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The best Assimil for Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| megazver Triglot Newbie Lithuania Joined 5805 days ago 34 posts - 52 votes  Speaks: Lithuanian, Russian*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Polish | Message 9 of 14 08 September 2012 at 12:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
Alright. First of all, forgive me my lack of accents. I am lazy. Now, let's look at the current lesson I am at. Here's two of the sentences I am to translate into Spanish today, along with the Spanish answers and the original sentences from the French version: I have ordered breakfast to bed. He dicho que me sirvan el desayuno en la cama. J'ai dit que l'on me serve le petit dejeuner au lit. How does "told (them) to serve me" become "ordered" in a direct translation exercise? That's all I need, with a little milk. Me basta con un poco de leche Ca me suffit avec un peu de lait. Well, this a bit trickier. Not only the English version is kinda incomprehensible on its own, but you see, "no falta mas" is introduced in this very lesson with "that's all (I) need" as the translation. I mean, dang, it's even the same amount of the letters as "me basta con". They couldn't have given a better translation? The other three English sentences are technically correct, even if they're way more of a pain in the ass to translate than the ones in the French version, since the French ones correlate to the Spanish ones almost word by word. The English ones you have to wrestle with. Heck, I've learned French through the Russian edition of French With Ease and they've managed to relate Russian to French better, than these people did with English to French. There were also some lessons that made me raise an eyebrow, even if you don't take the shoddy translation into account. There's the poem with a note that says "oh don't bother understanding or learning this we just stuck it in so that you'd appreciate how good Spanish sounds." You know, this is not exactly what I do an Assimil course for. I am a busy Russian, I have bears to strangle bare-handed for fun and buckets of vodka to inhale, as is daily custom to my kind. If I want to listen to some Spanish for the sheer sound of it, I'll watch some Shakira on Youtube and get some exciting swirly butt-dancing as a free bonus to the language bits. There's also the lesson that really annoyed me that's basically a page and a half of festival-related nouns, two thirds of which, I am certain, will never be seen in this book again. I've consulted the French version again and, of course, a French reader would have already recognized most of these on his own, since that's who it was written for. If you're not, you're kinda screwed with this book. 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fstop Newbie Canada Joined 4851 days ago 17 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English Studies: Mandarin, French | Message 10 of 14 09 September 2012 at 7:52am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks for the info, Megazver!
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| megazver Triglot Newbie Lithuania Joined 5805 days ago 34 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Lithuanian, Russian*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Polish | Message 11 of 14 11 September 2012 at 2:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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New day, new exercises.
The lesson introduces "enganar el hambre" as "stave off (fool) the hunger." So far so good. The second sentence to translate in the last section of the lesson is "We are going to eat a little to stave off the hunger." Okay. Oh wait, no, not okay. The answer is "enganar el estomago", "fool the stomach," using the word that both isn't mentioned in the lesson and, to the best of my knowledge, hasn't even been introduced yet. That's fantastic. Okay, next exercise. "On my birthday, they gave me a camera." Well, Momma Megazver didn't raise no fool. The lesson is about past participles and the space to fill in is "... ........" It's not 'dado' for 'gave' as a more naive student would derive from the mediocre translation, it's obviously "han regalado". Man, I'm good. Let's look at the- "regalaron". In "... ........" Man, Assimil Spanish With Ease, you aren't even trying anymore. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5376 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 12 of 14 11 September 2012 at 3:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
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fstop - what strange translations did you notice in French with Ease (which is, of all
Assimil products, is the one written by an native English speaker)? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| French_please Newbie Joined 4078 days ago 6 posts - 7 votes Studies: French | Message 13 of 14 16 February 2014 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've read that some older courses contains more material. So what should I buy:
1) Assimil espagnol sans peine 2) Assimil L'Espagnol ? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4476 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 14 of 14 17 February 2014 at 11:00am | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't remember French With Ease having any strange translations. I mean, it is weighted toward trying to carry the French phrase structure over to the English whenever possible, especially in the beginning, but the pedagogical purpose of that should be obvious...
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