Assimil Swedish -- worth it? (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Assimil Swedish -- worth it?
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22 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3 Next >>

derefed
Newbie
United States
ultimatejourney.net/
Joined 6326 days ago
16 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Swedish, French

Message 1 of 22

17 June 2009 at 10:28pm | IP Logged

I've recently decided to start studying Swedish, and have been trying to gather some good resources. I've already started in with FSI and have bought a couple of good books, including Hird's highly-praised grammar reader. I'm also a big fan of Assimil, though, and would love to buy the Suédois sans Peine sets. Given that just 50 lessons (1 tome) costs around $100 direct from assimil.com, however, I'd like to get some feedback first on how this set compares to others. In particular, I've worked with the German and French sets before. I love FSI, but the Swedish FSI dialogues are a bit fast for me at the moment, and regardless, I would like to have more than one program from which to receive aural exposure.

For those who have used it before, would you recommend Suédois sans Peine?

Thanks!
1 person has voted this message useful

Guido
Super Polyglot
Senior Member
ArgentinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Norwegian, Catalan, Dutch, Swedish, Danish
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Message 2 of 22

18 June 2009 at 7:15am | IP Logged

4 words: Assimil Swedish is wonderful.

The lessons are 3 or 4 minutes long and it contains tons of vocabulary (like 4000 words). I'm in lesson 60 and it works :D
Yes, I know that there are 2 tomes, but you will really learn the language.

So, yeah, go for it!

Have a nice day!
Guido .-

PD: Just PM if you want to know more about it.

Edited by Guido on 18 June 2009 at 7:17am
4 persons have voted this message useful

ChristopherB
Triglot
Senior Member
New Zealand
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2 sounds
Speaks: English*, German, French

Message 3 of 22

18 June 2009 at 9:54am | IP Logged

YES

If you think you can handle the French, go for it. Overall, it's the best course I've found for Swedish. Very thorough and well-written.
4 persons have voted this message useful

derefed
Newbie
United States
ultimatejourney.net/
Joined 6326 days ago
16 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Swedish, French

Message 4 of 22

18 June 2009 at 2:07pm | IP Logged

Sounds great! I think I'll get it now.

Also an option is Schwedisch ohne Mühe, the German base version (I think I could do fine with the French base, but I do know German a lot better). Looks like this isn't split into two tomes (so it's cheaper), but is a little older and has 640 pages + 4 CDs compared with sans Peine's combined 928 pages + 8 CDs. I'm leaning towards sans Peine, but I'm curious as to how well the German base fares also. Has anyone worked with this set?

Thanks!
1 person has voted this message useful

readical
Newbie
Germany
Joined 5737 days ago
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Speaks: German*

Message 5 of 22

19 June 2009 at 8:49am | IP Logged

derefed wrote:

Sounds great! I think I'll get it now.

Looks like this isn't split into two tomes (so it's cheaper), but is a little older and has 640 pages + 4 CDs compared with sans Peine's combined 928 pages + 8 CDs. I'm leaning towards sans Peine, but I'm curious as to how well the German base fares also. Has anyone worked with this set?

Thanks!

That's right, Schwedisch ohne Mühe isn't split into two tomes. But the 4 audio CDs only contain lessons 1-49. So for the remaining lessons (50-100) you need to invest in the other 4 CDs which come at a fairly high price of 88 Euros.
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ChristopherB
Triglot
Senior Member
New Zealand
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Message 6 of 22

20 June 2009 at 6:09am | IP Logged

I got an e-mail response from Assimil a while back when I enquired about the Schwedisch ohne Mühe version. This is what they said:

Quote:

Sehr geehrter Herr Button,

vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse an unseren Sprachkursen. Zu unserem Kurs "Schwedisch ohne Mühe" gehören zwei Sets mit je vier Audio-CDs. Auf den ersten vier CDs sind die schwedischen Texte der Lektionen 1-48 und der dazugehörigen Verständnisübungen, auf den zweiten vier CDs die schwedischen Texte der Lektionen 50-100 und der dazugehörigen Verständnisübungen. Die Tatsache, dass dies so ist, begründet sich folgendermaßen:

Bis vor 4 Jahren war dieser Kurs zweibändig. Zu jedem Band gab es 4 Audio-CDs. Dann haben wir beide Bände gründlich überarbeitet und zu einem Band zusammengefügt. Hieraus ergibt sich gegenüber der vorherigen Variante ein deutlicher Preisvorteil, da vorher jedes der beiden Lehrbücher 20,- € und jeder Band mit den dazugehörigen Tonaufnahmen für sich 99,80 € kostete! Faktisch ist der Kurs also günstiger geworden. Wir haben zwar in dem neuen Buch die zwei Bände zusammengelegt, die Tonaufnahmen zum alten 2. Band verkaufen wir aber immer noch separat.

Sie mögen dies möglicherweise verwirrend finden, dürfen aber dabei nicht übersehen, dass der Schwedischkurs mit einem vermittelten Wortschatz von über 3.000 Wörtern etwa acht (!) Semestern VHS entspricht und damit ein Anfänger- und Fortgeschrittenenkurs in einem - zu einem trotzdem relativ günstigen Preis - ist.

Ausschlaggebend sollte sein, dass Sie mit diesem Kurs sehr gut die Grundlagen der schwedischen Sprache erlernen können (wie zahlreiche Lerner es uns bei ihren Besuchen auf Messen und durch Briefe, Emails usw. bestätigen). Immerhin gibt es auch kaum vergleichbares Kursmaterial für Schwedisch in Deutschland, und mit unserem Kurs erreichen Sie wirklich ein sehr hohes Niveau.

3 persons have voted this message useful

CullyH
Pro Member
United States
Joined 5236 days ago
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Swedish
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Message 7 of 22

22 September 2011 at 2:49am | IP Logged

If I can revive this topic briefly, I'd like to solicit opinions about the wisdom of my plan relating to Assimil Swedish (sans piene).

I've just purchased this course. The problem is that I do not read French well, although I read it better than German (the other Assimil Swedish option).

I'm a relatively dedicated sort of guy with -- in some cases -- a reasonable head on my shoulders. I've nothing against slogging through a bit of extra work to understand the French in order to achieve the Swedish.

Nevertheless... Could it actually be worth it? Could the French interfere with the Swedish?

Many thanks

Oh yes, and if you're wondering why I bought it in the first place, Amazon advertises it as an "English and French" version, which does not seem to be the case.
1 person has voted this message useful

Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
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Speaks: Czech*, French^C2, English^C1
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Message 8 of 22

22 September 2011 at 11:38am | IP Logged

Depends on your level of French. I am using French based Assimil for Swedish and German and have no troubles with either. And a huge asset is the audio which is in target language only. It can help even when you are confused by French pronunciation notes.

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