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Why is Assimil cheaper in the US? | ||
Tags: Low budget | Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5829 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 14 20 June 2012 at 11:40am | IP Logged | ||
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While comparing the cost of Assimil courses on the different Amazon websites, I was rather suprised to learn that it is significantly more expensive to buy Assimil courses in the UK than it is in the US, not something I would have expected at all.
For example: Assimil French (including CDs): On Amazon.com: $32.97 On Amazon.co.uk: £55.25 or about $90 That's a staggering difference for the same course, and considering Assimil have to ship it further to sell it in the US, I'm suprised that Amazon are charging such a huge difference for the same course in two different countries. Why is this? Edited by COF on 20 June 2012 at 11:40am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4699 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 14 20 June 2012 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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No idea some possibilities could include:
Lower economy of scale for the UK Higher taxes in the UK. Higher distribution costs. The French dislike for the UK :P Because they can. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4676 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 3 of 14 20 June 2012 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | ||
This cannot be the reason the USA have cheaper prices then... However, one should consider the currency exchange of several years ago (where the dollar was stronger), this already reduces the price difference... But generally speaking, books seem to be much cheaper in the USA than in Europe, and one shouldn't forget that the price of something is not related to its cost: the price of a book is linked to what people are ready to pay for it. What I'd like to understand is the staggering difference between the book and the book+cd. A cd costs nothing to press, is much lighter to carry (doesn't impact shipping cost), and recording is cheap: a few thousands of euros at most (to pay the actors and the studio). Nothing that doesn't get reimbursed with a few extra euros compared to the book price. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| simonov Senior Member Portugal Joined 5587 days ago 222 posts - 438 votes Speaks: English | Message 4 of 14 20 June 2012 at 3:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Again the same thing: What on earth has this post got to do with learning languages? This is not a forum on debating the reason for the difference in price of articles in the USA and in the UK!! Does the OP really not have anything better to do than start fatuous threads? 227 posts, not a one about actually learning a language. The nearest he seems to get to learning a language is to ask hypothetical questions about courses or methods, with no follow-up. Edited by simonov on 20 June 2012 at 4:08pm 11 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5781 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 5 of 14 20 June 2012 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Not to dispute that this thread would seem pointless to most on this forum, but as
someone who likes Assimil and does not earn much money I personally found this thread quite useful. Edited by Random review on 20 June 2012 at 6:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5260 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 6 of 14 20 June 2012 at 8:10pm | IP Logged | ||
I will bend over backwards to help someone who wants to learn a language about which I may know a thing or two. Those of us who have learned languages to proficiency have a duty to give something back. I did respond to his LA Spanish course thread, because I knew it would help others. Still he starts off by pitting LA against Spain. That's the common thread- wedge issues, American vs British Flag, Unhelpful Natives, etc. I'll believe he's serious when he updates his profile to include a language under the studies column and then asks pertinent questions about actual language learning instead of merely trying to create controversy for its own sake. Perhaps, he may even find that learning a language is a much more fun and rewarding activity than looking to stir things up. Edited by iguanamon on 20 June 2012 at 8:12pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5128 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 7 of 14 20 June 2012 at 8:46pm | IP Logged | ||
Or not. He's been a member here for a little over twice as long as I have and all I've seen is this type of posting from him. Unfortunately, stirring and trolling is a popular pass time on the internet. Don't get me wrong... sometimes controversial topics can be enlightening and worthy of discussion, but if that's all a person does, well, it's hard to take them seriously when the time finally comes when they have may something interesting to say. R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5781 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 8 of 14 20 June 2012 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Stirring? Trolling? Clearly I have wandered into something a bit deeper than this one
thread. The name of the OP doesn't ring any bells to me and I have no idea what else he may or may not have written elsewhere on this site, I was only going on this one thread: I personally found it useful as I was considering buying an Assimil course in the coming year (Yiddish, don't ask me why, I'm not Jewish, I just find the language interesting) and will certainly look on amazon.com first. At risk of sticking my foot in it (as I don't know what's been said elsewhere) can I suggest that it's OK to want to be part of this community without wanting to get serious with any language, in addition to the languages I am seriously trying to learn (Spanish, German) or definitely plan one day to get serious about (Chinese, Russian, French) there are several (Portuguese, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Yiddish) I play with learning, ENJOY playing with learning, might never find the time to get serious about *and* (finally I get to my point ha ha) find this site useful for that purpose. Edited by Random review on 20 June 2012 at 10:55pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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