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spanglish
Newbie
United States
Joined 4968 days ago
8 posts - 8 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, French
| Message 17 of 28 21 April 2011 at 8:54pm | IP Logged |
jazzboy.bebop wrote:
Where did you get the figure of only 70 lessons for Assimil? In the most modern course,
New French With Ease, there are 113 lessons. Bear in mind though that every 7th lesson
is a review lesson of the previous six lessons with perhaps a few additional phrases.
As previously said you definitely get much more content with Assimil learning around
2000 words compared to around 500-600 with Pimsleur. New French With Ease has good
audio as well, though it is relatively slow, especially at first but is very clear and
is a good basis for pronunciation. In terms of the amount of content and quality of
content, there really is no contest. |
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Yeah, I looked it up. I wrote 70, that is for the advanced lesson book. Add that to French With Ease, which has 113 (and is cheaper), and you have 183 lessons. I am almost completely sure I will get Assimil, and maybe I will get Pimsleur from a library. I don't want to get confused with Michel Thomas' pronunciation, so I'm going to avoid that book. I'll see what French In Action is.
Is getting a dictionary and pocket dictionary worth it for learning french as well?
Edited by spanglish on 21 April 2011 at 8:56pm
1 person has voted this message useful
| jazzboy.bebop
Senior Member
Norway
norwegianthroughnove
Joined 5419 days ago
439 posts - 800 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian
| Message 18 of 28 22 April 2011 at 12:22am | IP Logged |
spanglish wrote:
jazzboy.bebop wrote:
Where did you get the figure of only 70 lessons for Assimil? In the most modern course,
New French With Ease, there are 113 lessons. Bear in mind though that every 7th lesson
is a review lesson of the previous six lessons with perhaps a few additional phrases.
As previously said you definitely get much more content with Assimil learning around
2000 words compared to around 500-600 with Pimsleur. New French With Ease has good
audio as well, though it is relatively slow, especially at first but is very clear and
is a good basis for pronunciation. In terms of the amount of content and quality of
content, there really is no contest. |
|
|
Yeah, I looked it up. I wrote 70, that is for the advanced lesson book. Add that to
French With Ease, which has 113 (and is cheaper), and you have 183 lessons. I am almost
completely sure I will get Assimil, and maybe I will get Pimsleur from a library. I
don't want to get confused with Michel Thomas' pronunciation, so I'm going to avoid
that book. I'll see what French In Action is.
Is getting a dictionary and pocket dictionary worth it for learning french as well?
|
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|
Ah, for the Using French book, I see.
The pronunciation on the MT courses isn't that bad as such, it is just not
native when you hear it in terms of accent. I completed the Foundation and Advanced
courses at the beginning of 2010 and found them very useful indeed. The pronunciation
may not be great but the way you quickly learn the conjugations and sentence structure
is very good and well worth the minor pronunciation issue.
I never quite understood the aversion some people seem to have to the courses because
of MT's accent. It is not like his accent is so far removed from normal speech that
getting used to it will harm you in the long run and you can always adjust your
pronunciation later. If you were to do one CD a day, you could complete both the
Foundation and Advanced courses in just under two weeks, then you just need to use
other material with audio by native speakers and start to try and copy their
pronunciation as best you can. Few people will start off with great pronunciation and
it is not like you can't adjust it.
I'd recommend you seek the MT courses out from your library. Do those courses, then
move on to Assimil where you will then get native speech in the audio and you can use
that as your model for pronunciation. You will learn much more quickly from MT than
Pimsleur but if you can get a hold of both, why not? Just don't worry about MT causing
any confusion or long term pronunciation problems.
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 19 of 28 22 April 2011 at 1:07am | IP Logged |
jazzboy.bebop wrote:
Ah, for the Using French book, I see.
The pronunciation on the MT courses isn't that bad as such, it is just not
native when you hear it in terms of accent. I completed the Foundation and Advanced
courses at the beginning of 2010 and found them very useful indeed. The pronunciation
may not be great but the way you quickly learn the conjugations and sentence structure
is very good and well worth the minor pronunciation issue.
I never quite understood the aversion some people seem to have to the courses because
of MT's accent. It is not like his accent is so far removed from normal speech that
getting used to it will harm you in the long run and you can always adjust your
pronunciation later. If you were to do one CD a day, you could complete both the
Foundation and Advanced courses in just under two weeks, then you just need to use
other material with audio by native speakers and start to try and copy their
pronunciation as best you can. Few people will start off with great pronunciation and
it is not like you can't adjust it.
