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Assimil German with Ease | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| AdamUK Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5154 days ago 12 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Italian, Spanish | Message 1 of 18 08 November 2010 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello folks. I've been browsing this forum for a while now viewing various topics but I have a question of my own I would like to ask. I've done 4 units of the 'Teach Yourself Complete German' (not a lot I know) but after formulating my own opinion about the course and reading the many good things about Assimil, I have just yesterday bought German with Ease. Now I know there is an abundance of topics regarding this course which I have read little bits and pieces of, but I'd thought it would be more constructive to make a topic of my own.
The course is going to be arriving in the next few days and I will be beginning it as soon as possible. Can anybody advise me as to how to use the course to get the very best from it? All I know right know is that there is a passive phase and an active phase, but I have read some information on 'shadowing', can anybody elaborate on this? I know it is only my effort, time and method that will allow me to succeed in language learning and I'd like to get some first hand advice from experienced language learners. Any help is very much appreciated. Adam 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| staf250 Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium emmerick.be Joined 5697 days ago 352 posts - 414 votes  Speaks: French, Dutch*, Italian, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 2 of 18 08 November 2010 at 8:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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The course and book you'll receive begins with an explanation how to use it. It's obvious you'll have to read
the introduction. The important thing is FIRST to listen, when you have the CD's. Its not very important to understand, "the why is this and that". Listening, reading, repeating gives you, very soon, a feeling of your new language. Working on the language should be fun even when not easy. I think the course begins with: "Im Café" " Herr Ober der Tee ist kalt." "Waiter the tea is cold". Good Luck! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5729 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 3 of 18 09 November 2010 at 12:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Here are some instructions that, according to a blog (The Language Geek; May 12, 2010 post), are in the Dutch course. Notice there is no differentiation between the active & passive phases. I have substituted Duch with foreign or target language.
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. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7103 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 4 of 18 09 November 2010 at 8:38am | IP Logged | ||
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Those are the Passive Wave instructions that Josh provided (and they are the most complete I've found). I posted the Active Wave equivalents from the Dutch course somewhere....
Found them here but I'll repost them anyway, edited for German: Assimil - Active Wave 1. Read the lesson, repeating each sentence once. If you have the recordings, listen to them carefully. 2. Cover the German text and try to reconstruct it, looking only at the English sentences. Make an effort to do this both out loud and in writing. This is the most important part of the second wave! 3. After you have finished, uncover the German text and carefully correct any errors you have made. (if Josh reads this, maybe he could add the above to his blog as well) Edited by Andy E on 09 November 2010 at 8:45am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6675 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 5 of 18 09 November 2010 at 9:34am | IP Logged | ||
In my humble opinion those instructions are too complicated. Keep things easy. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Desacrator48 Groupie United States Joined 5308 days ago 93 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 6 of 18 09 November 2010 at 8:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd like to comment on the general approach that Andy just made about the Active wave instructions, being that I have just started that phase of my book for French.
If you the first step is to listen to the recording once, and THEN look at the English translation and try to reproduce the French one, isn't it entirely possible that I'm reproducing the French text very well out loud simply because I had just heard it and am more reciting the text from memory rather than forming the translation in my head with my own thinking skills? I say this because I find the first step of the Active wave mentioned here by Andy and by the Assimil book itself of listening to the text BEFORE reproducing it from English makes the reproduction of the target language by only looking at the English too easy. What does every body think of this? Or am I wrong in assuming that even if it is more your good memory rather than your learned skills that is translating from English to French, memorization of distinct phrases is still a proper way to learn how to speak the language rather than trying to think through every thing word for word? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JimC Senior Member United Kingdom tinyurl.com/aberdeen Joined 5547 days ago 199 posts - 317 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 18 09 November 2010 at 11:27pm | IP Logged | ||
I have to agree. I started the active wave in Spanish (currently at lesson 17)without noticing that I should listen to the Spanish again before trying to reproduce it. I think that if I did this it would be too easy. Although perhaps as the series is "With Ease" then perhaps this is the point. However I think that I would simply be repeating what I had just heard, rather than demonstrating what I had learned. Jim 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| rdgjd Newbie United States Joined 5149 days ago 10 posts - 13 votes | Message 8 of 18 10 November 2010 at 1:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Just listen first, without looking at either the German or the English...then listen again, and again, and again until you know it as you know a favorite song. Then do the same several times reading along with the German, preferably out loud, to further tune your ear and give your pronunciation a workout. Then, and only then, begin to look at the English translation...and then listen a few more times.
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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