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Assimil French Without Toil? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6723 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes  Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 1 of 19 01 March 2011 at 4:00am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm looking for opinions on Assimil French Without Toil. Many years ago I found both French Without Toil & German Without Toil.
I have heard that German Without Toil was in fact quite good as a study tool. I would like your opinions on whether it is worth working through French Without Toil? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5698 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 2 of 19 01 March 2011 at 5:06am | IP Logged | |||||
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If you look around this forum a bit, you'll find about 436,972 people (that's just a rough estimate) who swear by Assimil and say it's the best thing ever. ;)
Certain Assimil courses are admitted to be not so good, but the French is not one of them. I'm using a very old version of it right now (from the 40s or 50s, I think) and I love it. Of course you can't discount differences in learning preferences – what works for 436,972 other people might not work for you. There are actually a bunch of a people on this forum who prefer other methods to Assimil, too. I'd recommend just trying the first week or so of lessons (if your current target language is French, that is) and seeing whether the method works for you. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5570 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 3 of 19 01 March 2011 at 9:54am | IP Logged | |||||
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I love French Without Toil, in fact I consider it to be one of my top 10 favourite books of all time along with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and The Aeneid (which probably shows how sad I am).
In terms of learning French, however, I think it gets quite demanding if you don't already have some French already, especially if you follow the supplemental exercises on verb conjugations, etc. This is not a problem as you have to do it anyway at some point, but be prepared to be sucked into French Without Toil and come out the other side slightly shell shocked! 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7151 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 4 of 19 01 March 2011 at 10:34am | IP Logged | |||||
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I can vouch for the Assimil German Without Toil. I had done absolutely no German before and I found the course easy to use and I was able to work in Germany and travel without any language problems.
I was introduced to French Without Toil at night school but I had already had three years of French at night school so I wasn't an absolute beginner. I love the course and it helped me to understand spoken French (which I couldn't do at high school) and my French improved more in months than it had in years at school. I got to like Paul and enjoyed seeing France and the French through his eyes. He has a confidence trick tried on him, gets to know a French family and then falls for a French girl. It even includes the French method of making coffee, although it must be well and truly outdated. (I loved French coffee.) I have the two new French courses but the old Without Toil is my favourite. Edited by fanatic on 01 March 2011 at 10:34am 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6723 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 5 of 19 01 March 2011 at 11:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks so much guys :) I really appreciate hearing your opinions.
My other option is to buy the Assimil French With Ease course, which I would LOVE to do, but well... it's not cheap and I'll have to wait AGES for it to arrive! It would be great if they offered it a little cheaper as an internet download and you could print it yourself. I probably wouldn't hesitate in that situation. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5458 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 6 of 19 01 March 2011 at 5:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree. French without Toil is very good. However, I wouldn't recommend it to an absolute beginner. The progression is steep, a lot steeper than New French with Ease. For instance, I think it puts too much emphasis on the passé simple too early.
If you do buy the New French with Ease, I would still recommend that you work your way through French without Toil at some point. It's just so thorough and enjoyable that it would be a shame not to use it. Edited by tractor on 01 March 2011 at 8:20pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| johnclt Newbie Joined 5061 days ago 4 posts - 5 votes Studies: French* | Message 7 of 19 22 March 2011 at 4:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I see French with Ease in Amazon. Is there only one book? Do I need the CD's as well? I am not a beginner.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5458 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 8 of 19 22 March 2011 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
Unless you are 100 % sure that your pronunciation is already perfect, get the audio. Even if your pronunciation is perfect, get the audio. 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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