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msherl
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 7019 days ago

14 posts - 14 votes
Studies: Serbo-Croatian

 
 Message 57 of 278
22 September 2005 at 11:10pm | IP Logged 
I would be grateful if someone could tell me the approximate number of words taught in the Assimil "with ease" courses. I have read around 3500 - is this the case for ALL courses? Many thanks.

Edited by msherl on 22 September 2005 at 11:36pm

1 person has voted this message useful



zorglub
Pentaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 6788 days ago

441 posts - 504 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin

 
 Message 58 of 278
25 September 2005 at 6:09pm | IP Logged 
[QUOTE=Ardaschir] This is especially to Malcolm:

As for Greek, the Assimil courses are for modern, not ancient. I know of no courses for the study of study of Ancient Greek as a spoken language. The curren Assimil course in modern Greek is OK, though the older one was much better (and should still be available in German - a classic instance of why you should know ]

hello, Ardarshir,

Assimil released an Ancient Greek method this year.

They are now releasing new editions; Spanish, German, Italian,

These are entitled "L'Italien" "L"espagnol" etc...

They come after "Le xxx sans peine" which was followed by the " Le nouvel/nouveau XXXX sans peine"

I find them nice and good, and an important useful new feature they include is a dictionary, which is actually more of an Index that gives the translation and indicates the lessons where the word was seen.. i like it a lot, because I quite often want to read a sentence or idiom I could not otherwise find in the book without the dictionary/index.

I find it useful to go through a new edition, it always brings more, and increases retention.

I'm becoming an assimil addict too, and it happens I was using my assimil about the same way you do. I will try your exact way , that sounds appealing, and you look successful, to say the least.

I always have a bunch of Assimil records in my car or in my iPod, so that I can use time that would otherwise be lost. I find more fun to use for a lazy learner like me than Platiquemos which is an improved FSI.

I'm happy to see there are other addicts, because I found Mr Administator quite severe.

Cheers.
By the way I'm eagerly waiting for the new Arabic Assimil, since the present edition seems to be not Assimilwise.



http://perso.wanadoo.fr/zorglub/learnlanguagesitsfun.htm
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zorglub
Pentaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 6788 days ago

441 posts - 504 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin

 
 Message 59 of 278
25 September 2005 at 6:16pm | IP Logged 
czech wrote:
Fanatic, I think you said in one of your previous posts that you are not "fluent" in any language but English. Courses based on drills take you farther than any course in terms of fluency, and some right to it. So I can not see how an Assimil program could beat it. I would like to believe that your method works and am not doubting that it does, but how are you supposed to "assimilate" words when you only hear them once in one context through a particular dialog? How are you supposed to be fluent if you are never required to produce a word, but simply imitate it?

Assimil programs are just dialogs, other "guided-imitation" drill-based programs give you plenty of real life dialog and more. I can't believe that they added all those pattern drills for nothing.


hello czech.
assimil is not just dialogs that are to be heard.
They are dialogues that have to be heard, undestood, repeated. Yo have simple exercises too. The key is shadow speaking (I learnt what "shadowing "means in this Forum tonight) and reverse translation from the working to the target language, which you do in the second phase of the method. It seems Arsharbi swaps this phase but he has a lot of experience.
You do not need to know how aspirin works on your cells to have your headache relieved right ? Assimil works, that's it; I believe the method is smartly designed and that's why. Also, maybe some Assimil addicts here are biased and particularly prone to be successful using that particular method. In addition: it is DAMN CHEAP !
Good night.
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zorglub
Pentaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 6788 days ago

441 posts - 504 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin

 
 Message 60 of 278
01 October 2005 at 10:44pm | IP Logged 
Duke wrote:
Does anyone know of a retailer that has posted a short audio sample of the Spanish With Ease course? I could not find any on Assimi's Web site.

Not only do I want to know if I can hear the voices clearly, but I want to make sure that I won't have to put up with a painful voice for many months of study (just listen to some of the old FSI courses and you will know what I mean).


The new 2005 as well as the previous Spanish Assimil have nice voices.
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Duke
Groupie
United States
Joined 6807 days ago

76 posts - 79 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 61 of 278
02 October 2005 at 3:05am | IP Logged 
There is a new 2005 edition? Do you know if there are any major differences between this and the 1994 edition (which I am expecting will arrive in 1 week)?
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Al-Malik
Bilingual Heptaglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
arabicgenie.com
Joined 6922 days ago

221 posts - 294 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German*, Spanish, Arabic (Written), Dutch, French, Arabic (classical)
Studies: Mandarin, Persian

 
 Message 62 of 278
02 October 2005 at 4:37am | IP Logged 
zorglub wrote:

By the way I'm eagerly waiting for the new Arabic Assimil, since the present edition seems to be not Assimilwise.


That's interesting to know. Do you have more information on the new edition, when it will be released and whether it will be a complete redevelopment or simply an updated version of the existing course?
Why do you think that the present edition is unlike other Assimil courses? I only own Tome 2 but have to say that I am more than satisfied with the quality of the course (despite its age).
1 person has voted this message useful



zorglub
Pentaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 6788 days ago

441 posts - 504 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin

 
 Message 63 of 278
02 October 2005 at 8:52pm | IP Logged 
Al-Malik wrote:
zorglub wrote:

By the way I'm eagerly waiting for the new Arabic Assimil, since the present edition seems to be not Assimilwise.


That's interesting to know. Do you have more information on the new edition, when it will be released and whether it will be a complete redevelopment or simply an updated version of the existing course?
Why do you think that the present edition is unlike other Assimil courses? I only own Tome 2 but have to say that I am more than satisfied with the quality of the course (despite its age).


Hello,
Assimil staff told me in an Email 1 year ago that the new Arabic method would be released 2 years later, if I'm not mistaken, and that it would be Assimil-like.
I got that negative comment on Assimil's Arabic from linguistics specialist John H. McWhorter, another Assimil worshipper (http://www.edge.org/q2003/q03_mcwhorter.html) in an Email exchange about Arabic.
I have had a look at the method in a bookshop and indeed it looked differnt, not attractive (book 1). That's it. Nevertheless I think I'll try and get a second hand one. I just missed a cheap one on Ebay (anger). Cheers
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tuffy
Triglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 6822 days ago

1394 posts - 1412 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, German
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 64 of 278
09 October 2005 at 6:34am | IP Logged 
Luis wrote:
I think with Assimil method we can reach a B2 level(Council of Europe)or 3+ level ( ILR)... We can begin with Pimsleur I,II,III ( A2 level or 1+ ILR) and then Assimil.


I'm doing Pimsleur at the moment and was planning for Platiquemos after that. I have seen Assimil in my local bookstore and wonder if this short program offers the same knowledge as Platiquemos does.

I tried comparing those levels but on Platiquemos' website they use the term FSI scale (3).

So my question is: fo the best result in terms of fluency and knowledge, what should I do after Pimsleur? Platiquemos or Assimil? (is 4 or 2 hours sufficient??).
Assimil would be easier because it's in Dutch but Pimsleur works great for me thus far so I think/hope I can do Platiquemos as well. Anyway, I just want the best program and put 100% effort into that.

Tuffy

Edited by tuffy on 09 October 2005 at 6:37am



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