prie de partager ton deck de l'Assimil Norvégien?! =D
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| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4713 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 93 of 94 03 January 2013 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, we must also consider that he didn't finish the whole active way yet, only the passive one. I guess there's still room for improvement. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| liddytime Pentaglot Senior Member United States mainlymagyar.wordpre Joined 6227 days ago 693 posts - 1328 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Galician Studies: Hungarian, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic (Written) | Message 94 of 94 02 March 2013 at 7:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Any new updates???
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