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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Jon1991 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5368 days ago 98 posts - 126 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French, Russian | Message 1 of 5 30 January 2011 at 5:31pm | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone,
I'm in a bit of a dilemma at the moment. I'm studying French and Spanish at University but unfortunatly the Uni doesn't provide me with adequate resources for language learning. I've been using free online resources such as BBC Languages and immersing myself by reading newspapers in my target languages but I'm still in need for better resources. My question is - which program do you in your experience find to be effective at teaching a student a new language? I have tried Rossetta Stone (I had a free go at my local shopping centre) but I found it overrated due to the lack of grammatical explanations amongst other things and it is VERY expensive. I have just been looking at Pimsleur and Assimil and I like the sound of both, but Pimsleur apparently costs £300 per level (and there are about 7 levels!!!), Assimil is a bit cheaper though. Can anybody who has used Assimil or Pimsleur give me some advice and share their opinions on these resources? Any advice will be much appreciated :) Jon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Normunds Pentaglot Groupie Switzerland Joined 5967 days ago 86 posts - 112 votes Speaks: Latvian*, French, English, Russian, German Studies: Mandarin, Indonesian | Message 2 of 5 30 January 2011 at 5:58pm | IP Logged |
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You have probably searched these forums a bit, people are doing circles around "what is the best course" for years, but I think this could be an adequate summary (well maybe be biased, whatever :-):
1) anything of software today (including Rossetta Stone or Fluenz) is rather hard to use, locks you to your computer, is expensive for what it delivers 2) the resources can be pretty much language specific, though big names like Assimil and Pimsleur cut across many languages. Platiquemos can be the one to look at for Spanish. 3) Pimsleur is a convenient course if you have no time to sit down with a book, but it delivers little; its 3 level course pretty much takes you up to an advanced beginners level. You get much less than they promise, so it is not comparable with the cost. IMO only Spanish has 4 levels, French must have only 3 (3x30 lessons) If you can get it in your library, you can give this option a thought, else if you pay for it - forget it - it's a rip off 4) Assimil is more flexible, has good recordings, text, grammar explanations. One level of Assimil covers more material than all three levels of Pimsleur. Of course you work differently with Assimil and you must have some time to sit down with the book, and you have to listen many times to the recording. They say half an hour a day, lesson per day - so in 3 months you have finished. In my experience I usually spend maybe the same half an hour or more, but for about half a year to go through an Assimil. Well, you can go through quicker of course, but I think it's beneficial to take extra time, go through not twice, but 3-4-5 times (mostly listening and repeating) and make it really stick. You can search this forum - there are a lot of posts about what people do with Assimil. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6014 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 3 of 5 30 January 2011 at 6:05pm | IP Logged |
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Jon1991,
The short answer is "whatever your locally library has". The long answer starts with a question: how much French and Spanish have you done to date? I'm assuming you're first year and have only done one semester if you're talking about Pimsleur. Did you do either of them at school? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| HenryMW Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5177 days ago 125 posts - 179 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 4 of 5 30 January 2011 at 7:25pm | IP Logged |
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I used FSI for Spanish and am currently using Assimil for Italian. I like Assimil, but I'll only use it if FSI doesn't have a course. FSI Spanish was amazing.
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| Jon1991 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5368 days ago 98 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French, Russian | Message 5 of 5 30 January 2011 at 9:41pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the advice lads, I appreciate it.
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