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Assimil - why so few options in English?

  Tags: Norwegian | Assimil
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
limey75
Senior Member
United Kingdom
germanic.eu/
Joined 4195 days ago

119 posts - 182 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English

 
 Message 1 of 8
09 November 2012 at 8:27am | IP Logged 
I will definitely buy the German with Ease.

But for Norwegian, I will have to buy the Norwegisch ohne Mühe (or whatever the title is) and study via German as a medium.

Why are there so few Assimil courses in English? Anyone know? Even Dutch has a larger range of languages available...
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newyorkeric
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 Message 2 of 8
09 November 2012 at 8:38am | IP Logged 
Americans don't like learning languages. Game over.
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embici
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 Message 3 of 8
09 November 2012 at 5:15pm | IP Logged 
I'm sure Assimil has studied the potential of the English market. I would assume that
there are a number of reasons for not translating their "Norvegien" (and other languages
into English). For example, maybe they are thinking that...
1) enough materials already exist in English for studying Norwegian so there wouldn't be
enough demand for their product;
2) English-speakers are not interested in learning Norwegian;
3) the costs of translating and adapting the material to English would not be made up in
sales.

That's just my guess.
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limey75
Senior Member
United Kingdom
germanic.eu/
Joined 4195 days ago

119 posts - 182 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English

 
 Message 4 of 8
09 November 2012 at 5:45pm | IP Logged 
Thanks guys.

It seems weird to imagine the demand for Dutch > Norwegian is greater than the global demand for English > Norwegian (considering all the people who have English as a second language and, depending on their mother tongues, e.g. Hindi, may have to learn Norwegian via English).

But I guess business is business :)
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fireballtrouble
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Turkey
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 Message 5 of 8
09 November 2012 at 7:43pm | IP Logged 
I think they're working with authors who already are really advanced in French. As we
know, they prepare their books in French originally, they "adapt" for other languages.
US market is fulfilled with Pimsleur, Rosetta stone, tell me more, Teach yourself... etc.
Maybe their target is European market mostly ?
2 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
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 Message 6 of 8
09 November 2012 at 8:11pm | IP Logged 
limey75 wrote:
It seems weird to imagine the demand for Dutch > Norwegian is greater than the global demand for English > Norwegian (considering all the people who have English as a second language and, depending on their mother tongues, e.g. Hindi, may have to learn Norwegian via English).
That's very hypothetic though. An Indian would mostly need Norwegian if he/she moved to Norway, and then the materials wouldn't be a problem.
Also just look at this forum. Practically everyone who's learning a Scandinavian language is also learning German.
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emk
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 Message 7 of 8
09 November 2012 at 9:24pm | IP Logged 
Assimil's main selling point is that their courses work fairly well. The US market for courses seems to be driven more by marketing and miracle cures.

And then Assimil needs to find distributors, write advertisements, translate courses, and build a well-known brand in the US (or England). None of this is easy.
2 persons have voted this message useful



tarvos
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Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
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 Message 8 of 8
09 November 2012 at 10:07pm | IP Logged 
Quote:
Practically everyone who's learning a Scandinavian language is also learning
German.


Or speak it already.


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