|
 |
Spanish & Mandarin to Intermediate ???? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| TheElvenLord Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6072 days ago 915 posts - 927 votes  1 sounds Speaks: Cornish, English* Studies: Spanish, French, German Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 25 of 26 04 November 2008 at 2:42am | IP Logged |
|
Nothing to report - still waiting for my two Assimils and a NCPR (SHOULD Come today - Assimil (Chinese) ordered on Tues 28th Oct - said would arrive in 4-5 working days (the 5th being today) and Assimil Spanish and NCPR were ordered on the Sat 1st Nov, and said would arrive in 1-2 working days (The 2nd being today) So hopefully tomorrow I can post some progress.
TEL 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| TheElvenLord Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6072 days ago 915 posts - 927 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Cornish, English* Studies: Spanish, French, German Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 26 of 26 06 November 2008 at 2:49pm | IP Logged |
|
My Assimils have arrived, and so has my NCPR.
Here is my initial review. Assimil Spanish: Packed full of vocab and grammar, right from the off, I learnt something from the very first lesson, at 2 years of classes. Good layout, a bit old looking, but good nonetheless. The only problem I have is that in some lessons, it gives a series of completly unrelated sentences, which makes it hard to memorize. One such lesson, No.2, goes like this I'm going home Are you coming with me We are very far away I have a problem He is coming tomorrow We are going to eat She is tired I have an appointment They are happy You eat at the restaurant One other very minor problem is that in the beginning there are more notes about pronounciation than grammar and cultural notes, as there are in New French with ease. I especcially like the bit at the end, where it compares Latin American words with English and Castillian. It is a useful tool, and I found it extremely intresting. I am missing the audio though, i really could have done better with it. Therefore, I have no reviews on the audio. Summary = Few faults, very nicely presented, definite buy. Chinese with ease (v1) review: Very very nice presentation. I love the look of it, both inside and out. Clear explanation at the beginning about pronounciation, tones etc. My problem is that in the begginning (and only the very begginning) the speakers are excrutiatingly slow. Although I find this annoying at my level, for an absolute beginner, for which the lesson is targeted at, it is very clear, so you can easily learn from it, so I understand the reason it is there. It does get much faster very quickly though! The first CD is full of comparisons of sound, and tone, and is a good introduction into the sounds of Chinese - but at my level (Post-beginner) I just don't need it very much. The dialogues are very clear, with good notes about cultural and gramatical subjects. In the dialogue, the text is given in both Pinyin and Charactes. Summary= Very nice layout, highly reccommended (shame about the long wait for it to arrive) New Practical Chinese Reader review Very nice layout again. Clear introduction to the language. In the first lesson, there is only a small dialogue (5 lines), but with clearly written characters, and a "new words" box, of which some are highlighted for "mastery". In later lessons though, the dialogue is several pages long! Notes give an explanation to the dialogues, explaining usage and variants. There are pronounciation drills, which, unfortunatly, I don't have the audio for - so I cannot do properly. There is also conversation practise, and creating your own sentences. It gives clear explanations about phonetics etc. and about writing. Grammar is presented very clearly with non-complicated wrds. The next bit, Chinese characters section, I love. It shows you how the character looks in real life (aka. the pictures, so for Mu3 (tree) it shows a tree etc.), which serve as a very useful mnemonic. It gives the number of strokes, and the stroke order. It is a pity that the charactes given here do not match those in the dialogue! It also gives quite a few cultural notes. Each lesson (There are 14 in the first book) is quite big, the first lesson is 13 pages. But in the last lessons of the first book, it becomes 20 +. Summary = Very nice layout, good range of vocabulary, and clear presentations. I am very glad I bought these things, and will/would reccommend them to any student of the relevant languages! -------------------- Update Assimil Chinese x1 Assimil Spanish x2 NCPR x1 TEL 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
