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Assimil Experiment Group Log

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344 messages over 43 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 22 ... 42 43 Next >>
FireViN
Diglot
Senior Member
Brazil
missaoitaliano.wordpRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4988 days ago

196 posts - 292 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2
Studies: Italian

 
 Message 169 of 344
24 December 2012 at 4:42pm | IP Logged 
O francês sem esforço
Passive wave: Leçon 15

I just finished lesson 15. It was a VERY long and busy week that kept me from studying everyday. My throat was sore and I was basically unable to pronounce French, haha. Anyway, the lessons are getting a lot harder and even though when I finish a lesson I understand 100% of the audio, when I start I get about 30%, a few words here and there. It surprises me since I thought French was way closer to Portuguese, but now I'm having a hard time understanding it when I start. Well, at least I understand when I finish, and I spend only about 20 minutes a lesson.

The audio I have might be from an older version, I'm not sure. It matches with my book, but some of the prices are very different. At lesson 15, they order two beers for 1,50 francs in the book, but in the audio it's 80 francs. Not a big deal, anyway.
1 person has voted this message useful



Marishka
Newbie
United States
Joined 5007 days ago

25 posts - 56 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, French, Dutch

 
 Message 170 of 344
27 December 2012 at 2:36am | IP Logged 
Dutch With Ease Update

Passive Wave: Lessons 50-56
Active Wave: Lessons 1-7

I've completed the first seven lessons of the active wave. I was able to translate the dialogues from English to Dutch blindfolded with both hands tied behind my back! I'm going to savor that small victory, as I doubt I'll be able to make that claim when I get to the more difficult active wave lessons.

I'm not nearly as happy with the passive wave, not because it's too difficult, but because it has become irritating. Two bickering women, first encountered in a few earlier lessons, returned in nine of the past thirteen lessons. Perhaps "Dora" and "Mia" are meant to be amusing characters, but their inane squabbling is annoying to me.

The dialogues featuring Dora and Mia remind me of tacky tv commercials. Sometimes the most annoying commercials are the most memorable, so maybe that is what Assimil is aiming for with those dialogues. If so, it may not work on me, as I always hit the mute button during commercials. In any case, I worked my way through those lessons as quickly as possible!

1 person has voted this message useful



Expugnator
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 4925 days ago

3335 posts - 4349 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento
Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian

 
 Message 171 of 344
27 December 2012 at 2:58pm | IP Logged 
Il nuovo russo senza sforzo

Currently at lesson 51. Like I said, lessons are getting longer. Notes are about twice as
big as the actual Russian text. In my opinion, this represents the failure of the Assimil
model. If they have so much to explain in notes, that means one can't learn just from
assimilating. As for myself, I'm used to language learning and therefore I think that at
least half the notes are useless and the remaining ones could be half as short.

I always do exercises source-target language, and therefore I don't do an active wave. My
active wave and review will actually consist of picking another Assimil book right after
this one, which will most likely be Russian Without Toil (1951 edition).
1 person has voted this message useful



Flarioca
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 5641 days ago

635 posts - 816 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, Esperanto, French, EnglishC2, Spanish, German, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Mandarin

 
 Message 172 of 344
27 December 2012 at 10:44pm | IP Logged 
El Catalán sin esfuerzo - Lessons 36 to 42

Sixth review lesson. I don't have much to say about this group of lessons. It seems that I won't have much problems with prepositions. Pronouns, however, are still a problem, though it must be said that my grammar book has helped to overcome some difficulties.

The lessons are going to get longer (and more complex, I guess) very soon. Let's hope that my comprehension remains on the same level.
1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4466 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 173 of 344
27 December 2012 at 11:35pm | IP Logged 
Le Breton sans peine (until lesson 56)

I have started the second wave of the course. Most of the translations I can do without
effort, but there are sometimes a few things with the various forms of to be that I
recognise but cannot fluently produce in writing; and word order can be a bit tricky (I
sometimes switch components at the ends). I also forgot some very common words such as
"stal" (shop) which didn't get reused later on for some reason (strange because that is
something you would happen to use quite often...).

