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Old Assimil records for romance languages | ||
Tags: Romance Languages | Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| matthewmathieu Newbie United States Joined 4930 days ago 14 posts - 19 votes | Message 1 of 9 18 November 2010 at 6:50am | IP Logged | |||||
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I am thankful to have found this forum and to see that Assimil is such a popular series. My father came to the US in the 70's after meeting my mom here in California, and he brought his library from France with him. I remember when I was really young, my father would sit and listen to the old records while reading his books-- smiling, laughing, immersed in them. They were more therapeutic than anything, and I believe just hearing the simple stories and jokes within the dialogues was an escape into a simpler world than his... and I guess that's as good as a reason to learn a language as any.
Anyways, he passed away a few years ago and left me his library. He had the whole set of the older books, dated 1957: German, English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Russian. He also had the records, but unfortunately, the ones that were to accompany the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese books have been lost in a move, or somewhere in time. I've searched Abebooks, Ebay, Amazon, for over a year now with no luck. Even a few months ago, while visiting family in Paris, I crawled through every used bookstore I could trying to track down the records for these three courses. I've had no luck in any case. These records are of enormous sentimental value to me, as I would like to start learning these languages now using the same material. I bought the new Assimil courses while in France, but they capture absolutely nothing of the charm, my childhood, or my father, as the old recordings do. If anyone has any idea of where I could track down these records or tapes, or even cds or mp3s if you can purchase the older versions on them, please do contact me. I would be immensely grateful. -Mathieu Edited by matthewmathieu on 18 November 2010 at 6:52am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6189 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 9 18 November 2010 at 7:52am | IP Logged | |||||
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This is a difficult situation. At one time it was pretty easy to find the audio for the Italian and Spanish courses. Assimil though has recently decided that the older audio is still under copyright and has tried to remove the audio from sharing sites. The catch-22 is that they aren't offering them for sale either. Edited by newyorkeric on 18 November 2010 at 7:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5155 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 3 of 9 18 November 2010 at 2:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
If the owners of a copyright don't make the material available, or restrict it by regions, in my opinion they forfeit it. There's nothing morally wrong with obtaining the audio for these valuable courses through file sharing methods. 7 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| matthewmathieu Newbie United States Joined 4930 days ago 14 posts - 19 votes | Message 4 of 9 18 November 2010 at 6:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thank you for your responses.
Before I started my search, I contacted Assimil personally. They wrote me back that only the new courses are available for sale, and that they have no intention of ever making the older recordings available (as goes with most companies and their products). It's unfortunate, because I see them as artistic works in themselves, such as a film, novel, or record. The difference here is those can still be found; they shift mediums of course, but continue to exist and, generally, to be accessible. However, with the Assimil recordings, they were not seen as artistic or cultural productions in themselves, and were replaced without any effort or consideration of conservation, in an attempt to better sell the product. To me, this is like re-recording over an old Jazz record, with contemporary musicians and distinct melodies, rhythms, and voices, while simultaneously removing the original record from circulation, thus and leaving only the option of the new production. It's an interesting issue, because it questions the ways in which we look at art, of what we consider as art, and how this art falls outside of what is normally conceived to be its domain, as well as the various financial motives behind it. Besides my own personal interest, I'm very interested in possibly using these courses in a research setting. I am currently a PhD student in Comparative Literature, and these Assimil courses, along with the audio, provide content for what I believe could be a rich literary/cultural investigation. This is an area that has never been explored in my field (as far as I know), so it's an interesting concept to consider as far as a potential dissertation is concerned. Regardless, I suppose all we can do is keep searching! Perhaps I can convince my university to establish an "Assimil archive" next to the Derrida ones! -Mathieu P. Edited by matthewmathieu on 18 November 2010 at 6:47pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5155 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 5 of 9 18 November 2010 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Did you get my PM?
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4983 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 6 of 9 18 November 2010 at 8:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with you en principe, but I think copyright lawyers would not. Beware! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| matthewmathieu Newbie United States Joined 4930 days ago 14 posts - 19 votes | Message 8 of 9 22 November 2010 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hello,
I have used worldcat a few times through my university, but most of the time the libraries on it actually do not have lending agreements, but rather just list their materials in the database for whatever reason. I have responded to all the personal messages I received but they're all marked as "unread" and I have not heard back from any users. Perhaps it isn't working? Does anyone have any idea of where I can find these recordings? They would mean an awful lot to me, and I'm having a terrible time locating anything. It's a shame that I will soon have to give up on my search, but I suppose that's the reality of the situation with Assimil. Best, Mathieu P. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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