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Assimil level of French for French Base | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| jpazzz Groupie United States Joined 4834 days ago 54 posts - 76 votes  Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 11 26 April 2014 at 7:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello Everybody, I hope some of you can answer a really ignorant (but hopefully not stupid) question. What level of French is needed to use the Assimil French Base courses. More specifically, would one know enough French to effectively handle an Assimil French base course if one had successfully completed the Assimil French With Ease English base course? And, if it's not too complicating, would one of the Perfectionment French base courses require a greater knowledge of Fench than an Sans Pleine?
Cheers, John 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6994 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 2 of 11 26 April 2014 at 9:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I've been through New French with Ease, Using French, French without Toil, and am in Business French. I continue to revise all of them. I have a Perfecionment book for Spanish because the English base for the same book has some terrible translations. My Spanish is better than my French. If I didn't know Spanish pretty well, deciphering Spanish through French would be challenging. Doing so might suit some people. I find a good translation more efficient.
From my perspective and with my learning style, I'd want to be a strong B2 or C1 in a language before attempting to use it as a base for learning a difficult language. I would never go after Russian using an Assimil French base course at my current level. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 4805 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 3 of 11 26 April 2014 at 10:03am | IP Logged | ||
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It's neither a stupid nor an ignorant question. Believe me, you're not the first person to ask this. :)
Now, I haven't completed Assimil's "New French With Ease" myself. I was about halfway into the "New French With Ease" when I got bored and dropped it. I also own both of Assimil's advanced courses for French: "Business French" and "Using French". I have also looked at Assimil's French based courses for Tamil and Arabic.
I think you should be at least B1 to be able to use one of their course that have french as the base language. You need to understand exactly what the translations mean. And the explanations and the exercises. You need to be comfortable reading French to make the most of an Assimil course with a French base. That said, is it impossible to use such a course? Of couse not. But you'd spend more time balancing a heavy dictionary in one hand and Google Translate on your tablet in the other than learning your target-language. If nothing else, it would improve your French. :) Assimil says that "New French With Ease" makes you a good B2 while "Using French" takes you to C1. Realistically speaking, after "Using French," you'll be around B2. So, after you're done with "Using French," you'll be ready to tackle these courses. Also, I don't think that you need to know more French to study a "Perfectionnement" course than a "sans peine" course. The French in these courses is written for native speakers. It's the target-language that's dumbed-down (graded, if you prefer). :) Edited by napoleon on 26 April 2014 at 10:09am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jpazzz Groupie United States Joined 4834 days ago 54 posts - 76 votes Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 11 26 April 2014 at 11:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello Luke and Napoleon,
Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it. Now I guess I have to decide whether there are any languages that I want to learn badly enough to get French to a C1 level that aren't offered by Linguaphone or in an Assimil English base. Although not my only interest, one of he things that I'd been thinking of is the Perfectionment Russe. I'm sorry that Linguaphone doesn't make one of their second level courses for Russian. I really like Linguaphone Russian, and I really liked the second level of Linguaphone German. Cheers, John 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6994 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 5 of 11 26 April 2014 at 11:59am | IP Logged | ||
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Why not one of the various generations of Russian Without Toil?
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| jpazzz Groupie United States Joined 4834 days ago 54 posts - 76 votes Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 11 26 April 2014 at 12:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello Luke,
Good question! I have two different versions of Assimil's Russian: the current Russian With Ease, and Russian without Toil from the 30s (It's odd how much the book for the latter cost me!). But in general, I prefer Linguaphone to Assimil and the Without Toils/With Eases don't go further than Linguaphone. As I suggested, I'm mainly thinking of languages that Linguaphone doesn't teach and also the Perfectionment course in Russian. Hope this makes sense. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5321 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 11 26 April 2014 at 2:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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As a reward for surviving my French B2 exam, I bought myself a copy of Assimil's L'Égyptien hiéroglyphique. I found the Assimil course quite pleasant to use: there were a few unknown words here and there, but nothing that prevented me from using the course.
I think that using an Assimil course with only a B1 in the base language might be a bit more difficult, but I could imagine somebody managing to do it. In fact, if you can already sort-of read the target language, you might not need to know the base language at all: you could just use the course as a graded reader. In general, the further along I get in an Assimil course, the less I rely on the base language. I'm currently at lesson 48 in L'Égyptian hiéroglyphique, and I can often read for a couple of lines at a time without glancing at the translation. Edited by emk on 27 April 2014 at 2:00am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4798 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 8 of 11 26 April 2014 at 2:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I totally agree with emk. Assimil can be useful even when you don't know the base
language at all (especially in cases you don't have much choice when it comes to beginner texts with audio). B1 like French will suffice for use of the base language but I'd recommend having another source as well so that you don't have to learn both French and your real Target language when your French knowledge isn't fully sufficient. Having a dictionary and a grammar book aside can never hurt. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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