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How effective is Assimil? | ||
Tags: Usefulness | Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| angakoq Newbie United States Joined 4742 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German Studies: Danish, Greenlandic | Message 1 of 13 03 May 2011 at 7:28am | IP Logged | ||
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First of all, I am very new to the process of learning foreign languages. I have been interested in them for several years now and there are so many that I like, but I've never really put a lot of effort into actually learning them. Now, I have decided I am going to get serious about learning the languages I enjoy. Please bear in mind that I am not very familiar with the process of learning another language, especially as far as self-study is concerned.
A few years back, I made the mistake of buying Rosetta Stone for Latin. I wish I had done a little bit of research before I bought it, because it turned out to be one of the biggest wastes of money ever. Now that I have done some research, I can see that most people really like Assimil, so I figure I'll ask a few questions about it here (just so I don't buy it and find out it was a waste). The two languages I want to learn are German and Arabic, and I want to buy "German with Ease" and "Arabic with Ease" from Assimil. How worthwhile are these programs? When I'm finished, how fluent will I be? Will I be able to read & write in the two languages and understand basic conversation? Will I be able to actually converse with native speakers of these languages? The reason I'm asking is because I've seen the Amazon reviews, and one person said after he used "German with Ease", he was able to converse with his German friends, got a job in Germany as a technical translator, wrote papers in German, and even taught in a German school. I'm not expecting it to have drastic results like this, but will it at least get me to a conversational level? (I'd also appreciate anyone who could point me to other useful programs for learning these two languages, possibly in conjunction with Assimil.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 6934 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 2 of 13 03 May 2011 at 8:24am | IP Logged | ||
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I wrote the review but it was after I used Assimil German Without Toil.
Yes, you will be able to converse in German. What I didn't understand I was able to ask for an explanation. My brother arrived in Germany for a visit and, after using Assimil for 2 weeks, was conversing in German with our neighbour. He has since done work for his firm in Germany and was able to manage quite well after only learning from Assimil. I assume he learnt the technical vocabulary he needed from colleagues or a dictionary. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Haukilahti Triglot Groupie Finland Joined 4752 days ago 94 posts - 126 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Polish | Message 3 of 13 03 May 2011 at 8:47am | IP Logged | ||
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Assimil should get you to B1/B2. The new books have C1 on their cover, I think, but they don't get you there.
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| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5353 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 4 of 13 03 May 2011 at 10:06am | IP Logged | ||
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For me Assimil works only when I have a grasp of the language already - say CEFR A1 or 'false beginner' level. For me that means completing something like MT and Pimsleur first and, even, going through a user friendly beginner's course like Oxford Take Off. I tried learning German from scratch with Assimil (Without Toil) and after about lesson 39 I realised I had grasped nothing that I could use actively. OK, by the rules I should have gone on until the active wave, but I just wasn't happy with the false start.
However, I did then did MT-Pimsleur-Living Language Ultimate and the Assimil really adds to what is included in those courses. So, for me Assimil is best used after I have achieved a basic grasp of the language - and then it works really well. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Haukilahti Triglot Groupie Finland Joined 4752 days ago 94 posts - 126 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Polish | Message 5 of 13 03 May 2011 at 10:43am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Elexi, having an introduction - for example audio only, as in Pimsleur or MT - before Assimil helps a lot. Besides having a more traditional textbook or a grammar alongside Assimil might help, as its grammar explanations are a bit confused and spread in the dialogue notes and 7th lessons.
I also suggest you to follow with Assimil the method that suits you best. To me their proposed passive phase - active phase does not work, and I prefer to be more active right from the start. A final word of caution, Assimil is not for everyone. My "apprentice" - a clever, intelligent guy who knows a few languages - said he just can't study with it. Edited by Haukilahti on 03 May 2011 at 10:44am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| guitarob Hexaglot Groupie CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4875 days ago 95 posts - 138 votes Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, Danish, Portuguese, Italian Studies: German | Message 6 of 13 03 May 2011 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | ||
Fanatic, how long are the lessons towards the end in "German Without Toil"? I am about to finish the last version of "Le Danois Sans Peine" and find that the last couple of lessons are way too long (between 400 and 550 words). I have to spend between 80 and 110 minutes in them in the active wave. If they are shorter in "German without Toil", how much shorter(words) ? Have you read the latest "german with ease" version? are they also shorter? how much shorter ? Thanks in advance 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BartoG Diglot Senior Member United States confession Joined 5235 days ago 292 posts - 818 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Latin, Uzbek | Message 7 of 13 03 May 2011 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Assimil does a lot of its teaching through passive exposure to language you familiarize yourself with. So knowing a little bit of the language or a related language really helps. For German, a short audio course like Michel Thomas German will help you ease into it and get more out of it, because you'll be able to spend more time on the German side of the page reading and less time on the English side picking your way through notes.
I enjoyed the Alsatian course, already having learned some German. But with the Turkish course, where I spend a lot of time deciphering, I'm finding the Assimil course useful and interesting but the "with ease" designation isn't quite as accurate. I was never able to get into the Arabic course, which seems to be a common experience. You might look around these forums for other comments on it before rushing in. Having looked at the German course it feels to me like a solid Assimil effort, the Arabic course not so much. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4918 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 8 of 13 03 May 2011 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | ||
I took a look at the Turkish course and compared it to the Teach Yourself Turkish course. In the end, I went with the TY course, mainly because I didn't want to be second-guessing the French. They both cover a lot of the same material (in fact, there are a couple dialogs that you'd swear were written by the same person for both courses). Reading reviews of the Assimil Turkish course though, it gets very high marks. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful |
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