|
 |
Assimil Active Wave | ||
Tags: Assimil | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5342 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 1 of 7 08 March 2011 at 11:33am | IP Logged | ||
|
I will be starting the second wave. I know that you do 50 => 1, 51 => 2, ... But the
book write it in a very confusing way. Or perhaps, I'm just really tired right now and don't know it. I plan to write them down in my notepad then translations portion (help with thinking and writing it out also). What happens if I miss a word (forget it) or I get the informal/formal writing part wrong. I don't really want to look at the actual translations (IMHO cheating) to understand I'm wrong. Because usually what happens is, if I know the answer (if I was wrong on it), I'll have the translation memorised and when it goes to writing it again, I wouldn't actually consider I know it. The reason for that is, I'll be thinking about it all the time. Also, do I listen to the audio portion at all during the second way for 1-50? Then start translating? Do you think it would be good to do, Translate it via English -> German. Then do it again listening to the audio, to have listening comprehension? Just wonder what you guys think/recommend doing during the 2nd wave? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| michau Tetraglot Groupie Norway lang-8.com/member/49 Joined 6224 days ago 86 posts - 135 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, NorwegianC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish, Sign Language Studies: Burmese, Toki Pona, Greenlandic | Message 2 of 7 08 March 2011 at 1:19pm | IP Logged | ||
IMHO the key to learning languages is knowing the translation of sufficient number of sentences. I don't think it matters in what way you remember them and as long as they eventually end up in your long-term memory, no method should be considered cheating. Edited by michau on 08 March 2011 at 1:19pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5563 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 3 of 7 08 March 2011 at 2:57pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I tend to do it a line at a time - I verbally make the translation (if a pen and paper is handy and I have time, I write it down as well) and then listen to the audio recording of that line and note my mistakes. I then read the whole lesson and then listen again (I personally find separating listening and reading to be more useful than following the text whilst listening) after I have finished the above.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5558 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 4 of 7 08 March 2011 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||
I didn't really quite understand everything you wrote (the bit about not looking up the answer, but maybe more). I think Assimil is pretty vague. Mine seems to have quite regular prompts to go back and revise any lessons that you didn't understand (in addition to the specific 2nd wave lessons) but I can't really work out a good schedule. Maybe I need a 3rd wave, or possibly an intermediate wave. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lingoleng Senior Member Germany Joined 5296 days ago 605 posts - 1290 votes | Message 5 of 7 08 March 2011 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | ||
I can only give some hints, but what you do should really depend on your own needs, not on anything else. Second wave wants two things, both are very easy to understand: - repetition After two or three months, however long it took you to get to lesson 50, you have forgotten many words and phrases of the previous lessons. So you have to refresh them by going through the old lessons again. Very simple, no problem here. - activation After the reading and listening of the first wave you start producing sentences, speaking and probably writing. Again, very simple concept. How to do it? Everything is allowed and possible, it depends entirely on you and your needs. Look at the English text of the first lesson. Try to translate it without looking at the German text. A piece of cake? Not as easy as you expected? Oh man, I don't remember anything at all? Well, whatever, no problem at all. Of course you use the written text in the book as a tool for correcting your translation, what else? You can use the audio just as well, but this is not as easy, and not necessary. (Just listen to the audio on another day, never a bad idea.) But you have to check if your sentences are right. That's the most important thing, of course. What if you've made a mistake, or two, or it is all nonsense? No problem again, that's why you do the repetition, look what is wrong, say the correct version several times, and go on. Next sentence a complete failure? Well, who cares, you are learning the language, that's why you do it. If you write your first try and make a mistake, or several, no problem, but in this case you write the correct version twice, or three times, now you'll know it. For a while :-) Assimil says you can listen to the audio before starting your active work, so you can do this. Or you try to get it right without a previous short time reactivation, but as repetition is one of your primary goals it is not so important whether you get it right without listening before, these are all minor details. What is important to remember, what not? hard to say, it is a course for beginners, so you want to know the very most of it, of course. But there may be rare words, occasionally, something like "Kronleuchter" or "Chrysantheme", words which were needed for the dialog only and won't be too important for your further life. I tend to ignore such words if they are difficult to remember, others want it all, probably not really a matter of importance. A tiny example: "Are you hungry?" and the German translation is "Haben Sie Hunger?". If your first try is "Bist du hungrig", you've found an acceptable answer by accident, (or know this as an alternative from somewhere else,) but if you made a word by word translation, you missed several points. You say "to be", we say "haben". hungry is an adjective, Hunger is a noun. You should notice that there is quite a difference, German does it in a different way, it is an important phrase, often used, so you want to know it. The formal or informal problem is not really a problem, it becomes easy, and it depends, so if you thought that the persons in question "duzen einander" you have not made a mistake, no problem. But you want to know both forms anyway: "Hast du Hunger?" and "Haben Sie Hunger?". Did you get the question right? Haben Sie? Inversion of the word order, you may want to think about it for a second while looking at this little example. Do you know haben, ich habe, du hast, er hat, wir ..., if you do, it is great, if you've got it wrong, you may want to think about it, for a minute. You see, what I propose is a little bit different than only remembering the phrase by heart. Learning by heart is not a bad thing, really not, but only if you understand what you remember. So if you have the automatic reaction: Oh, I remember very well what was written on this page, it was the strange and very queer expression "Haben Sie Hunger", no idea why and how, but this is it,- you get a point in a multiple choice test but not as many language points, I guess. To make a long post short: You want repetition, and you' get it. You want active skills, and you have to work for them. And the exact procedure is not a law, do what you want to do, or have to do. A third wave, or even a forth one, may be what makes the difference between a successful language learner and a less successful one, but I would never confess that I ever needed a fifth wave, not me. Edited by lingoleng on 08 March 2011 at 10:27pm 17 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5558 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 6 of 7 09 March 2011 at 7:49pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Now why isn't there a sensible explanation like that in the actual Assimil books?
6 persons have voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