I'd recommend you seek the MT courses out from your library. Do those courses, then
move on to Assimil where you will then get native speech in the audio and you can use
that as your model for pronunciation. You will learn much more quickly from MT than
Pimsleur but if you can get a hold of both, why not? Just don't worry about MT causing
any confusion or long term pronunciation problems. |
|
|
Alright, this is my current plan.
1 - Michel Thomas Foundation / Advanced courses
2 - French with Ease
3 - French in Action
4 - Using French
I don't see the appeal to adding Pimsleur to this, I think it would be too confusing.
Should I switch the two spaces of French in Action and Using French?
I think I'll get an English / French Larousse dictionary as well.
Throughout the entire time I'll try to watch French videos rather than English, and if I can get someone in my family to do this with me, I can talk to them.
1 person has voted this message useful
| jazzboy.bebop
Senior Member
Norway
norwegianthroughnove
Joined 5419 days ago
439 posts - 800 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian
| Message 20 of 28 22 April 2011 at 2:03am | IP Logged |
spanglish wrote:
jazzboy.bebop wrote:
Ah, for the Using French book, I see.
The pronunciation on the MT courses isn't that bad as such, it is just not
native when you hear it in terms of accent. I completed the Foundation and Advanced
courses at the beginning of 2010 and found them very useful indeed. The pronunciation
may not be great but the way you quickly learn the conjugations and sentence structure
is very good and well worth the minor pronunciation issue.
I never quite understood the aversion some people seem to have to the courses because
of MT's accent. It is not like his accent is so far removed from normal speech that
getting used to it will harm you in the long run and you can always adjust your
pronunciation later. If you were to do one CD a day, you could complete both the
Foundation and Advanced courses in just under two weeks, then you just need to use
other material with audio by native speakers and start to try and copy their
pronunciation as best you can. Few people will start off with great pronunciation and
it is not like you can't adjust it.
I'd recommend you seek the MT courses out from your library. Do those courses, then
move on to Assimil where you will then get native speech in the audio and you can use
that as your model for pronunciation. You will learn much more quickly from MT than
Pimsleur but if you can get a hold of both, why not? Just don't worry about MT causing
any confusion or long term pronunciation problems. |
|
|
Alright, this is my current plan.
1 - Michel Thomas Foundation / Advanced courses
2 - French with Ease
3 - French in Action
4 - Using French
I don't see the appeal to adding Pimsleur to this, I think it would be too confusing.
Should I switch the two spaces of French in Action and Using French?
I think I'll get an English / French Larousse dictionary as well.
Throughout the entire time I'll try to watch French videos rather than English, and if I can get someone in my family to do this with me, I can talk to them.
|
|
|
Sounds like a good plan, but I think you could probably use both the Assimil and French in Action courses simultaneously to good benefit. Perhaps you could simply do your Assimil lesson each day and watch an episode of FIA and after finishing all the episodes, cycle through them again. I've heard of people getting a lot out of the videos by just watching the series through a few times. Combine that with your Assimil and you will be on to a winner.
If you do the New French With Ease course and then Using French, I think you should be prepared enough to start moving on to native materials with a dictionary handy and basically just need to learn new words and expressions.
I'm essentially using the same course of action as your plan, though I've had a break for a few weeks as I've had a pretty nasty case of glandular fever/mono which has made it difficult to do much learning. Should be getting back into the swing of things soon though and will be on the active wave shortly.
Good call on watching things in French, radio can be very good too. I would recommend Canal Academie as it can have very interesting topics and the language is usually a little more formal and less idiomatic which is good for learners, though you will get exposed to more specialised vocabulary in some circumstances.
Getting podcasts by switching your location in iTunes to France is a good way to go as well.
Edited by jazzboy.bebop on 22 April 2011 at 2:04am
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 21 of 28 22 April 2011 at 7:23pm | IP Logged |
jazzboy.bebop wrote:
Sounds like a good plan, but I think you could probably use both the Assimil and French in Action courses simultaneously to good benefit. Perhaps you could simply do your Assimil lesson each day and watch an episode of FIA and after finishing all the episodes, cycle through them again. I've heard of people getting a lot out of the videos by just watching the series through a few times. Combine that with your Assimil and you will be on to a winner.
If you do the New French With Ease course and then Using French, I think you should be prepared enough to start moving on to native materials with a dictionary handy and basically just need to learn new words and expressions.
