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Pimsleur or Assimil for French? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| spanglish Newbie United States Joined 4968 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 1 of 28 20 April 2011 at 11:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am having trouble with what I would consider "basic french" in school after my third year of it (not in college, though.) I want to catch up so that I can actually learn the language and be able to go to France, Switzerland, etc.
I heard about this 3-8 month language learning stuff and I think this would be great. I was wondering whether I should use Pimsleur or Assimil to learn French (as well as other immersion methods, such as french media and possibly going there) to fluency. I have made a few conclusions on my own. I want the opinions of people who are clearly better than me at languages to help me decide which to pick. --Pimsleur-- - More expensive ($1150 for all 3 Comprehensive levels and the Plus level) + More lessons (100 compared to Assimil's 70) + I hear a lot about the audio of Pimsleur, I don't hear as much about Assimil's audio. --Assimil-- + Much less expensive ($65 for book and mp3 cd, compared to $1150...) - Less lessons (70 compared to 100 on Pimsleur) + I hear more about the books than about Pimsleur's. I also heard that Assimil is better at teaching writing skills. I guess the really important thing that will help me is getting opinions of people who have used both, and have a much better opinion than I do. P.S. I am also learning Spanish, which I understand much better (but will eventually use some self-learning in) and want to learn Italian. Merci. Edited by spanglish on 20 April 2011 at 11:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes  Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 2 of 28 21 April 2011 at 12:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Pimsleur is AWFULLY expensive for everything (although if you can get the downloadable version instead of the CDs it's about a third of the price - you could probably also find it in your local library and not worry about the cost).
I've not gone through the Michel Thomas French course, but people here say it's good and is another all-audio option you might want to look into. It's also MUCH less expensive than Pimsleur. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 21 April 2011 at 1:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5101 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 3 of 28 21 April 2011 at 1:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Check your local library, you might not have to choose.
If I had not been able to aquire both for free, I would have picked Pimsleur over French without Toil. The dialogue is much better. Of course, if you need a course that emphasizes writing, then you'll want to go with Assimil. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| spanglish Newbie United States Joined 4968 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 4 of 28 21 April 2011 at 1:34am | IP Logged | ||
Yeah, I was planning on doing the audio download if I did Pimsleur, but I still feel like it is a ton of money to not even get the book. Wouldn't the book teach me writing, spelling and grammar skills? Michel Thomas gets bad reviews on Amazon, but now that I look, Pimsleur gets a few as well. Agh! If anyone can tell me the best way to learn french, please do. Right now I'm thinking Assimil. EDIT: To the person who posted above me. I will check Barnes and Noble sometime soon and look for some language books and cds. Thanks for the idea. Edited by spanglish on 21 April 2011 at 1:36am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6380 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 28 21 April 2011 at 3:06am | IP Logged | ||
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What's your budget?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tbone Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4992 days ago 92 posts - 132 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 6 of 28 21 April 2011 at 3:17am | IP Logged | ||
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There's also the Paul Noble course if you want the Michel Thomas technique but can't stand his accent. I went thru
some of the PN Spanish course, and he uses real speakers. He was supposedly trained by Michel Thomas to carry on for him. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| spanglish Newbie United States Joined 4968 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 7 of 28 21 April 2011 at 3:30am | IP Logged | ||
I would say $300 max, if it is really good. I will get whatever the method is for as cheap as possible, though. Which is why Assimil is appealing; it is cheap and gets good reviews. Also, can anyone advise me to a certain Assimil french book / cd? It seems like there is more than one per language. I just noticed that I said barnes and noble, which is a bookstore. Oops. Edited by spanglish on 21 April 2011 at 3:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6380 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 28 21 April 2011 at 3:34am | IP Logged | ||
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I would get Michel Thomas, Assimil's French with Ease, and a grammar book and use them together. Also, try to get Pimsleur from the library.
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