KCor Groupie United States Joined 5009 days ago 50 posts - 72 votes
| Message 1 of 16 24 March 2011 at 3:10pm | IP Logged |
Hello,
I'm sorry to be a bother. However, a friend of mine gave me the audio files for his
German Assimil program, but he doesn't know exactly which book it corresponds to.
It seems to me that there are a few different versions dating back quite some time.
If there is any familiarity with which book I need to buy from anyone on this board I
would be most appreciative.
Lesson 1, Track 1 begins with some people in a Cafe complaining about tea being cold
and the cup being too small.
Can I provide anymore information to anyone to help me find out which book I need?
Thanks
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tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 2 of 16 24 March 2011 at 4:18pm | IP Logged |
KCor wrote:
Lesson 1, Track 1 begins with some people in a Cafe complaining about tea being cold
and the cup being too small.
Can I provide anymore information to anyone to help me find out which book I need? |
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You need Assimil German with Ease (original title: Assimil Le nouvel allemand sans peine).
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Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6950 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish
| Message 3 of 16 25 March 2011 at 3:51am | IP Logged |
tractor wrote:
KCor wrote:
Lesson 1, Track 1 begins with some people in a Cafe
complaining about tea being cold
and the cup being too small.
Can I provide anymore information to anyone to help me find out which book I need?
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You need Assimil German with Ease (original title: Assimil Le nouvel allemand
sans peine). |
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My understanding is that even though there seem to be new versions published every few
years, they are mostly repackagings of the same course, so as long as the title is the
same one tractor quoted above you don't really need to care about the year. (Can
someone confirm this?)
Edited by Lucky Charms on 25 March 2011 at 3:52am
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ikinaridango Triglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6126 days ago 61 posts - 80 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, Italian Studies: German, Polish
| Message 4 of 16 25 March 2011 at 10:48am | IP Logged |
Lucky Charms wrote:
tractor wrote:
KCor wrote:
Lesson 1, Track 1 begins with some people in a Cafe
complaining about tea being cold
and the cup being too small.
Can I provide anymore information to anyone to help me find out which book I need?
|
|
|
You need Assimil German with Ease (original title: Assimil Le nouvel allemand
sans peine). |
|
|
My understanding is that even though there seem to be new versions published every few
years, they are mostly repackagings of the same course, so as long as the title is the
same one tractor quoted above you don't really need to care about the year. (Can
someone confirm this?) |
|
|
When a new version does come out it will typically be an offering quite different in content from its predecessor. In these cases the title will indeed be different. For example, Le nouvel allemand sans peine was replaced in 2004 by L'allemand. Le nouvel allemend sans peine had itself replaced the earlier L'allemand sans peine. All of these titles represented entirely different courses.
New versions are somewhat rare, however. More common are reprints, where the changes, if any, are only cosmetic. That is to say that the cover design may alter, but the title and contents will not.
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josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6447 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch
| Message 5 of 16 25 March 2011 at 2:29pm | IP Logged |
While I'll have to check my copies later, I believe both German without Toil and German with Ease begin with a lesson with lines about tea being cold and the cup being small. However, the courses diverge quite markedly in later lessons. KCor, could you share a snippet of a later lesson, say, 25 or 50?
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stmc2 Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6252 days ago 45 posts - 58 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German
| Message 6 of 16 25 March 2011 at 5:33pm | IP Logged |
Here are a few lesson names that you can check with your audio,
36- Das liebe Geld
71- Klein-Fritzchen
74- Vater und Sohn
90- Der Krimi am Freitagabend
100- Trauen Sie Niemandem
If those randomly chosen lessons match, then you should have the same course as mine. Geramn with Ease by Hilde Scneider, ISBN 978-2-7005-0132-2. Got my copy from amazon uk for about ten pounds.
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tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 7 of 16 25 March 2011 at 5:34pm | IP Logged |
josht wrote:
While I'll have to check my copies later, I believe both German without Toil and German with Ease
begin with a lesson with lines about tea being cold and the cup being small. However, the courses diverge quite
markedly in later lessons. |
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I've just checked. You are absolutely right: they both begin with a lesson about the tea being good and the cup too
small.
German without Toil corresponds to the original French LĀ“allemand sans peine.
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schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5561 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch
| Message 8 of 16 25 March 2011 at 6:39pm | IP Logged |
The Lessons that begin with "herr ober, cup of tea, etc" are in books authored by Hilde Schneider eg amazon.co.uk.
Looking in the library, there seem to be versions going back to the early 80s that all begin with the same lesson, but I can't promise there weren't any rearrangements.
Looking in a bookshop the other day, the current version for learning German in all languages seems to be still the same, except for the French version which is by Roemer eg here and is somwhat thicker, and its first lesson goes something like "Good day - Yes what a good day to learn German" if I remember correctly.
I assume this version will soon be translated into other base languages. In fact according too the Assimil site it already is here. It says it's the same audio as "with ease". The Assimil web site is really so crappy.
Edited by schoenewaelder on 25 March 2011 at 6:42pm
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