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My Assimil method | ||
Tags: Learning Technique/Method | Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Tezza Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5487 days ago 41 posts - 64 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 4 11 December 2011 at 5:48pm | IP Logged |
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Ok, I know there are many people who have their own method but recently I've taken to doing my own method and it has improved my comprehension no end. Also, it's not exactly a radical new way of doing things, just a few things that, when put together, have helped me out. There may be better ways, I understand people have 'different learning styles' (although I'm sceptical of this in general, but whatever), but just thought I'd share this.
First of all you, obviously, need your Assimil course, Audacity 1.3+ (free) and Anki (or any other flashcard program) although the flashcard program is optional of course. Ok, each time I do a new lesson I import the lesson into Audacity. I then instantly go to effect > truncate silence. This removes the gaps between the sentences automatically. Its default setting is 200 and 1000, but I dropped these down to 50 and 200, you can obviously mess around with these settings as you like but I personally think that 50 and 200 is the optimal setting. Then the normal steps are made, listen by itself, listen while reading L1, then listen while reading L2. With the gaps removed you can listen many more times in the same amount of time and also it lets you hear the language at a more accurate pace (you could also speed it up without changing the pitch but it sounds a bit weird to me). Next step - sentences that give you trouble. I highlight the sentence inside of Audacity (easier done than explained, not difficult at all) and repeat until I can say the line at the same time as the recording. This may take 5 times, it may take 20 times. But I repeat until I no longer have to. Then I listen a few more times to the entire audio. Then Anki. Some people HATE flashcard programs and I can understand why I suppose. But I don't input an entire Assimil lesson into it. I just put in the few phrases that are interesting. Sometimes I only put in half a sentence, for example: instead of putting in the whole line: 'se dirige résolument vers le début de la queue' I just put in 'se dirige résolument' since the rest of that sentence is so obvious to me. I think this has probably been covered many many times on this forum but I think it's worth repeating. Anyway, that is basically it. It requires about the same time as I used to put into a lesson but now, after speeding up the lesson and being able to easily repeat individual lines, I am able to understand the entire lesson so much more easily. Anki is also instrumental in helping me keep up with the vocabulary of previous lessons but you could always just bring old lessons back into audacity, remove the silences, and listen again (or do both, as I'm doing) I'm not an expert on languages, I don't speak 10 of them and I'm sure there are polyglots who have methods for learning languages, but for me this method is quick, effective, and has helped me learn more in the same amount of time. 19 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kimmitt Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4760 days ago 33 posts - 38 votes Studies: French | Message 2 of 4 21 December 2011 at 2:14pm | IP Logged |
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Hi,
I might incorporate some of this into my use of Assimil - where is the 'truncate silence' option in Audacity? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Tezza Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5487 days ago 41 posts - 64 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 4 26 December 2011 at 7:22pm | IP Logged |
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It's only in the newer versions, but it's just in effects > truncate silence.
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| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4520 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 4 20 January 2012 at 1:12am | IP Logged |
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Tezza, Thanks for the idea! I especially like the part about just doing the tricky
parts of the sentences. I am around lesson 11 now in Assimil Italian, and sometimes they say the start or middle of a sentence SO fast that there is a 0% chance of me keeping up. So, I like your plan since it makes it easier to go over a troublesome spot compared to having to click back with Winamp. My only question, first, was whether or not it made a new audio file or just edited the existing one? The reason I ask is....say I dislike your style for whatever reason, I want to be able to just go back to the original version without having to re-rip them from the cds. Are you still finding this effective? (it has been a few weeks) Thanks! 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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