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Assimil Alternatives- Advice Sought | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4442 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish | Message 1 of 5 02 February 2014 at 7:16am | IP Logged |
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I am seriously thinking about getting Assimil and seeking opinions on choosing between:
Choice 1 Russian with Ease for English Speakers (designed to go from A1->B2) OR Choice 2 Advanced Spanish for German Speakers (designed to go from B2->C1) I am a native English speaker and study the following: upper intermediate (B2+) in both German and Spanish, total beginner in Russian. I'm trying to optimize my time and study all three languages, and have some questions. Is it required (or advisable) to do Assimil every day or would every other day be ok? Any thoughts on beginning v. advanced Assimil courses? Any reviews of these courses in particular? Any thoughts on using L2 to learn L3, if they are at approximately the same level? (Not using a stronger language to begin a new language.) In my case, my reading skills are stronger in German, while my speaking skills are stronger in Spanish. I don't think beginning Russian for Spanish or German speakers would make sense in this scenario, but I'm open to ideas, including other language programs. Thank you in advance. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5195 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 2 of 5 02 February 2014 at 11:04am | IP Logged |
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Using Spanish is another option for you. It is the 60 lesson English based advanced Spanish course. I really liked it. You need to buy the book individually and then buy the audio from the French based course (which matches perfectly) because they do not sell the Using Spanish package anymore.
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| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3808 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 5 02 February 2014 at 11:49pm | IP Logged |
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You have to consider whether you can follow complex grammatical explanations in the base language.
Also, Advanced Spanish in German might contain words that you know neither in Spanish nor in German and then you'll need a dictionary. Of course, it depends on how much time you have got, but if it's possible, do it every single day. Edited by Hungringo on 02 February 2014 at 11:50pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4442 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish | Message 4 of 5 03 February 2014 at 1:47am | IP Logged |
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Thanks, James29: Great tip on the Using Spanish with English book and French audio option. I didn't know you could mix and match between the book with one base language and the audio in another, of though of course that makes sense, since typically the audio is just in the target language, right?...I've never actually seen Assimil except on their website, so it's a bit hard to visualize how it works.
@Hungringo: I am trying to find time to study three languages at once and time is at a premium. I'm not sure about being able to do Assimil daily, but I could probably manage 3 days per week. From that perspective, would doing the Advanced make more sense? I may be wrong, but my impression is that a language needs more attention at the initial stages. As I said, I've never actually seen Assimil, so it's hard for me to evaluate. Edited by BAnna on 03 February 2014 at 1:47am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4074 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 5 of 5 03 February 2014 at 2:16am | IP Logged |
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Here's a video review of the Assimil series by Professor Arguelles that should give you an idea of what the course looks like.
In case any of that is unclear, basically the average course consists of ~100 short lessons, and most lessons consist of a dialog presented in parallel text of the base language and the target language, and you also get 1 minute of audio for the dialog and exercises that is 100% in the target language. Then notes are given in the base language describing the new grammar points presented in each lesson and any relevant cultural notes. Every 7 lessons is a review lesson which goes over the grammar covered in the past 6 lessons. Each lesson is very short, and you're mean to only study each one for 20-30 minutes a day, and the idea is that as you re-encounter the various grammar and vocabulary in new context you get more and more familiar with it over time. Different language bases, as long as they're the same generation, will typically have the same dialogs for the Target language, and different grammar notes and translations for the various issues necessitated by different base languages. It's also worth mentioning that the CEFR levels for Assimil are probably way overly optimistic, and the advanced courses are probably more useful for an upper-beginner or lower-intermediate user, and won't bring you up to C1. Edited by YnEoS on 03 February 2014 at 2:16am 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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