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Assimil pronunciation in passive phase | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Paigems Newbie United States Joined 5099 days ago 34 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 9 03 July 2011 at 11:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm currently doing the passive phase of Assimil French with Ease. The speed of the conversations is beginning to overwhelm me a bit and I feel like I am becoming hung up on the pronunciation and being able to say the phrases as fluidly as the recording. Should I focus less on pronunciation? Is that more of an active wave thing?
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| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5452 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 2 of 9 03 July 2011 at 11:20pm | IP Logged | ||
Hard to say since you haven't told us how you use the course. It's perfectly natural that the actors speak faster than you. I think you should stop worrying. Keep working on your pronunciation. Listen to the tapes. Repeat what they say. Read aloud. Don't worry. One day you'll speak fast too. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Paigems Newbie United States Joined 5099 days ago 34 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 9 04 July 2011 at 12:04am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the response! This is how I have been using the Assimil course:
1. Read through the lesson comparing the French and the English text 2. Write the lesson out on paper 3. Use Iversen's list method to learn the new vocab 4. Listen to the lesson 5. Listen to the lesson again, but this time pause after phrases to repeat aloud 6. Repeat step 6 until I am as close as possible to sounding like the recording Step 6 is where I always get stuck...I have tried shadowing, but I find that difficult because I cannot hear myself perfectly to make sure my pronunciation is correct. Actually, I don't have too much trouble with pronunciation, it's just that I get sort of "tongue tied" when I try to say things too fast. I believe that is because my mouth and tongue are not used to being in the positions I am putting them in lol. I will try to worry less, but I can't help but feel like I am lagging behind with my speaking speed.. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5230 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 4 of 9 04 July 2011 at 4:01am | IP Logged | ||
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I've been working on Italian for a little over a month (first with TY and now with Assimil). I can definitely relate to your experience. I cannot keep up with the recording and there are many sounds I still have difficulty reproducing. But I think that is OK for now. I have improved quite a bit with these things and I shouldn't expect perfection so soon. (or ever?)
If I could make two suggestions they would be these: 1. Spend more time reading through the French text(without recording) at your own pace. I got hung up for a while trying to shadow and it was difficult at early stages. Pronunciation should be mastered first, then shadow. But thats just my opinion. 2. I noticed that you don't seem to listen to the recording while reading the English text. If you don't do this, I would recommend it. Remember, this course is called Assimil for a reason. Allow yourself the time to assimilate the language. It's not a standard textbook that needs to be memorized (at least at this stage). Personally, I would cut out the wordlisting and writing the lesson out and focus more on reading the texts, listening to the recording, and repeating after the recording(and all the wondering combinations of the three). Save the rest for the active phase. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6378 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 9 04 July 2011 at 4:34am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Jason here. I think in the beginning of Chinese With Ease I didn't read the text enough without the audio. I started doing that in volume II and it seemed to help a lot. Also, don't be afraid to take a break from the current lessons and go back to review earlier ones for a while. That seemed to help me a lot.
I think what you're experiencing is normal. Just keep working at it at a consistent pace and you will eventually get it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5343 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 6 of 9 04 July 2011 at 4:49am | IP Logged | ||
I actually prefer what someone else posted. 1. Listen to the text with the book closed. It does not matter if you do not understand what is said. You will gain a general impression of the sounds, hearing the pronunciation without being influenced by the spelling. 2. Listen to the recording a second time while looking at the English translation. 3. Read the foreign text aloud (with the aid of the phonetic transcription if necessary). Be sure you understand the meaning of each sentence, comparing it with the translation as required. 4. Now read the foreign text again, but this time without looking at the translation. 5. Listen to the recording twice, once while looking at the English translation, and once while looking at the foreign text. 6. Listen to the recording again with the book closed. At this point you should understand what is being said. 7. Listen to the recording once more. Stop the machine after each sentence, and try to repeat it aloud. 8. Carefully read the comments several times. Examine the foreign sentences being explained. These notes are very important. 9. Read the exercises. Repeat each sentence several times. The exercises review material from the current lesson and from preceding lessons. If you have forgotten certain words, consult the English translation. 10. Examine the examples of sentence structure. They show how words and phrases are combined in the target language, which is not always the same as in English. Edited by zekecoma on 04 July 2011 at 4:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6010 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 7 of 9 04 July 2011 at 10:21am | IP Logged | ||
Well, the tongue's all muscle, so it's understandable. You can exercise your tongue pretty much anywhere. Identify the movements that your trip your tongue up, and you can do them repetitively in all those little gaps: waiting for a bus, waiting for the kettle to boil, even when you're sitting on the loo. If you spot the actions you need to practice, you can see real results in as little as a week. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5021 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 9 04 July 2011 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think I can vouch for what Cainntear has said.
I have found in the last few weeks, just through repeating Assimil dialogs and fsi drills, that (to my ears at least) some of my pronouciation has began to sound much more natural. My tongue movements somehow feel completly different when speaking. I still cant manage to consciously roll my Rs, but when I say things like "por ser simpaticas" or "trata de dios" my tongue makes similar rolling movements and prouduces a similiar sound. This Phenomenon has occured with no conscious effort and in fact has taken me completly by surprise. I think it may be due to massive listenening and the fact that 6 months trying to pronounce Spanish words has began to build up the apropiate muscles in my tongue. I would say that both the challenge and value of repeating Assimil dialogs is that you get to hear how one word runs into the next. I have just finished the passive wave and still find acurately shadowing many of the dialogs to be a real challenge. I started with courses like pimsleur and Learning Spanish Like Crasy which give you the opportunity to build authentic prounounciation by repeatedly giving you words and phrases to repeat, and building up complicated phrases backwards so you can practice each syllable. I think there are 2 ways of approaching the issue of prounciation. The Spanish fsi course gives you endless repititive drills of every aspect of Spanish prounciation which differs from English, and it does this before you learn anything else, thus giving you a wonderful on which to build. (I believe there is a similar fsi course for French) I have chosen the opposite approach as I am too impatient. I have gone through the Assimil course trying to learn as much as I can, and will work on pronunciation more when I have got my head round other aspects of the language, although prounciation seems to be improving naturally as I progress. Best of luck! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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