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Assimil French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| The Law Newbie United States Joined 6170 days ago 31 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 21 20 June 2007 at 10:34pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_kk_1/103-3713584-9883821?ie=U TF8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=assimil%20french
The Paper/Cassette edition seems pretty cheap compared to the Hardcover/CD, but anyway... I have some questions. How far will French with Ease take me on the basis of fluency compared to FSI Basic French course? Basic fluency? How about the other courses such as Using French/Business French? Has anyone gone through all three courses? It seems like you only get about 3 hours worth of audio for the each course but also a 500 page paperback/hardcover book... how does that work? How do you learn to pronounce every word in only 3 hours of audio? I think I might purchase the With Ease/Using French and Business French, my goal is to become fluent in French so that I can study law in Paris in a dual degree program. Edited by The Law on 20 June 2007 at 10:35pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6704 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 21 21 June 2007 at 6:15am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I think it was Gamma who said that he learned French through that course, and got good enough to learn Russian through French (with "Le Russe sans peine").
It has been said before, don't judge the course by the amount of audio. Bear in mind that FSI has a lot of repetition drills (you could easily create your own drills, from just any course available). In one way, Assimil "saves time". That being said, I'm sure that FSI French is damn good - I just happen to like Assimil more (i also got their German course after trying FSI German for some time). As many FSI courses are free to download I think you should definitely have a look at them. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6486 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes 4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 3 of 21 21 June 2007 at 11:06am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
I remember reading somewhere on this site that French with Ease will get you to an intermediate level, but it won't take you to basic fluency like FSI French. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6887 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 21 21 June 2007 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
I my opinion there are 3 full courses worth mentioning: French in Action (FIA), FSI, and Assimil French. All three are designed with enough grammar and vocabulary to take you to proficiency, fluency will come with hours of real practice. French in Action (video, text and audio) is unarguably the best course of the three, and the most expensive option if you order the audio CDs. French FSI is free, but a boring compare with FSI. Both French in Action and FSI where designed as courses for full time students, French in Action (audio) has better pronunciation support and conversational drills FSI has better structure drills. Between the two French in Action (audio) is more advanced and might present problems for the beginning learner while FSI is graded more for a beginner. I suspect this is because the FIA audio was designed as a resource for university professor to use in class. And then there is Assimil. Assimil’s advantage is that it is a part-time course. It is heavily vocabulary centric, more interesting that FSI (I know subjective) and cheaper than FIA audio (a fact).
You will need both French with Ease and Using French to reach the “fluent” level. The first volume does not introduce all the verb tenses, just enough to get you going. One thing to consider is that Using French teaches the literately verb tenses necessary for reading, something FSI completely neglects and surprisingly FIA has only light coverage.
I have gone through New French with Ease, Using French, but not Business French. The two Assimil volumes along with the French in Action text book where enough to get me into unabridged French news and novel reading.
Just the fact that you ask that question tells me you probably ought to spend money on the French in Action textbook/workbooks and try sticking FSI or as much as you can stand. BTW you don’t need the FIA audio to make good use of the video and audio, but that is another story. You do need to master French pronunciation but you don’t have to master it with FSI. See below.
No and that is Assimil’s weak point with French, or it was mine anyway. You will need to supplement Assimil with another course. I found that a little course call SmartFrench makes the perfect Assimil supplement it is reasonably priced, dual-texted, and part-time. If not SmartFrench, you will need something else such as Pimsleur, FSI or the FIA audio. I hope this helps. John 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| fredmf Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6258 days ago 43 posts - 51 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 5 of 21 21 June 2007 at 2:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
No and that is Assimil’s weak point with French, or it was mine anyway. You will need to supplement Assimil with another course. I found that a little course call SmartFrench makes the perfect Assimil supplement it is reasonably priced, dual-texted, and part-time. If not SmartFrench, you will need something else such as Pimsleur, FSI or the FIA audio. I hope this helps. John [/QUOTE] This will depend on your learning style and your ear for the language. I am currently using Assimil and feel that my pronunciation is coming along just fine, and don’t particularly feel the need to supplement it at the moment (naturally, this could change). How does it work in three hours of audio? Extreme cleverness, is the short answer. The longer answer is that the dialogues, while seemingly nonchalant, are written very deliberately to give you practice in regular intervals with various words and constructions, while gradually exposing you to new grammar and vocabulary -- and it’s pretty much up to the learner to drill pronunciations on his or her own, as he or she has time and sees fit. I’ve actually found that Assimil will seek deliberately to trip you up, pronunciation wise, almost to the point of offering tongue twisters (from lesson 13: “…je trouve que ses chansons sont idiotes…” – say THAT one five times fast). After you’ve slogged through the process of trying to get through nightmarish constructions like that one, you’ll find your ability to pronounce the language has taken a step forward. But it’s undeniable that the program’s simplicity (just dialogues and exercises) somewhat shifts the onus of pronunciation practice onto the learner. For me, this works great; for others, maybe not so much (you don’t have to search far on this forum to find people who hate it). Is it “with ease”? Not always. But the pronunciations are there for those willing to listen and repeat until you sound, sort of more or less, like the native speakers on the recordings. Fred P.S. Regarding French in Action: It’s awesome. But before you spend the several hundred bucks at minimum on the audio and workbook program, ask yourself if you have the time and inclination (for you’ll need both) to spend sitting at a desk, studying in the normal way of students. For me, in my busy life, the answer was, sadly, no. John’s point about Assimil -- that its selling point is the fact that it's a part-time program -- is right on the money. That was the reason I gravitated toward it, and for me, it was the best possible choice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| The Law Newbie United States Joined 6170 days ago 31 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 21 21 June 2007 at 3:04pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Seems like Assimil would be great for a language like Spanish or German since you write like you speak/speak like you write... but for French... or even English for that matter... I'm not sure.
I have Pimsleur French Levels I-III, so I guess I could supplement that with French with Ease/Using French. I've gone through French with Michel Thomas (basic and advanced) and loved it... went through Unit 1 of FSI and found it horrible boring. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| fredmf Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6258 days ago 43 posts - 51 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 7 of 21 21 June 2007 at 3:16pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I have heard and read (here, and elsewhere) that starting with Pimsleur I-III
is a very good way of developing pronunciation and a realistic accent. In fact, when I go to learn Spanish (maybe, say, next year), I plan to do just that. Edited by fredmf on 04 August 2007 at 9:35pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| The Law Newbie United States Joined 6170 days ago 31 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* | Message 8 of 21 21 June 2007 at 5:47pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Is this for real? 40 dollars for French with Ease w/ audio?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/2700520130/ref=pd_bbs _olp_2/104-8764357-7838340?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182464895&sr =8-2 Edited by The Law on 21 June 2007 at 5:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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