Assimil French "W/Ease" vs. "W/O Toil" (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Assimil French "W/Ease" vs. "W/O Toil"
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Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes

issemiyaki
Diglot
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Studies: French

Message 1 of 7

06 January 2015 at 5:31pm | IP Logged

Is it me, or does the Assimil French "Without Toil" seem to be MORE advanced than Assimil's "With Ease?"

Note: I know there have been posts about how W/O Toil is archaic for some. I'm not really talking about that. I'm talking about just the nuts and bolts that hold the language together; it seems there's more variety of phrases in W/O Toil. (Again, I could be wrong.)

Also, I've been flipping through the Linguaphone French Course, and it seems that Assimil may be even more advanced than Linguaphone.

I'd be curious to get some feedback on this.

Edited by issemiyaki on 06 January 2015 at 5:58pm
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Elexi
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United Kingdom
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Speaks: English*
Studies: French, German, Latin

Message 2 of 7

06 January 2015 at 7:20pm | IP Logged

You are correct - French Without Toil is more advanced than New French With Ease in
terms of word count. It is more complicated in its grammatical range.

I still think New French With Ease is the better course.

I don't think New French With Ease is more advanced that Linguaphone - French Without
Toil probably is. Linguaphone and NFWE are both about the same in terms of word count
and grammar covered. Linguaphone has longer dialogues, with longer sentences. So one
could say that the level of comprehension needed to master the Linguaphone material is
greater.

But the two work very well together.
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Mohave
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United States
justpaste.it/Mohave1
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Message 3 of 7

06 January 2015 at 8:29pm | IP Logged

I completed FWT earlier this year, and answered a question on the course a few days ago in a log. I did not
do NFWE first - only FWT. Bottom line, I LOVED FWT, but I would recommend completing NFWE first, and
then doing FWT. Here's the link to my log, along with the pertinent extract below.

My
Adventures in French

Mohave wrote:

On FWT.... Before becoming a member of HTAL, I read several posts of members here who noted they
thought Assimil French Without Toil was a stronger program than Assimil New French With Ease. I thought at
the time that since FWT was published in 1940, that it was in the public domaine, and I downloaded the PDF
and mp3s. I found out midway through the course in a post on HTLAL that Assimil was claiming they still had
copyright. Therefore, I purchased the book reasonably on eBay.

Not having done NFWE I can't comment on it, but I can tell you I LOVED FWT - it's a charming course!
Having said that, if I were to
do it again, I probably would complete NFWE first and then go through FWT. Here's some thoughts on FWT:
-- FWT has 140 Lessons (vs ~113 lessons in NFWE)
-- FWT is known for a steep learning curve, which the last ~30 lessons I found difficult, and thought about
stopping the course. In fact, I think the end of FWT is on par with the ending difficulty in Using French
-- Great focus on learning verb tenses
-- Passé Simple used extensively - this is the primary reason why I think beginners should do NFWE first to
learn passé composé and imparfait, however, I had no problems reading literature after FWT
-- One or two lessons has humor that is not politically correct
-- Every seventh lesson has a song -- which was a great way to learn French culture
-- I think that NFWE probably contains more recent idioms, slang and more "current" French that I probably
missed out on.

I've thought about going back and doing NFWE, but at this point, it's not on my plate. I completed the first
run-through of Using French, and I plan to incorporate a second quick run-through. I will probably do the last
half of FWT again. Also, I tried to order Assimil Business French from Language Quest and found out it was
discontinued. Sadly, prices on Amazon and eBay are now outrageous! However, this morning, I did find and
order a reasonably priced copy so I'll put that on the schedule this year.

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Crush
Tetraglot
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Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto
Studies: Basque

Message 4 of 7

11 January 2015 at 1:59am | IP Logged

French Without Toil (or the Sin Esfuerzo/Ohne Mühe versions) is indeed a great course. Also, there are plenty of used copies available (unlike Russian Without Toil) and they tend to be really cheap (around $4-$5). I picked up a copy of the Spanish version in Spain for 4€ at a used bookstore, the same bookstore had several other copies in stock, too. I thought the course was great, much more humorous than the newer courses, a bit dated but more interesting than any other course i've seen in French. I also did the Spanish version of New French With Ease and agree that it's not as interesting and a bit watered down compared to the older Without Toil version.

In short, it's a fun course and will teach you a lot.
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Juаn
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Colombia
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Message 5 of 7

11 January 2015 at 3:05am | IP Logged

Yes, French without Toil introduces more of the language than New French with Ease, whole tenses and moods even, that the latter omits. It is also more charming, richer, and more engaging. However, you don't have to choose. As said earlier in this thread, they work well together. In fact, after just these two along with Berlitz' Self-Teacher as an introduction and followed by Living Language's Ultimate Advanced, I was able to read French with comfort and use it to learn other languages with the original French-based Assimil manuals. I had bought a whole lot of other French materials expecting the journey to be more exacting for which I have no use anymore.
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Crush
Tetraglot
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Message 6 of 7

12 January 2015 at 4:39am | IP Logged

I had the same experience as Juan. Studying the French Without Toil book (after having studied Spanish) gave me enough of a base to read in French relatively comfortably and use other French Assimil versions, though colloquial speech is still a weak point for me.
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Elexi
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Studies: French, German, Latin

Message 7 of 7

12 January 2015 at 2:04pm | IP Logged

Is it because you speak and sound like a French speaker from the 1940s? :-)

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