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Assimil in French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5233 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 1 of 7 06 June 2011 at 12:08am | IP Logged |
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1. Has anyone learned French in order to use the various French Assimil programs?
2. If so, would completing "French with ease" make one proficient enough to utilize all the French Assimil programs? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6448 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 2 of 7 06 June 2011 at 12:28am | IP Logged |
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1. No, that wasn't my intention, but I have used / completed New French with Ease.
2. I would say no, at least not without it being a very uphill battle. I finished New French with Ease and have taken a look at Le Russe sans peine, and the notes / explanations are still quite difficult for me to understand. The vocabulary used in a French based book is more advanced / specific than what's used in the New French with Ease lessons. Not to mention, if you don't have a very solid grasp on French grammar intricacies, reading about the grammar of *another* language through French can prove difficult. And while I love Assimil, I'm not sure I would rank it as the number one way to learn grammar. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| RedBeard Senior Member United States atariage.com Joined 6104 days ago 126 posts - 182 votes Speaks: Ancient Greek* Studies: French, German | Message 3 of 7 06 June 2011 at 3:54am | IP Logged |
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As to point 1: I'm sure that I read that Assimil actually recommends doing just that. I did some searching, but couldn't find it... but I'm 90% sure that I read that right here on HTLAL. Use you knowledge from Assimil language courses to study more languages.
As to point 2: You may find that you need to use the next book in the series, "Using French" (or "Business French" ?) to have enough knowledge. Or as the post above say, just go for it knowing that it will be uphill. Have your two-way dictionary nearby and allow more time per lesson than "normal" ??? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6381 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 7 06 June 2011 at 4:41am | IP Logged |
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The general consensus on HTLAL is that if you're interested in learning French, go ahead and do it in order to use an Assimil program that hasn't been translated to your native language. Otherwise, learning a bridge language is too much work. You're better off looking for other materials.
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| Incunabulum Newbie United States Joined 5041 days ago 13 posts - 30 votes Studies: French, Serbian | Message 5 of 7 12 October 2011 at 4:17pm | IP Logged |
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I went through the Assimil "New French with Ease" and Pimsleur I-III simultaneously to
prepare for using Assimil's "Le serbo-croate sans peine". I found that I could read the French translations of the Serbo-Croatian with no problem in most cases. There were some lessons that discussed topics I hadn't learned in French (parts of the car, such as steering wheel, brakes, transmission, etc.), but that led to me learning the terms in both languages. The sections on grammar are more difficult to understand, but that isn't really a huge part of the Assimil method anyway. One interesting thing about using L2 to learn L3 is that it greatly reduces your dependence on your L1, or L2. If you don't know your L2 as well as L1, you can't use it as a crutch. I've even wondered if this is why they made the French text in the Assimil Serbo-Croatian book much smaller than the Serbo-Croat; so you would be less inclined to use it to gain understanding? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5011 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 6 of 7 12 October 2011 at 5:57pm | IP Logged |
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1. As someone said, learning French only to use Assimil is not worth the time unless you are interested in French or want to become a polyglot (in which case professor Arguelles advices students to start with French and German to access lots of materials for less common languages).
2. If you really want Assimil as one of your sources, it is still usable without knowledge of French, at least for the european languages. With some help of dictionnary it could be a great supplement thanks to the audio in target language only. A very graded reader leading from your first steps in the language. But you most probably won't be using the materials in the designed way so it's up to you whether you want to pay the price for a supplement. 3. A French speaking friend could translate it for you in not too long time. If it is for your use only and you won't share on internet, it might be even legal. Or it might be illegal but why would you tell the publisher. The copyright in general is far too complicated and often far too different from moral. To your second question: French with Ease will most probably not suffice for use of the French series. Perhaps studying French with Ease and a French-only explication based grammar book might give you the base. And have a good dictionary at hand during the passive weave. I think I've read somewhere on the forums that old Assimils were meant this way so they followed similar structure and content. But the new ones are very different from each other, which is quite logic, considering the differences between languages they teach. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4891 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 7 of 7 12 October 2011 at 11:26pm | IP Logged |
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"French with Ease" will help with some but not all of the French-based Assimil programs.
- You should be able to understand the translations of the early dialogues in the Sans Peine series, but will have difficulty with the idioms, and will not understand much at all of the grammar explanations. - You should be able to understand the phrases of the Kit de Conversation books, but the explanations will be difficult. The Kit I have, for Tunisian, seems geared more towards travelers, so this might not be an issue. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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