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Confused by reviews | ||
Tags: Usefulness | Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| lagwagon555 Diglot Groupie New Zealand Joined 6125 days ago 38 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese | Message 9 of 52 30 November 2008 at 5:31am | IP Logged | |||||
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I found Assimil to be useless. I really didn't like it, I can't stand not knowing what's going on, and just having to 'accept' rules. I literally didn't learn a thing, and I used it for a good month or two.
So I threw it under the bed, and switched to Hugo's French in 3 Months. It's a hard grammar based approach, pretty much the opposite to assimil. This doesn't mean it's completely mathematical, with long lists of words or anything. Ok, well it has word lists. But it teaches you all the grammar you need to know with examples afterward. This method really worked for me. So it depends how you think. I was personally incredibly excited to think that by using an Assimil, you could learn a language by assimilation within 6 months or so. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way. I guess me being a physics major esperantist has something to do with it ;) but don't expect it to work for you just because it receives such high praise from some people. Edited by lagwagon555 on 30 November 2008 at 5:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5987 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes  Speaks: Spanish* | Message 11 of 52 30 November 2008 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I did the English course, and considering it is the only English course I've done and I'm probably ever gonna do, I'm very thankful for all the stuff it taught me. It took me from zero to a point where I was close to start considering myself an English speaker, that's to say, someone who can understand the natively spoken language. That said, and talking now about the ads that come with the book, please don't take any offence, but how naive you've got to be to believe the six months/half an hour bit? No one learns a language in six months by reading a book and listening to tapes half an hour every day, that's ridiculous. This is made clear as you actually read the book anyway. So this course, as many others I bet, is just a starting point. Edited by Javi on 01 December 2008 at 9:28am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5987 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 12 of 52 30 November 2008 at 6:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
There are plenty of things in my native language I simply can't explain, and for those I can at least try, the concept comes after observing the logic behind the way I and others speak. Only a little knowledge comes from my formal studies at school, and it's more about abstract grammar than about Spanish itself. The thing is, why should it be different with your second language? It's only thanks to observation of the language that I know the English I know, both extensive and careful observation, with the help of parallel text in the beginning. It's not that Assimil lacks concepts, it has a few little explanations scattered on the book, but it's the text itself what really teaches you. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lase Diglot Newbie United States pluble.netRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6092 days ago 31 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Danish, Italian, French | Message 13 of 52 30 November 2008 at 7:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think I might use Assimil in conjunction with a grammar book if you're saying Assimil lacks on the grammar focus. I just simply prefer to know grammar.
Thanks for the all the wonderful insights ^_^ 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7152 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 14 of 52 01 December 2008 at 2:28am | IP Logged | |||||
I learnt German solely with Assimil and found I managed the grammar quite well with gaps in my knowledge. I later bought grammar books which I read but didn't go to the trouble of memorising. I did quite well in the Goethe language exams and found my grammar was quite adequate. I have bought grammar books for the other languages I have learnt, whether I have used Assimil or another course. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7152 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 15 of 52 01 December 2008 at 2:35am | IP Logged | |||||
The simple rule is, if it doesn't work for you, don't use it. I have Hugo's Language in Three Months programs for a number of languages and I like them. I also have a lot of Teach Yourself language courses and Teach Yourself Conversation courses as well as Colloquial courses. Some courses are better than others and appeal to different learning styles. I recommend learning languages with at least two different courses. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| roy2005 Diglot Groupie Hong Kong Joined 6556 days ago 70 posts - 75 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, German | Message 16 of 52 01 December 2008 at 4:12am | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with you. The Spanish course helps me to built a solid base, but I still have to work on a lot of other materials, e.g. podcasts, practice with native speakers, reading news, etc. to make my Spanish truly functional. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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