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Explain Assimil once and for all | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| KCor Groupie United States Joined 5008 days ago 50 posts - 72 votes  | Message 1 of 16 15 July 2011 at 12:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello,
Like many people I've been making use of the Assimil: With Ease series (specifically German). I've found that in the opening of the book, the explanation on how to use it with the accompanying audio is very vague. Perhaps this is to allow the user a greater degree of variance in their own studies, but I would like to hear if there is actually a set guideline of what should be followed, step by step. While researching this topic on this forum I came across http://how-to-learn-any- language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23625&PN=1 and found it to be a bit helpful, but would like to see some more input from others if that's possible. Finally, my question would be: What do you do with lessons 1-49? How do you study them? In what order do you do things? After that, what do you do with the exercises? Do you translate them to your base language in writing or your head? Do you not translate them at all? Then, how would these answers differ when related to lessons 50 and on? Thanks 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5231 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 2 of 16 15 July 2011 at 6:45am | IP Logged | ||
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You are right to say that it is intentionally vague. What isn't vague is that lessons 1-49 are to be done passively and lessons 50-up are to be done actively. However, even with that you could choose to do things differently. Do whatever works for you. But it sounds like you want to hear what other people do. So here it is:
Passive wave 1. Read L1 and L2 line by line, comparitively. Meaning, read a line of English then a line of the L2, taking the sentence as a whole. 2. Listen to L2 while following along. I think many people try to shadow early on. If you can, great. But I don't think many people can do this successfully until later on. Instead, I listen intently to how the words are pronounced. So far, when doing this with Italian, my brain seems to eventually catch on. 3. Listen to L2 while following along in L1. I typed follow because I don't read as such. If I read the English, I feel as though I'm focusing on it too much. Instead, I am consciously listening to the L2 while simply looking at the L1 text. It takes some practice, but assuming you are a native speaker of your L1 language, your eyes should be able to absorb the meaning of the English without reading in your mind. Especially when you've read the text already, and you're simply reminding yourself of its meaning. I hope that makes sense :-) 4. Read the L2 text all the way through. 5. Rinse and Repeat. I usually do this a total of 3 times. 6. Do exercises. If 20 people repond to this post, you'll probably get 20 different methods. Take what you like, leave the rest. Oh, I forgot about the active wave. I suppose because I haven't begun it yet. The main difference is that you're supposed to cover the L2, and translate the English into it. It is recommended that you write it out, so that you may correct yourself at the end. You are of course doing 2 lessons a day at this point, one active and one passive. I suspect the active translation would only take a few minutes, depending on the text. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| JPike1028 Triglot Senior Member United States piketransitions Joined 5397 days ago 297 posts - 337 votes Speaks: English*, French, Italian Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Swedish, Portuguese, Czech | Message 3 of 16 15 July 2011 at 7:33am | IP Logged | ||
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I use the process that was on the thread you linked to and find it works well for me.
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| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5022 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 16 15 July 2011 at 9:02am | IP Logged | ||
There is no difference in the answers. You do lesson 1- 50 passively. When you get to lesson 51, do that one passivly, and lesson 1 actively. Next day : 52 active 2 passive and continue in that way all through the book. So you go over each lesson twice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| KCor Groupie United States Joined 5008 days ago 50 posts - 72 votes | Message 5 of 16 15 July 2011 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Could someone explain the terms 'active' and 'passive' in relation to this course? Excuse
my naivety, but it seems the understanding I previously had may be incorrect. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6909 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 16 15 July 2011 at 3:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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"Passive" means reading and listening till you understand the content, while "active" means translating back to the target language. Surely there is some info about this in any of the courses.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5009 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 16 18 July 2011 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have read some of the threads about using Assimil and found much of good advice there. But I quite cannot see the benefit of listening to L2 while reading L1. I know that my point of view is a bit different because even though my assimil L1 is at high level, it is not my native language. But I still think that the texts are not that long that you wouldn't remember what are you listening to after one or two readings of translation and that listening more times to target language while (or without) reading it is better. So what does it bring?
A more important question. If you progress at the recommended pace, how often do you review older lessons? Do you wait for the active phase without reviewing at all in between or do you review them next day? Or do you revise week's lessons at the seventh day? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5453 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 8 of 16 18 July 2011 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | ||
I can't either. I only look at the L1 text when I'm not sure about the meaning, and of course during the "active wave". 1 person has voted this message useful |
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