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Assimil Russian with Ease (2011) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4449 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 9 of 27 20 June 2012 at 8:13am | IP Logged | |||||
I was hoping that if I followed the simple instructions on the inside of the front cover the grammar would stick pretty well. I followed them, and it it didn't stick. I'm sure it helped a little, but I certainly wouldn't call my grammar B2, as the program claims. I've been working hard in other areas, and I feel I'm finally at B1, but grammar-wise this program didn't help very much.
30 min conversation; 30-60 min grammar study (Penguin, etc); 10-20 min movie; 30 min reading and listing on LingQ; add 20 words to Anki 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5609 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 10 of 27 20 June 2012 at 11:34am | IP Logged | |||||
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Assimil is absurdly expensive for what it is. I mean, the actual production costs can't be much more than a Teach Yourself or Colloquial course, and yet they charge up to three times the price for one. Total greed I think. Edited by COF on 20 June 2012 at 3:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5231 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 11 of 27 20 June 2012 at 4:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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You pay for quality.
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 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6157 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 27 21 June 2012 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
Or that's what people are willing to pay for it? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4489 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 13 of 27 21 June 2012 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
Which Assimil courses have you used all the way through that you thought were overpriced? It'd seem odd to me to question the value of something you've not seen through to the end. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4489 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 14 of 27 21 June 2012 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
Which Assimil courses have you used all the way through that you thought were overpriced? It'd seem odd to me to question the value of something you've not seen through to the end. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5363 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 15 of 27 22 June 2012 at 5:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think the more rare they are obviously you pay more, but I paid $20 for French with Ease, $32 for Italian and $32 for German with CDs. I can't complain, I can read German papers and magazines and at least have an idea of whats going on, and probably understand 50% or more of television and music. I definitely got what I paid for, a usable language level that can be built up whenever it's needed. :)
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| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5561 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 16 of 27 22 June 2012 at 1:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
1) There's a lot more language in Assimil, I mean just look at the CDs: 4 for Assimil and 2 for TY and Colloquial Also the Assimil CDs are all in the target language; whereas TY and Colloquial use up a lot of space with English. 2) While no course I know of uses completely natural language, the dialogues in Assimil are (at least in the 5 I've seen) a lot better written. 3) Given the above plus the fact that Assimil are a smaller and less well-known company (economies of scale and all that) it is plausible that production costs are higher for them, but why are we speculating about production costs? When it comes to price production costs are (almost) irrelevant, as someone pointed out in your thread on Assimil at amazon.com. From a business point of view you charge what maximises your profit. From a legal point of view they can charge what they like. From a moral point of view the main issue is access to educational material not production costs and here Assimil are OK too IMO. I acknowledge that the price may be a problem for people in some countries; but you and I both live in rich western countries. Speaking as someone who earns the legal minimum wage in the UK it is my opinion that any healthy adult in a western country can (if they save up for a few months) afford the £60 or £70 for Assimil (compare with certain other courses that are well out of my financial reach). For instance at a pinch I could save that much by walking to work for 4 months- minus the cost of an umbrella ;-) All in all I don't think they charge too much Edit: The only exception I can see to what I said above about people in rich western countries are people with health problems, which is sad, but then Assimil will be the least of their financial worries . Edited by Random review on 22 June 2012 at 1:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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