I'm essentially using the same course of action as your plan, though I've had a break for a few weeks as I've had a pretty nasty case of glandular fever/mono which has made it difficult to do much learning. Should be getting back into the swing of things soon though and will be on the active wave shortly.
Good call on watching things in French, radio can be very good too. I would recommend Canal Academie as it can have very interesting topics and the language is usually a little more formal and less idiomatic which is good for learners, though you will get exposed to more specialised vocabulary in some circumstances.
Getting podcasts by switching your location in iTunes to France is a good way to go as well.
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Alright, thanks for the information. One more thing, where should I buy Assimil's Using French? Or should I try to get it from a library? It says on their website that you can get it for 65 euros / about 94 dollars, but I don't know if they ship to the USA, I heard somewhere that they don't. I think I found an amazon link with the book and 4 cds, but it could be a different version of the book, here's the link. It is just $54
http://www.amazon.com/Using-French-Advanced-Level-Assimil/dp /2700510844/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303443935&sr=1-1
Alright, so it is from 2001, and the newest one is 2005 and has 4 cds as well. That one costs $195 on amazon and (if it is the same as the one they're selling on their website) about $94 (converted from euros) on their website.
Edit: I'll be checking the library before I buy anything.
Edited by spanglish on 22 April 2011 at 7:53pm
1 person has voted this message useful
| aodhanc
Diglot
Groupie
Iceland
Joined 6261 days ago
92 posts - 130 votes
Speaks: English*, FrenchB2
Studies: Spanish
| Message 22 of 28 22 April 2011 at 8:07pm | IP Logged |
Have you considered language classes rather than just self=study? I recommend the
Alliance Francaise, which is the official institute of the French Ministry of Education,
and all teachers are native speakers.
1 person has voted this message useful
| jazzboy.bebop
Senior Member
Norway
norwegianthroughnove
Joined 5419 days ago
439 posts - 800 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian
| Message 23 of 28 22 April 2011 at 11:34pm | IP Logged |
spanglish wrote:
jazzboy.bebop wrote:
Sounds like a good plan, but I think you could probably use both the Assimil and French in Action courses simultaneously to good benefit. Perhaps you could simply do your Assimil lesson each day and watch an episode of FIA and after finishing all the episodes, cycle through them again. I've heard of people getting a lot out of the videos by just watching the series through a few times. Combine that with your Assimil and you will be on to a winner.
If you do the New French With Ease course and then Using French, I think you should be prepared enough to start moving on to native materials with a dictionary handy and basically just need to learn new words and expressions.
I'm essentially using the same course of action as your plan, though I've had a break for a few weeks as I've had a pretty nasty case of glandular fever/mono which has made it difficult to do much learning. Should be getting back into the swing of things soon though and will be on the active wave shortly.
Good call on watching things in French, radio can be very good too. I would recommend Canal Academie as it can have very interesting topics and the language is usually a little more formal and less idiomatic which is good for learners, though you will get exposed to more specialised vocabulary in some circumstances.
Getting podcasts by switching your location in iTunes to France is a good way to go as well.
|
|
|
Alright, thanks for the information. One more thing, where should I buy Assimil's Using French? Or should I try to get it from a library? It says on their website that you can get it for 65 euros / about 94 dollars, but I don't know if they ship to the USA, I heard somewhere that they don't. I think I found an amazon link with the book and 4 cds, but it could be a different version of the book, here's the link. It is just $54
http://www.amazon.com/Using-French-Advanced-Level-Assimil/dp /2700510844/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303443935&sr=1-1
Alright, so it is from 2001, and the newest one is 2005 and has 4 cds as well. That one costs $195 on amazon and (if it is the same as the one they're selling on their website) about $94 (converted from euros) on their website.
Edit: I'll be checking the library before I buy anything. |
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You can get the two off of amazon.co.uk and can have them shipped to the States fine.
Here are the links to both books and you will be glad to know that they are much cheaper than nearly two hundred dollars!:
New French With Ease
Using French
Definitely check out your library and enquire into whether or not you will be allowed to keep renewing for up to 5-6 months as you will need that to be able to complete the passive and active waves for New French With Ease with doing one lesson per day.
1 person has voted this message useful
| James29
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5376 days ago
1265 posts - 2113 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French
| Message 24 of 28 23 April 2011 at 2:04am | IP Logged |
Amazon US has New French with Ease with CDs for $32.97.
http://www.amazon.com/French-Ease-Assimil-Method-Books/dp/27 00520130/ref=pd_sim_b_1
1 person has voted this message useful
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