I also need to distinguish between hag an eil hag egile/eben and nag an eil nag
egile/eben (both... and... or neither... nor...)

In terms of grammar, we have now started the past tense of "to be". We have also
completed quite a few mutations and added some more conjugated prepositions to our
arsenal. This week was not much in terms of new grammar. But the lessons are getting
harder, I am making more mistakes and I need to stop leaving Breton to the nights. But
what can you do with a thesis on your back. Not much, I'm afraid.

I will leave you with a Breton phrase of the week:

Pegen aonik out! (Combien tu es peureux!), or, You're a wuss.
1 person has voted this message useful



melkior79
Newbie
Japan
Joined 4390 days ago

16 posts - 31 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Latin, French

 
 Message 174 of 344
28 December 2012 at 12:16am | IP Logged 
New French with Ease 36

I am now blessed with a winter vacation which lasts until April.
I am fortunate to have this extra time. I am however, still committed to the 30-40 minute per day schedule, as I have other language learning projects on the go.

Outside of the study time, I have been listening to dialogs on my i-pod on occasion ie at the bus-stop walking to the shops. I am listening to older lessons over and over, but other than that I am sticking to the restricted study time.

I laughed my ass off at the 'mon colonel' in lesson 35. However, I doubt I will be able to tell someone that they are mistaken in French without looking at the book again.

I feel that I am not retaining alot of the information given in the notes to each lesson. My instincts are screaming for more grammar drills. I feel that I am advancing to the next lesson before I have mastered the material that came before it.

I know I am not supposed to think about these things with Assimil.

I believe that I am improving however, I am still unable to produce language independently of the book. There are so many nouns that are passing me by not memorised

This book is awesome though. So comprehensive. The recordings are excellent. I enjoy learning this way.
In short I am having fun and that has to be the most important thing.
2 persons have voted this message useful



fireballtrouble
Triglot
Senior Member
Turkey
Joined 4283 days ago

129 posts - 203 votes 
Speaks: Turkish*, French, English
Studies: German

 
 Message 175 of 344
29 December 2012 at 1:14pm | IP Logged 
L'Allemand - lesson 51

Well, the active wave has begun. After 40th lesson, I began to feel that daily load was
about to increase.
In general terms, I still find the coursebook really useful. What I feel strange about
the course is the strict rule of "a little but every single day". 30 minutes aren't
enough (at least for me) to say "yeah, today I learnt well"
Language acquisition is of course based on countless repetition and cumulative
progression but first of all I don't think that language learning can be considered as
getting prepared for GMAT, SAT etc..

I found that I couldn't really absorb the lessons on the days that I returned home so
tired. So from now on, I'll study 1-2 lessons on the days when I feel myself ready for
studying new stuff and on the other days when I feel myself, I'll just repeat previous
ones.

I'm curious to see what other members think about their "experiences" rather than the
similarities they found on the grammar, lesson notes etc..
1 person has voted this message useful



jeronz
Diglot
Newbie
New Zealand
Joined 4617 days ago

37 posts - 79 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French, Yiddish, Latin, German, Italian

 
 Message 176 of 344
30 December 2012 at 1:51am | IP Logged 
El Nuevo Francés sin Esfuerzo
Passive Wave: Lessons 64-70
Active Wave: Lessons 15-21

It has now been 12 weeks since starting French. It has really been a relatively
painless experience so far compared to Spanish. I feel like I am really improving.

I have run into one problem: I am increasingly having to double check certain details
in L1 (Spanish) with the English version of the course "New French with Ease." This is
obviously due to the French becoming more advanced and me being increasingly less
confident in understanding the Spanish grammatical explanations and occasionally some vocabulary.

My impression so far on using Assimil as an exclusive or close to exclusive initial
method is fairly positive.


1 person has voted this message useful



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