|
 |
To understand or to produce with Assimil | ||
Tags: Assimil | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6395 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 9 of 16 12 March 2014 at 11:12pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Here's an example study plan for Assimil. As it says, you don't have to do all the steps, especially for every single lesson.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4052 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 10 of 16 12 March 2014 at 11:35pm | IP Logged | ||
I have less experience in the area of developing active skills than others on this board so they might advise you better than I can, if that's a major concern of yours. But in general I would say that sounds completely normal for a passive wave. In my experience active skills can lag significantly behind your passive understanding unless you specifically develop them. If you're planning on using the course as prescribed (passive wave, then active wave) and have no immediate need to develop active skills earlier than usual, then I would say you're probably doing fine. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 3805 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 11 of 16 12 March 2014 at 11:40pm | IP Logged | ||
I just finished the first wave of FWT about two weeks ago., and am still on the second wave. I found the supplemental exercises intensive, but worthwhile and have been doing them again on the second wave. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| markmsb Newbie United States Joined 3716 days ago 16 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* | Message 12 of 16 13 March 2014 at 4:37am | IP Logged | ||
|
Thanks again everyone. All of your advice has been very helpful.
Mohave. If you could lend your experience. If you have already, at what point in your studies with assimil did you really start to be able to develop sentences in thought without having to translate through your mind in English? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5363 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 13 of 16 13 March 2014 at 4:11pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I am sure many will disagree, but in my opinion developing 'sentences in thought
without having to translate through your mind in English' is much more than Assimil, or any language course, can provide. Even if you take the boot camp approach to Assimil that you are taking (which I personally think is probably the best approach rather than their own 'with ease' approach) you are unlikely to start producing and thinking in the target language. That skill takes real people, real interaction and developing immediate response reactions. Even then you have to think things through in your own language at times and make horrendous mistakes that you kick yourself over after the conversation. One thing you can do is start to incorporate Boris Shekhtman's ideas early - they described in brief here - http://andrewblackman.net/2013/04/how-to-improve-your- foreign-language-immediately/ Although this summary is no substitute for buying Mr Shekhtman's book. Even if you are role playing your 'islands' with yourself - and some phrases are lifted out of your Assimil - you can begin to develop your more automatic responses for real conversation and thus get a step closer to the language. The key, I have found, is to start with basic every day scenarios and work upwards. I have recently spent quite a bit of time looking after 4 and 5 year olds (i.e. baby sitting for friends) - the age when children are becoming fully independent - and it is noticeable that they instinctively role play conversations with themselves whilst playing - and at the same time developing their language usage. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6395 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 14 of 16 13 March 2014 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | ||
No, that's what happens if you don't get enough input (especially audio). Assimil is actually great for, well, assimilating the language and at least understanding it without translating. And when you can do that, thinking in the language gets easier too. But I myself avoid translation exercises because of this issue, including those in Assimil. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5363 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 15 of 16 14 March 2014 at 12:10am | IP Logged | ||
|
One thing to add to my post above - One method I use for activating input from courses
like Assimil is to use the self-dialogue method every time I come home from work, or go to the local shop to buy, say milk or a beer. So I might say in the target language: Where are you going? I am going to the grocery shop to buy some milk and some beer. Where is the local grocery shop Its straight down this street and then left at the junction... What brand of beer do you normally buy? I look to see what is on special off etc. (I am not an alcoholic, honest!) When I do this regularly, all the words and phrases I get from Assimil, etc will suddenly jump into my head to be used in the self conversation. Natuarlly, there will be words that I don't know in the target language or idioms or grammatical constructions that I don't know how to communicate - so I make a mental note of these and look them up. That way I find my gaps (which are always so large) get smaller as time goes on. I admit its not a way to learn a language to the level of being able to re-write War and Peace, but I find it good training for real conversation. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| markmsb Newbie United States Joined 3716 days ago 16 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* | Message 16 of 16 15 March 2014 at 7:28pm | IP Logged | ||
|
The self dialogue approach I believe could be a great approach to activate the language. Although, just do it in the privacy of your own home so no one will think you are going crazy. haha.
But, seriously. Maybe I am expecting too much from myself after only or so 20 lessons of assimil. I was expecting to converse and talk in complete sentences already without effort. I think I just need to sit back and enjoy the process of learning. The production will come in time. 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
