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Assimil a load of rubbish?? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6182 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 57 of 92 11 April 2009 at 4:41pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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You're doing it wrong. Read the instructions. :|
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| Kleberson Diglot Senior Member Great Britain Joined 6228 days ago 166 posts - 168 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese Studies: Italian, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 58 of 92 11 April 2009 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I got up to lesson 57 doing it the Assimil way. You may be aware that there have been many many many counts of people on here who agree the standard Assimil way really does some people no good. This led me to "beast" the course in so far that I learned every sentence. How is doing it the Assimil way more productive than this? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Kubelek Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland chomikuj.pl/Kuba_wal Joined 6662 days ago 415 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 59 of 92 11 April 2009 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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You keep underlining how you crammed the sentences until you had every one of them down. Maybe somewhere along the way the thinking got switched off from all the cramming and now you can only parrot the sentences rather than create your own.
Why I like Assimils? Because they are what they claim to be - painless introductions. Older ones are even better because you get a storyline and you learn a little bit about the country. You can do a lesson in 10-15 minutes and then just listen to it casually during the day, without ever really trying too hard. For languages it works wonderfully, better than rote learning. I do have a lot of experience with cramming, unfortunately. I need to commit a few hundreds of pages to memory every week, like many college students. Edited by Kubelek on 11 April 2009 at 5:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Kleberson Diglot Senior Member Great Britain Joined 6228 days ago 166 posts - 168 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese Studies: Italian, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 60 of 92 11 April 2009 at 5:39pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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It seems that's all FSI and the sentence method do though; make you cram things. This is why I wish a Michel Thomas type course was created to take a learner to a really good standard of language.
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| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5791 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 61 of 92 11 April 2009 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I found the instructions a bit vague, or perhaps I wanted to find my own way like many people here seem to have done. For example, I wouldn't move to the next lesson until I was able to read the whole text in a row without hesitating. I couldn't check my pronunciation of course but I would know if I got stuck or not. As a result I usually spent way more than half an hour on each lesson, especially because I also did a lot of repetitive listening while doing other things. I found then the half an hour advise to be a joke, or just advertising, but now I really doubt if all that extra work was really necessary. If I did another course, I wouldn't overwork so much and I would move earlier to real material.
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| zxxxz Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6285 days ago 25 posts - 27 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian | Message 62 of 92 11 April 2009 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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My 2 cents on French Assimil use.
I break Assimil into 4 batches of lessons. I convert everything to mp3s and listen to the first batch of audio twice (back to back) as I walk on a treadmill looking down listening deeply and understanding what I can. I then later sit and read through the French text of those lessons and look at the translation in English where I need to. I alternate between these two activities (listening & then rereading) but add a deeper reading of notes where needed. As I do this my ear becomes better at picking up each distinct sound. I mentally note a phrase that I need to check in the text for clarity. For the first batch (of 4) I reduce the silence gaps to speed up the conversation. Eventually I abandon the reading and listen to just the audio. At that point I move to the second (of 4 batches) and repeat the process on that batch with an occasional relistening to the first batch. When I move to the third batch I also begin the following: I go back to the first batch of lessons and cover the French text and reading the English text I write out the translation in French. BUT I also write out different ways I think the sentence could be written. This could be alternative words or a more polite way of asking the question. I don't spend forever doing this and it is okay if I get some parts wrong. I note those grammar points, usage and words that I get wrong on more than one occasion and I target them for further study from a grammar book or even a flash card. By the time I have moved to the last batch of lessons I find that when I give a listen to earlier batches I speak with or shadow the audio working on pronunciation. Things I do concurrently w/ Assimil: - short reads of grammar points that Assmili has made clear (through my failings) that I need to further understand. - Some flash carding primarily to make the masculine/feminine nature of the noun stick in my head. Not very much of this... - My google start page is the French News, so I read an article everyday using an electronic dictionary to look up a word when needed. - I choose an interview from Fluent French Audio which has the biligual text and audio and I repeatedly listen and read, assimilate and then just listen. - I read a lesson in French in Action from the textbook and I then watch the video. After I have finished with Assimil I move on to the the second Assimil course. The "Using French" course and I use it the same ways as I did the first Assimil. Assimil is an integral part of my french study. It does the following: - it prepares my ear - it immerses me in the language - it improves my production both written & oral BECAUSE I actively use it to do so. This requires that I focus 100% on what I am doing and think. - it moves me from a bit frustrated when I first listen to deep satisfaction when I get to the point of accurately hearing, writing, speaking and thinking about the lessons. - listening to Fluent French audio interviews is horrible at first because of the speed of speech and lack of direct translation (i.e. word for word) of phrase usage by the speakers. BUT Assimil allows me to eventually get past that and make genuine use of the fast speaking interviews because it allowed me to internalize parts of French conversation which are present in all conversations, so that I can focus and hear the other parts still foreign to me. I did not start with Assimil. Like others I learned some basic vocabulary. Listened to some Pimsleur and read some grammar as well as using the first lessons of FIA.These things in my mind ended up just being basic preparation. Assimil became the backbone on which I was able to really progress in my studies. Anyway long post. Like I said it is just my 2 cents. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| icing_death Senior Member United States Joined 5671 days ago 296 posts - 302 votes Speaks: English* | Message 63 of 92 12 April 2009 at 4:15am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Just curious - why aren't you talking to anyone? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| icing_death Senior Member United States Joined 5671 days ago 296 posts - 302 votes Speaks: English* | Message 64 of 92 12 April 2009 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||||||||
That may very well be true for you. However, the topic of this thread said the course was rubbish. Fanatic wrote he became fluent by using it, and based on his other posts, I believe him. My opinion might not help anyone learn anything, but if it's fair for others to cast doubt upon him, then it's fair for me to support him. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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