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Assimil Arabic with Ease | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| jpxt2 Triglot Groupie United States Joined 6733 days ago 46 posts - 52 votes  Speaks: English, Spanish*, French Studies: Mandarin, Catalan, Portuguese, German, Italian | Message 1 of 7 04 October 2008 at 4:58pm | IP Logged |
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I picked up the Assimil Arabic with Ease course (1 book and 3 CDs) a few weeks ago, before I knew that it was so universally panned (I should have known... the price was suspiciously low). But is there anyone here who has actually used it? What specifically is so bad about it?
It doesn't even seem to say what variety of Arabic it's teaching. I guess I just don't want to get started using it and unwittingly learn something that might hinder me later on. Thanks for any info. I've heard the Linguaphone Arabic course is much better, so I'll be looking forward to getting that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6441 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 7 05 October 2008 at 6:34am | IP Logged |
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I haven't really used it, but I do have a copy sitting neglected on my shelf.
What's bad about it: - The voice-acting. Ultra-slow, ultra-unnatural intonation. - The content. Instead of cultural and literary notes, it's extremely dull stuff about hotels and valets and so forth. It rivals the Assimil Esperanto course in this regard; I don't know of any others which are anywhere near as bad, content-wise. Don't get me wrong - the content is still on par with or better than many courses - but it's dreadful compared to most Assimil courses. - The formatting. Most Assimil courses have text in the target language on one page, and the corresponding text in the language you know on the facing one. Ideally, it's only on one page, but a fair number of the courses have it extend onto two. In the Arabic course, this is routinely spread over 3 sets of facing pages. This makes for a lot of page-turning, having to jump around a lot to follow the lesson, etc. The introduction claims that what is taught is "Modern International Arabic"; I suspect, but am not entirely sure, that this is roughly synonymous with MSA, or modern standard Arabic. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| rNajera Triglot Groupie Canada rafaelnajera.com Joined 6139 days ago 45 posts - 60 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Latin, German, Korean | Message 3 of 7 05 October 2008 at 1:08pm | IP Logged |
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Assimil has a new version of its Arabic course that it's only available in French at the moment. It's completely new and I find it really good. The old one was really bad.
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| Zorndyke Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6960 days ago 374 posts - 382 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Czech | Message 4 of 7 05 October 2008 at 1:47pm | IP Logged |
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The new version is also available in German. I can't comment much on its content, but the unnaturally slow speed of the audio is even worse than the old version.
One also has to keep in mind that the English version of Assimil Arabic is actually not a full course but simply the first volume of the old French L'Arabe sans peine. The later lessons of the original course are somewhat faster than those of the new L'Arabe. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| rNajera Triglot Groupie Canada rafaelnajera.com Joined 6139 days ago 45 posts - 60 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Latin, German, Korean | Message 5 of 7 05 October 2008 at 3:12pm | IP Logged |
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You're right, the audio is a bit slow but not that bad. Also, the new version has 77 lessons instead of the 99 or 100 of the older one.
I'm at lesson 35 now and I'm very happy with it. I think it's fine as a solid introduction to the language. I've tried the old Assimil and an American textbook (the al-Kitaab series) and I prefer the new Assimil much more. Anyway, I thought it might be useful to provide the ISBN of the new version, it's: 2-7005-0274. Cheers, Rafael. Edited by rNajera on 05 October 2008 at 3:13pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| jpxt2 Triglot Groupie United States Joined 6733 days ago 46 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, French Studies: Mandarin, Catalan, Portuguese, German, Italian | Message 6 of 7 07 October 2008 at 12:59pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you kindly for your replies. So Arabic with Ease is just a rehash L'Arabe sans peine tome I? And L'Arabe is completely new and different? Thanks for the info, I will check it out sometime :)
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| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7146 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 7 of 7 07 October 2008 at 1:13pm | IP Logged |
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A bit more commentary on the two Arabic versions: While the original "L'Arabe Sans Peine" and its partial English translation "Arabic With Ease" were rather conversationally oriented, i.e., with little dialogues like other Assimil courses, and including a fair number of disparate grammatical and vocabulary elements in each lesson, the new book, "L'Arabe", has an entirely different approach. It seems to be based on introducing only one or two grammatical elements at a time, and going in very small steps. Given the problems of difficult sounds, a strange alphabet, non-cognate vocabulary, and intricate grammar as exemplified by Arabic, this seems to me to be a much sounder and more user-friendly approach.
As noted above, the original version had rather ugly handwriting, while the new version has quite clear, standard printing for the Arabic. I've only done a few lessons of the new version, and I may run into problems at some point due to my very limited French, but all in all, I think it makes a good introduction to standard Arabic. It's true that the speech on the audio tapes is slow, but in my book, this is exactly what you need at the beginning, so as to be able to differentiate the sounds correctly. So my verdict on the newer version, although tentative, is quite positive. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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