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Has anyone ever failed with Assimil?

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24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
sfuqua
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4525 days ago

581 posts - 977 votes 
Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 1 of 24
19 January 2012 at 6:19pm | IP Logged 
Has anyone, who more or less followed the instructions, and completed a full Assimil "at Ease" course ever considered the method a failure?

I know many people dislike Assimil and quit, but I wonder if anyone has soldiered on to the end, and not learned enough to justify the time. Making people quit means the course has failed these people in a different way, but does it eventually work for those who keep plugging away? I doubt that everyone reaches B2, but did everybody who completed the course think it was worth it?

I'm currently enjoying the the easy, low pressure pace of Assimil, but I'm getting frustrated waiting for the Active phase to come around.
steve

Edited by sfuqua on 19 January 2012 at 6:32pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Juаn
Senior Member
Colombia
Joined 5105 days ago

727 posts - 1830 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*

 
 Message 2 of 24
19 January 2012 at 6:46pm | IP Logged 
Assimil gives you the material but you must choose how to use them. I for example don't do the "active phase". For me the time is better spent working through additional manuals and texts rather than repeating what I have already read.

Some Assimil titles are better than others, and some languages lend themselves better to the methodology and pace used by Assimil, but as long as you understand that no single manual or method will produce "success" when learning a language, you can profit from what each of them has to offer.
6 persons have voted this message useful



liddytime
Pentaglot
Senior Member
United States
mainlymagyar.wordpre
Joined 5989 days ago

693 posts - 1328 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Galician
Studies: Hungarian, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 3 of 24
19 January 2012 at 11:53pm | IP Logged 
My French is pretty poor so I haven't been able to make it through a complete French edition so I suppose that is a failure. - I wish they would translate more of them into English.

Aside from that I would say if you get through all 100 lessons you should be at least B1 if not B2! ( I also don't do the active phase!)
1 person has voted this message useful



LatinoBoy84
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5335 days ago

443 posts - 603 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French
Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Latvian

 
 Message 4 of 24
20 January 2012 at 5:08am | IP Logged 
I don't do the active phase, but I do copy all the lessons in the TL by hand. Usually
twice...
1 person has voted this message useful



seldnar
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6892 days ago

189 posts - 287 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Mandarin, French, Greek

 
 Message 5 of 24
20 January 2012 at 6:28am | IP Logged 
Nothing says you have to wait for the active phase to come around; start doing the
active wave now. Go back to chapter one, read the English and then say it in your
target language. I personally would also follow Luca's method that he outlined on the
Women Learning Thai blog.

I know there are people who don't like Assimil, in fact this site was founded because
of a dislike of Assimil, but many people not only like it but strongly recommend it
(the site founder was even won over, if I recall correctly). There are a fair number
of postings by some pretty accomplished linguists who think the program is worthwhile--
that is, they feel that Assimil delivers,--and they have used it for more learning more
than one language. And, there are also some by learners who felt underwhelmed. I
recommend doing a "G search" under this forum's search options.

Good luck
3 persons have voted this message useful



DaraghM
Diglot
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5911 days ago

1947 posts - 2923 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian

 
 Message 6 of 24
20 January 2012 at 10:40am | IP Logged 
I completed Spanish with Ease passive wave, and about half the active wave. As I was also using other resources at the time, I subsequently discovered my difficulties with the active wave were due to translation problems on Assimil's part. Their follow on course, Using Spanish, was notorious on this forum for dire translations. I subsequently picked up a copy of the French version of Using Spanish, "Perfectionnement Espagnol". It has none of the translations problems that the English based material has.

Another problem I have with Assimil is the odd situations they sometimes use in each lesson. This issue meant I abandoned their Hungarian with Ease about half way through. I've also used their New French with Ease which is the best of the three. However, their use of wacky situations made vocabulary harder to remember. If I was using Assimil again, I'd only used their French based products.

1 person has voted this message useful



kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4649 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 7 of 24
20 January 2012 at 11:41am | IP Logged 
I'm finishing up French with Ease right now. I did it by the book, and have about 30
lessons to go in the Active Phase.

I think it's a solid system. I did use other materials (Pimsleur, then FSI), but I am
happy with the results. I do not feel that I am "B-1" level; however, I do feel that I
am ready to make the jump to a B-1 level and that I just need some real-life
experience. And I fully intend to use Assimil for other languages in which I'm aiming
for fluency.

Assimil is clearly aiming for the B-level, and skips over any attempt at giving you A-
level survival skills. Unlike, say, Pimsleur, which is entirely focused on getting you
to a solid A-1 level.   So when I tried to use Assimil Spanish to cram for a trip to
Mexico I failed. It was the wrong course for that.

side note: I didn't even know there was a "Using Spanish" - I thought I would need to
switch to "Perfectionnement Espagnol" when I move back to Spanish. Which I might, if I
feel my French is ready. How was this course for you?

note 2: don't rush it. If you have extra time, or want more, add in something else - a
podcast, another course, French movies. Do the course at it's own pace. I'm feeling
that same urge - I want to finish With Ease already! - but I've learned from experience
that it's better just keep at it, slow and steady.

Edited by kanewai on 20 January 2012 at 11:44am

3 persons have voted this message useful



atama warui
Triglot
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 4461 days ago

594 posts - 985 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, Japanese

 
 Message 8 of 24
20 January 2012 at 2:47pm | IP Logged 
Pimsleur takes you further than A1. After you finished it, it'll be a solid A2, if you actually did it as intended.
However, B1 to B2 is a huge gap, so which of the two could you achieve with Assimil?


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