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Assimil Deutsch by Bettina Schödel | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4055 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes  Studies: German | Message 1 of 1 22 February 2024 at 7:10pm | IP Logged |
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About a year ago, whilst waiting around for my wife at a local bookstore, I picked
up a copy of the Book/CD package of the latest edition of Assimil Deutsch (circa 2021). Although the images on the package and on the book cover bear a strong resemblance to those of the prevision generation (circa 2012?), as there was also a copy of the course manual lying next to the package, with a view to keeping myself busy while my wife dug through the stacks, I picked it up, flipped through it and, ultimately, made the decision to purchase the package (from a French base, this is Québec, after all). I was initially disappointed with the dialogues. The author’s short biography suggests that she has spent part of her career as a contributor to those awful for-classroom- study course materials and the initial dialogues of this latest edition seemed to resemble the former. Gawd, I thought to myself, has Assimil succumbed to the temptation of serving up this manner of rubbish to the masses? Dismayed, I continued to work through the course manual. Despite my initial reaction and although my German is in the area of C1, I purchased this latest offering of Assimil Deutsch for review and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working through the course. The dialogues which Frau Bettina Schödel penned for Assimil are the most refreshing that I have come across in a very long time, indeed. They are lively, up-to-date, they emphasize informal and idiomatic speech, and they seem to have be written for an audience of twenty-somethings. In my opinion, the average young person, having completed this course of study, would be well-prepared to go about their essential business in Germany and would be in a much better prepared to strike up an informal conversation with the local youth than had they studied a previous generation of Assimil or similar materials. As to the recordings, they are typical Assimil, slow at the beginning, increasing in cadence throughout the course. The only complaint that I have has to do with the female voice-actor’s delivery. Although she is a native speaker, her voice sounds like that of someone who is concentrating so hard on reading the text that she has lost the natural fluctuations of regular speech. That is no reason to condemn an otherwise EXCELLENT course. Although the notes on grammar are the habitual Assimil garble destined for insiders only, those touching upon current use and idiomatic speech are worth their weight in gold! Koodo's to Frau Schödel for her refreshing dialogues! EDITED: Slight modification to the text. Edited by Speakeasy on 22 February 2024 at 9:18pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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