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FIA and Assimil French Comparison | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5175 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 9 of 14 07 August 2013 at 2:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe another way to ask this would be: if someone spends the same amount of time on Assimil New French with Ease and FIA which would be more productive? The threads I have read make it sound like Assimil would be far more productive... even though FIA is a superior course. I don't understand that. If someone just wants to advance as far as possible as fast as possible which would be the better choice?
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| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7005 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 10 of 14 07 August 2013 at 8:33am | IP Logged | ||
I agree with Flexi's points, especially that Assimil and other courses exagerate the level you are likely to attain from them.
If your only choice is Assimil New French with Ease or French in Action, then I believe FIA will take the student further, given the same study time. One reason is because spending 350 - 400 hours studying NFWE will hit a point of dimisishing returns perhaps even before 200 hours of study. FIA will still be stimulating the student with new material and more varied activities. Now, I'm an advocate of the multiple Assimil course approach. Assimil has New French with Ease, Using French, Business French, and French without Toil. If the question is 400 hours on these 4 courses versus 400 hours on French In Action, there will still be disagreement on the most effective track, but with multiple courses, Assimil levels the playing field. Having followed the multiple Assimil approach with French, I know that one is brought to a good level. I'm still interested in FIA, knowing that it uses a different immersion method and knowing that the written component is more explicit. One can certainly write Assimil lessons and translation exercises. That may not be as much "fun" as the exposure to new dialogues and vocabulary that one is afforded using the multi-Assimil avenue. Part of the decision comes down to learning style and goals. If one likes Assimil, using all their French courses is a way to get a solid footing in the language. Sometimes with a long course like FIA, the student can become discouraged because it really does have 400 hours of work built into it. Assimil can be more attractive, because with 15-30 minutes a day for 5-6 months, one can feel that they've gotten a lot out of a course and also feel ready to move on. If the "move on" is to another, and another Assimil course, one has the distinct milestones of making further progress each course. In Assimil's favor is definitely flexibility, convenience, and ease of review. French in Action may turn out a more well rounded student. I don't think you can go wrong with either, but if one isn't sure they'll be committed to FIA with vidoes and books and workbooks for 400 hours, Assimil is probably a more practical. If one gives up Assimil after spending 30 minutes a day for 5 months, and then a few years later decides once again to "learn French", Assimil will reconstitute itself more quickly than aborting FIA after 75 hours of study. If one has a bit of discipline, one can do Assimil in their spare time. Read a lesson in the bathroom. Listen to some lessons while making breakfast, walking to school, working out, driving to work. When you hit the end of the course, just start over. When a course gets boring, start a new course. When you get discouraged, review an old course. Edited by luke on 07 August 2013 at 8:49am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5365 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 11 of 14 07 August 2013 at 10:07am | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe I should describe how FIA works -
The first component is the video element - 51 25 minute videos, which are entirely in French. The videos a split into half story, half language explanation. The story line actors speak at natural speed and in natural French (e.g. not 'Je..ne..suis..pas' but 'shweeepa'). The language explanation is done by the 'natural' method of making everything comprehensible by reference to video. The text book covers the main part of story dialogue with explanations by pictoral example. It also has progressively more difficult reading material, so one picks up the register and idiom of written French. The workbook/audio materials consist of exercises and grammar explanations (after lesson 6 entirely in French) - this covers pronunciation, grammar (which is done by 'observations' on a particular point), written and spoken exercises. FIA may only have roughly the same number of words and grammatical functions in it as Assimil but they are hit from many more angles - and that is important if one is to pick them up naturally. As to the question - 'as far as possible as fast as possible' I would probably say Assimil - FIA in its totality is a total year long commitment, but I think one would have a deeper, more ingrained, grasp of French from FIA. But, in saying that, if you did Assimil and watched the FIA videos (which you can do on the internet) you would progress nicely. Edited by Elexi on 07 August 2013 at 10:08am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5885 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 12 of 14 07 August 2013 at 11:49am | IP Logged | ||
I have Assimil "Französisch Ohne Mühe" and it claims "With this method you can learn a new foreign language in 20-30 minutes a day". This is part of the Assimil marketing strategy and should be taken with a grain of salt. Every language course makes its own promise to get people to buy, but success is always relative to the person. Learning a language only relying on Assimil (no native materials, TV) on just 30 minutes a day is very unlikely -- and yet probably not impossible for someone. As for FIA, the reason why it takes longer is that the lessons are more drawn out than with Assimil. You have the instructor dictating conjugation of verbs, for example. It will say "il ecoute" (pause, picture of a man on the phone) - "elle écoute" (pause, picture of a woman answering phone). There are also times when you're watching people and they're not speaking. They're moving from one point to the next, gesturing, etc. That's a lot of extra minutes per episode. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sterogyl Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4167 days ago 152 posts - 263 votes Studies: German*, French, EnglishC2 Studies: Japanese, Norwegian | Message 13 of 14 07 August 2013 at 12:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would just take the book that's more appealing to me. In the long run it doesn't really matter, for no textbook leads to mastery of a language. It can only cover a chunk of the language as an example, serving as a foothold for further studies. Assimil has the great advantage that it has advanced level books for some languages, namely French, Spanisch, Italian, English. These books are not bad. On the other hand, some people dislike or even hate textbooks. In these cases it would be more appropriate to start with 'native materials' as soon as possible.
Contrary to what most people claim here, depending on the language, I think you can attain a beginning B2-level after completing and thoroughly internalising the content of an "Assimil XXX with ease" textbook. But as I said, it really depends on the language and how thoroughly you are able to study it, as well as on other factors such as memory and the ability to concentrate. I think that the combined use of the text book and an SRS like Anki could be beneficial in this regard. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7005 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 14 of 14 07 August 2013 at 1:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Another factor for the FIA versus Assimil debate is how one schedules their study.
If one has an hour or two per day to dedicate to study, FIA is a great choice. The variety of activities will help keep you fresh for these longer study sessions. If one has 2 to 10 2-15 minute study sessions per day, then Assimil is a natural choice. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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