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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5563 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 401 of 405 07 May 2012 at 12:03am | IP Logged | ||
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What do next? Assimil - Michel Thomas is a 14 hour foundation which gives you the
basic frame, and it is very well done for that purpose. I say - do it, now forget it - then pick up Assimil. After finishing a sans peine course do Pimsleur to activate your speaking... and then do the MT advanced course again. now move on to native materials....* (*after much experimenting, this is what I do, it it may not work for you) Edited by Elexi on 07 May 2012 at 12:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| csidler Diglot Pro Member Australia chadsidler.com Joined 4821 days ago 51 posts - 59 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 402 of 405 07 May 2012 at 1:05am | IP Logged | ||
He means a "Weil" situation, as when even if you do not use the word "weil" but it is the same grammar requirement in that the verb moves from second position to the end of the clause/sentence. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zorglub Pentaglot Senior Member France Joined 6998 days ago 441 posts - 504 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin | Message 403 of 405 07 May 2012 at 9:50am | IP Logged | ||
I unfortunately did not know about M Thomas until late and can't compare. I have been using Pimsleur first then Assimil for Italian / Spanish / Portuguese. I would recommend Pimsleur before Assimil rather than the countrary (although as I wrote, I have no evidence it's better) for the following reasons: - Pimsleur is quickly rewarding: it is at most 3-4 months long for a 90 lessons course and you quickly are able to speak essential survival / courtesy targetlanguage. Assimil then extends a lot but you already have a pronunciation educated without written material.Assimil would take 4 6 months or more. - I would think Pimsleur to be much more boring after you've been through an Assimil course. But since you've been experimenting did you have the opportunity to compare Pimsleur - then - Assimil with Assimil - then - Pimsleur ? Edited by zorglub on 07 May 2012 at 9:58am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5563 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 404 of 405 07 May 2012 at 12:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hey Zorglub,
I have done: MT French - Assimil New French With Ease - Pimsleur French I-III (this was the order I purchased the courses in) and MT German - Pimsleur German I-III - Assimil German Without Toil/L'Allemand. I found that with French, the Pimsleur worked as a great 30 minute a day practice session whilst walking to work, without much need to pause or re-do lessons - it got my basic speaking up to speed (well, sort of...). With German, however, I was learning from Pimsleur and I would have to repeat lessons and use the pause button to work out some of what I had just heard. I didn't really grasp things like the German accusative/dative changes fully from Pimsleur (and they are not properly covered by MT) - the exercises from German Without Toil were, however, very useful. In all cases MT provided a great foundation - but I think you are right to do it your way round if you are starting with Pimsleur, i.e. Pimsleur-Assimil works very well. I suppose Pimsleur has another use - which is as a test programme (albeit an expensive one if you can't get it from the library). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4907 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 405 of 405 07 May 2012 at 12:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I really learned a lot from MT German, but I wasn't happy with MT French. A lot of people say French was his best course, but I think it's because it is so easy. But that's because it doesn't really teach as much as MT German. I used MT German after finishing another textbook cover to cover, and all his work with verbs was still really helpful (because German verbs are so different to English). On the other hand, I used MT French fairly early in my study, and found very little I didn't already understand pretty well. After my first run through the French course, I tried to listen again, but I just couldn't. I found the fact that he tries to teach you to ignore gender too much to accept. Yes, with the definite article, you can lightly touch on the "l" and it sounds the same if it's "le" or "la". However, he says to do the same with the "n" of the indefinite article, and it sounds like "une" all the time, since the "n" doesn't sound in "un".
Yes, MT is good for verbs, but French verbs aren't all that difficult in comparison to German verbs. In my experience, the downsides of the French course wasn't worth the benefits. But the German course, though a lot more difficult to follow, is definitely worth every penny! 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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