|
 |
Assimil Italian questions | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4636 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 1 of 9 23 September 2012 at 3:41pm | IP Logged |
|
1. Which is better: L'italien or Italian With Ease?
Italian With Ease has more lessons and those lessons seem a lot bulkier. On the other hand, its 10 years older than L'italien. I also know that L'italien has better revision lessons. They actually have some sort of dialogue to accompany the revision lesson. 2. Does anyone know what accent they use? I'm assuming its just a Roman accent? I'm sure that since Assimil is a French company, they would put more thought and effort into their French based products. But as I said, Italian With Ease just seems to have more all around. Edited by sillygoose1 on 23 September 2012 at 3:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Goindol Senior Member United States Joined 6074 days ago 165 posts - 203 votes | Message 2 of 9 24 September 2012 at 4:25pm | IP Logged |
|
Hi, I don't have any experience with the newer version, but I can tell you that in the Italian with Ease book, Assimil
states that they have employed a variety of regional pronunciations in the recordings. Most notably, gli is pronounced differently by the voice actors. Which one is better? I think it really depends on your comfort level with French, as English versions of Assimil tend to have more typos and errors. Going through their Spanish with Ease and Using Spanish was frustrating sometimes for that reason. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| pushkin Tetraglot Groupie France Joined 5519 days ago 49 posts - 60 votes Speaks: French*, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), German, Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 9 25 September 2012 at 1:57pm | IP Logged |
|
Italian With Ease is much better, the new version l'Italien is very light and the dialogs are very boring. You will learn more with the older version.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| caracao Triglot Groupie France Joined 5120 days ago 53 posts - 84 votes Speaks: French*, English, Italian Studies: German | Message 4 of 9 29 September 2012 at 10:02pm | IP Logged |
|
Quite agree, I've used for french speaker "le nouvel italien sans peine" and "l'italien" do use the old edition,it is much better. Not that the new one is bad, it's just lighter.
I've found that the prepositions - the main problem in Italian - are better explained and shown in the Italian with ease. Edited by caracao on 29 September 2012 at 10:03pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Rykketid Diglot Groupie Italy Joined 4833 days ago 88 posts - 146 votes Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: French | Message 5 of 9 30 September 2012 at 1:51pm | IP Logged |
|
I just wanted to reply to the "accent of Rome" thing.
No, they don't use it. In Italian learning materials they use no accent, it's just what could be called standard Italian pronunciation which is typical of nowhere, by that I mean that almost no one speaks with the standard pronunciation, each region has its own pronunciation, even Florence, which is the birthplace of the Italian language (Florence, not Rome is where Italian was born) has its own peculiarities such as the Tuscan gorgia. A foreign is expected to speak with the standard pronunciation because it would be very hilarious to hear them speaking with say a Roman, a Sicilian, a Venetian or whatever accent. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ccaesar Triglot Groupie Denmark Joined 3795 days ago 84 posts - 94 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, German Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 9 03 February 2015 at 5:33pm | IP Logged |
|
I am currently going through this course (Italian with ease) and have run across the
following; sometimes the newly introduced sentences that ought to be explained, aren't(only translated). To understand the puzzle I use google and http://www.wordreference.com/iten/ In addition to that I ran into a few spelling mistakes until now (I am at lesson 19) in the exercises it says "vancanza" instead of "vacanza", however, I agree that is provides a strong foundation. Anyone else who have experienced misspelt words? - Because I would rather not learn to misspell words if it can be avoided. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4052 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 7 of 9 03 February 2015 at 6:30pm | IP Logged |
|
My advice would that you buy BOTH versions, providing that the contents (texts and audio) are truly different, one from the other.
I purposefully purchased the two difference versions of Assimil Italian because I greatly appreciate the variety of the dialogues and exercises which, from my perspective, operate in a manner similar to the FSI-style pattern and variation drills, when taken in the aggregate. For me, the question “which is better?” is of no consequence, as I approach the Assimil courses as supplementary material. That is, I always acquire a basic understanding of a target language through some other method and rely on Assimil for practice. So, to my mind, it is of no importance whether one edition has relatively “better” dialogues than another. To me, they are drills and acquiring two different versions of an Assimil course provides me with more practice material. Given my approach to the Assimil dialogues and exercises (as pattern and variation drills) I devote virtually no time at all to the translations. Also, I have learned to accept that the “notes” that accompany the Assimil dialogues are frustratingly inadequate. As a substitute, I rely on my initial introduction to a language via some other method and on simple grammars such as “Italian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar” by McGraw-Hill. Nonetheless, I greatly appreciate Assimil’s explanations of colloquial usage that are absent from most other introductory methods. So, if you can afford to do so (which might be facilitated by purchasing the textbook only and then requesting a “sharing” of the audio files through the Private Message function), then I recommend that you acquire BOTH versions. PS-1: I have the following editions: Italian With Ease, 1991, by Giovanna Galdo and Ena Marchi L'Italien, 2012, by Anne-Marie Olivieri PS-2: I have several Assimil courses (Polish, Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch) in both French and English and I have NEVER noticed an appreciable difference in the quality or the attention to detail in the different versions (English vs French). I find that Assimil maintains, or at least strives to maintain, very high standards irrespective of the language of the learner or the language being studied. Edited by Speakeasy on 03 February 2015 at 7:32pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kerateo Triglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5646 days ago 112 posts - 180 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English, French Studies: Italian | Message 8 of 9 03 February 2015 at 11:22pm | IP Logged |
|
I have the 3 courses: L'italien, Le nouvel italien sans peine and L'italien sans peine.
If I were to use just one I would definetely use the last one which you can get in english (Italian without toil) for about a dollar I guess. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
