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Assimil French. Am I wasting my time? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Norvasc Newbie Canada Joined 6299 days ago 30 posts - 31 votes Studies: French | Message 1 of 13 23 November 2010 at 3:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello everyone
I wonder is someone can tell me if this method will bear me success. I started doing the Assimil method over 3 years ago and have now repeated the course about 8 times. In October I decided to take my Assimil to the next level and have started to listen to the 113 lessons exclusively over and over again. My commute to work takes 30 minutes each day and basically with weekend time I am able to finish the lessons three times each week. Furthermore I have decided to memorize the lessons by heart. What I have done is that I have taken at random the lessons that I have found interesting and photocopied them. I have about four lesson per page. I will then put this photocopied paper in strategic places so that I have them wherever I am I will be sitting or be able to learn the lessons. My aim is to memorize at least two lessons per week. So far I have memorized as of last weekend: La metro Mais il surtout bu Une mauvaise recontre Un Vieux colonel An efficient consultation Le corps humain La rue mouffetard La belle musique Deux histoire droles Que faites vous dans la vie And another five. I will possibly read each lesson about 5 times a day and sometimes when I am going to sleep or driving or at work or jogging I will start with La metro and go down the sequence and recite them loudly. As you can imagine La metro is the one I say backwards due to the number of repetitions. I am now finding that I will be learning up to three Lessons at a time. Once I am able to say one lesson from memory then I will add another lesson. Once the first lesson is learned to my satisfaction then I will skip this lesson and add another to my memorization. The skipped lesson would then be recited less frequently but at least once a day . I have no goals to how many I would like to be able to memorize but I am hoping that I will be able to continue and reach a good number by Christmas. So far in six weeks I have reached about 15 lessons. Does anyone have any comments as to the usefulness of this methodology and if it will help me with fluency. The other day I recited the first 3 lessons (obviously my best) to a non-French speaking person, she thought that I was fluent in French. However I am still have extreme difficulty in communicating with the French people here in the small town that I live in near the Quebec border. I am guessing that I have listened to all the 113 lesson of Assimil French over 30 times in the last 60 days. I am hoping that I will be able to listen at least a hundred times by February 2011. I have my memorization lessons all over the house, in the washroom, by my breakfast and dinner table, next to the tv, in my car, at work and the pages continue to grow. Any comments as to my success chances in being fluent or at least improving my language skills? Edited by Norvasc on 23 November 2010 at 3:20am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| CaitO'Ceallaigh Triglot Senior Member United States katiekelly.wordpress Joined 6667 days ago 795 posts - 829 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian Studies: Czech, German | Message 2 of 13 23 November 2010 at 4:11am | IP Logged | ||
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I'd just switch to reading a good book or reading or listening to the news or whatever interests you. If you got through all 113 lessons, three or four times now, surely you must have some understanding of the basics. Wouldn't you rather just move on?
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 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6189 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 13 23 November 2010 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||
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There is a long thread on text memorization here, which I haven't read myself.
Personally, I think you should move on to new materials and/or find a language partner. If you really enjoy the Assimil method, you can at least try Using French, the advanced French course. Edited by newyorkeric on 23 November 2010 at 4:41am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Gatsby Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5972 days ago 57 posts - 129 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch | Message 4 of 13 23 November 2010 at 5:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Life is not a series of scripted dialogues. Rote memorization will not make you fluent. Actively using the language at increasing levels of complexity is what is going to take you to fluency.
The only things that I can see your method helping you with are: - Common phrases and patterns will become automatic to you and will flow nicely when you have occasion to use them. - If you truly understand what you are saying without translating into your native language, you should be starting to think in French. At slowly increasing levels of difficulty, you need to start using a variety of native resources for reading, listening and watching. For your oral skills, a language exchange partner or a tutor will help you to start producing the language yourself. Basically, you need to play with the language, forming your own thoughts and phrases, in order to start making it your own. Otherwise, you will constantly be at a loss when native-speakers (darn them) start saying all kinds of unscripted things at very high rates of speed. It sounds like you definitely have the discipline and determination to put a lot of time into your learning. Diversify your activities and make all those hours worthwhile. Edited by Gatsby on 23 November 2010 at 5:10am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5281 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 5 of 13 23 November 2010 at 6:27am | IP Logged | ||
Yikes! My comment would be that that will be almost completely USELESS and it will definitely NOT lead you to fluency (especially in Québec). If you have already done the Assimil course 8 times and have been studying French for 4 years, then I would say you have already got all you are going to out of the course and it is time to focus on native materials. First of all you are spending too much time training your brain to recognize an unnaturally clear and distinct vocalization that exists only in language training materials (and maybe audiobooks). I think if you watch a movie from France you will see that the dialog does not sound much like an Assimil lesson. One product that addresses this difference is "Smart French" (www.smartfrench.com) which contains real native speech plus educational reproductions to help you close the gap. This product is entirely based on speakers from France however. If you are hoping to be somewhat fluent in that town you mentioned in Québec then your problem is worse still because the gulf between that reality and Assimil is even greater. You may see lines in lessons like "Je suis content", "Est-ce que j'ai gagné ?" and "Qu'est-ce que tu fais ici ?" and on the street be hearing something like "chu content", "J'ai-tu gagné ?" and "Que c'est que tu fais icitte ?". You will hear nasal vowels pronounced differently. You will hear 'tu' and 'du' sound more like 'tsu' and 'dzu' and many many other things you will never learn from Assimil. To hear this difference, click on the following link, then click the little green box marked "EN" and you will find 40 lessons/dialogs. They are not ideal as Arekkusu has pointed out but you may find them to be an interesting contrast to Assimil lessons. TUF Québec Another recommendation - since you have so much time to devote to this, get a subscription to Yabla (french.yabla.com) and study all 280 or so real life French videos. This will greatly improve your listening ability (anywhere in the French speaking world). Edited by microsnout on 23 November 2010 at 8:00am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6913 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 6 of 13 23 November 2010 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I've got nothing against the memorisation strategy per se - I'm doing it myself with the dailogs from Assimil German without Toil and Italian without Toil - but you've already done the course 8 times.
You don't, however, mention your success or otherwise with the Active Wave. Have you done 8 Active Waves? Only if they were an absolute failure would I consider beginning again with a different learning method. If they weren't then, I would have to agree with the others that it may be time to move on to other materials. Regarding the actual memorisation, you say even the "skipped" lessons get recited at least once per day. Are you planning to get to the point where you're going through all 113 at a time? A more efficient use of your time might be to use a SRS to schedule the reviews or even a manual Leitner box system to put your printouts in. I use Anki and this is enabling me to study two courses simulataneously, as well as allow time to begin to use other materials like books, readers and Yabla, Euronews etc. Read through the thread newyorkeric posted a link to. You will find that on this forum opinions vary at to the what constitutes an efficient method or a total waste of time. At the end of the day, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and only you will be able to tell if the method works for you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6485 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 7 of 13 24 November 2010 at 11:35am | IP Logged | ||
It seems that he is not doing ACTIVE waves. That was my mistake with Assimil. It's interesting to do several passive waves (one or more), reading, listening or even shadowing, but it's VERY important to do ACTIVE waves (one or more): writing or speaking aloud in L2 what your read or listen in L1. I say listen (L1) because sometimes I read aloud and record myself in L1 to use it in my ACTIVE waves. As other people said, native materials are important too. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| CheeseInsider Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4932 days ago 193 posts - 238 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin* Studies: French, German | Message 8 of 13 24 November 2010 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Since you live in a town near the Quebec border, is it feasible for you to change your operative language to French in your spare time? Along with what the others have said above, constant usage of French is sure to help you.
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