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Assimil and other Programs | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| andre2552 Diglot Newbie Australia Joined 5823 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French | Message 1 of 11 21 December 2008 at 8:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've heard a lot about Assimil, and as with every method, people say both good and bad things about it.
I've had good experiences with Rosetta Stone, but I think perhaps it is time for me to start creating my own methods. Having researched, experienced, and tested many methods over past few years, I have made many conclusions about the best possible method. My question is, I hear that Assimil is an immersion program, but I don't see how this is if they translate words. I found a sample of the program online, and I looked at the lesson book. On one side, it had the target language, but on the other it had the native. This is not an immersion program. According to those who have used it successfully, why was it effective on you? Also, I am 15 and would like to start tutoring/helping people in more effective methods on learning language, wherein I would monitor their progress and help them find materials such as native texts to learn from. Would you as a language learner go for this and become a student? I was about to start advertising at my local library and numerous other places for scheduled sessions or email/online sessions/tutoring (consider that an invitation as well). Edited by andre2552 on 21 December 2008 at 8:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5987 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes  Speaks: Spanish* | Message 2 of 11 22 December 2008 at 10:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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I wouldn't say Assimil is an immersion programme. Immersion is when you put yourself in a situation where you are surrounded by your target language all the time, and the language is in its natural form. In the case of Assimil it is a rather narrow content, and most importantly, you work through that content repeatedly. That's the key, the tireless repetition, which is not a natural way. On the other hand, you learn basically through the language itself rather than through the grammatical explanations or the L1 text. I suppose that's why some people call it an immersion programme.
As you said, the course is indeed bilingual, but you're meant to use the L1 part just in the first reading, to have an idea of what are they talking about. You use it in the second wave as well, to do exercises, but that's much less important in my opinion. So the bulk of the work is monolingual. Edited by Javi on 22 December 2008 at 10:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| andre2552 Diglot Newbie Australia Joined 5823 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French | Message 3 of 11 22 December 2008 at 2:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Have you used it before?
Would you say it was effective and if so, how much did you take from it? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5987 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 4 of 11 22 December 2008 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
I did the English course, and yes, I think it is very effective. I learnt a lot, especially compared with my previous experience in language learning at college, in this case with French. I think with Assimil you get a good grasp on listening and that's a great starting point. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5837 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 11 22 December 2008 at 6:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
Was Assimil one of the first English course you undertook? Upon completion what level would you say your English was? 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 6 of 11 22 December 2008 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Firstly, I have used Assimil language courses with great success. I have learnt languages sufficiently well to travel in the countries, work in the countries and to give lectures in the language. I have found Assimil courses to be extremely effective. One thing I like about them is they have a set amount to learn for each day.
The recordings are entirely in the target language. This encourages you to think in the language you are learning. So far as immersion goes. You seem to have your own definition of language immersion. That is fine so long as you make it clear what you mean. I write in my book about having language immersion days. Listen to the language (Assimil or another language course entirely recorded in the target language), read as much as you can in the language, watch movies (with or without sub-titles) and even eat the food. Speak with people if you can in the language you are learning. Talk to yourself in your target language. That is how I define immersing myself in the language. An immersion day need not be hard work (it is exhausting) and it need not be an unpleasant experience. I love my immersion days. All of my Russian language programs from Russia are recorded entirely in the language. I have plenty to choose from. Most of my French material is recorded entirely in French. That is what I use for immersion. The same goes for most other languages. Swedish is an exception. Most of my Swedish material is mainly recorded in English teaching Swedish, although I do have one program entirely in Swedish. I will use both for my immersion. I read stuff on the Internet in the language. I read comics or joke pages. I try to make it fun. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| andre2552 Diglot Newbie Australia Joined 5823 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French | Message 7 of 11 22 December 2008 at 7:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Oh i see so it IS an immersion program. I would like to try it if I could find it at my library...
My definition of immersion would be being basically forced to speak and think in the language because of a lack of native language etc. I find immersion the most effective, and not translation however repetitive it is, and I enjoy it. As for tutoring idea, any thoughts? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Master Thomas Newbie United States Joined 6000 days ago 30 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Indonesian | Message 8 of 11 22 December 2008 at 10:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Immersion is what works for me. :)
If I'm alone in my room I try to think exclusively in the target language and do most of my talking-to-myself (that is a hopeless habit of mine) in the target language. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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