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Assimil Experiment Group Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Chang He Newbie United States Joined 4226 days ago 4 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, French | Message 9 of 344 30 October 2012 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
As far as I know, the only ligature still used in Russian is "Ы". The rest went out with the reforms Lenin implemented in the early 1900s, though a few expatriates in France still used the old orthography into the 90s. Maybe they still do. To answer your question, when I learned Cyrillic, I used my textbook "Russian for Americans" by Ben Clark. It's older, and not for the faint of heart, but thorough. Edited by Chang He on 30 October 2012 at 9:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 markustein69 Bilingual Triglot Pro Member Spain Joined 4437 days ago 4 posts - 7 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*, English Studies: German, Persian Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 344 30 October 2012 at 9:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
It seems at first glance very comprehensive (around 800 pages in all) and starts from square one: As as bit if taste, the first chapter is focus on just five letters of the alphabet (aléf, bé, ré, dâl, mim). For me it was amazing because right today I have been able to write down my first sentences in Persian which was so encouraging. Regarding the BL, I took some semesters of French on Primary School and also it is similar to Catalan and most of the words ring a bell, so that I will likely be able to move forward without translating many BL words. Hope it helps Edited by markustein69 on 30 October 2012 at 9:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4671 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 11 of 344 31 October 2012 at 7:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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Le Grec ancien - First look
I flipped through the book, and can already tell that this is going to be a different adventure than any language I've attempted before. At first glance this looks like a normal Assimil. The cover directions talk about the standard two phases. There are 101 chapters, 680 pages (!), and the usual system of Greek on one side and French on the other. They stick with the Greek alphabet, which I like. The French side has a translation and a 'literal translation,' which I also like. But here is what's different: there are a lot more explanatory notes, and additional sections on writing Greek, and on l'étymologie sans peine. There is a 35-page dictionary in back, which I've never seen before in Assimil. Some of the recordings have music and song. I hope a lot of them do. And more ominously: the revision lessons contain verb and noun charts, with the instructions to periodically review them, and the note that 'it won't hurt' to drill them. I've never seen Assimil recommend drills and memorization! And on Lesson 42 a footnote says that if we have made it this far we are either extremely tenacious, or have fallen in love with Greek. Here's hoping it's love. Edited by kanewai on 31 October 2012 at 7:31am 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tcham Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4201 days ago 2 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 12 of 344 31 October 2012 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Ok, 3 lessons into 'Le Polonais sans peine'...
First impressions of the language: - As expected, pronunciation will be difficult. The difference between "sz" and "ś" and between "cz" and "ć" seems very subtle to me, and although I believe I can produce the sounds somewhat convincingly, it is difficult to hear the difference. - The orthography will take some getting used to. My poor English speaking brain is not yet ready to automatically reproduce "wszystko" and "ćwiczenie" in writing, but hopefully with time and practice the orthography will become second nature. - Obviously being only 3 lessons in I haven't explicitly been taught any grammar yet, but the difference between "nowy" and "co nowego?" is an indication of the grammatical nightmare that awaits me. First impressions of the course: - The explanations provided with the texts seem thorough and I've found the pronunciation aids helpful, particularly for identifying voiced consonants which become de-voiced under certain conditions. - There is more recognizable vocabulary than I expected, though I suspect it has been chosen deliberately to ease the French/English speaker in. - Looking ahead it seems that the genitive, the accusative and the instrumental are introduced (in a restricted way) around lessons 10-13. I'll update again when I reach the lesson 14-15 mark. Edited by Tcham on 31 October 2012 at 2:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fireballtrouble Triglot Senior Member Turkey Joined 4306 days ago 129 posts - 203 votes Speaks: Turkish*, French, English Studies: German | Message 13 of 344 01 November 2012 at 11:02am | IP Logged | |||||
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L'Allemand
I could start my challenge earlier than I planned. Today I have completed 12th lesson. Getting used to German pronunciation method was easy, however I think learning 3 types of H voice and stress types of German will take time to absorb. Quality of voice recordings is really high. I pay attention to make timeless repetition of phrases as book orders. Since 8th lesson, I realized that I spend 25-30 minutes a day. I don't think this amount of time will be enough when I reach, for example, 70th lesson. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Laurae Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 4820 days ago 51 posts - 67 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Dutch | Message 14 of 344 01 November 2012 at 1:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have completed 3 lessons of 'Italian with Ease'; I started three days early, since I have a three-day wedding to attend next week. I've enjoyed the dialogues and delivery so far. The immediacy of being 'thrown into' real dialogues is certainly preferable to my previous experience of book/audio courses.
The instructions are, however, a bit sketchy, so a quick survey of google led me to an expansion of the method via the 'Dutch with Ease' course: http://languagegeek.net/2010/05/12/how-to-use-an-assimil-cou rse/ These instructions are certainly more comprehensive and time-consuming than mine, so I might try them out for the next few lessons - I feel that I may get more out the my future lessons, by spending a bit more time on each one. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5177 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 344 01 November 2012 at 6:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I just finished the first 4 lessons of the Brazilian Portuguese course in half an hour. Most of the lessons are only 5-6 lines long. I am a little disappointed, although I supposed I should wait a few more weeks before I really have the right to say that. In either case, I will continue, albeit at a slightly faster pace. I am setting aside 40 minutes a day for Portuguese, so whatever I get done comfortably in that time, that's what I will do. I anticipate I will only be doing one or two lessons a day once I reach the active wave. At this rate, that might be next week. LOL 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Vārds Bilingual Diglot Newbie Latvia Joined 4692 days ago 24 posts - 41 votes Speaks: Russian*, Latvian* Studies: German | Message 16 of 344 01 November 2012 at 6:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
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French with ease.
Lesson 1 completed. First impression - pronunciation is challenging. A lot of letters in many words are not pronounced at all (est = e; mais = ma), some are pronounced very subtle; and of course la liaison. Btw I'm very surprised, that a nasal "n" in the middle of the words was so hard for me. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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