|
 |
Assimil v. Living Language | ||
Tags: Living Language | Assimil | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| dmg Diglot Senior Member Canada dgryski.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6805 days ago 555 posts - 605 votes  1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch, Esperanto | Message 9 of 24 21 November 2010 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | ||
I was really under-impressed by "Teach Yourself: Improve your French". I think it fit somewhere between high end of the "New French with Ease" and the middle of "Using French". I wouldn't recommend it at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6897 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 10 of 24 21 November 2010 at 6:27pm | IP Logged | ||
I bought the book years ago and I remember some of the vocab keys driving me insane - example : it gave you precipitación (thanks, i could have bloody well worked that out for myself) but failed to provide other words that were not so obvious. The thing with the audio's intrigued me somewhat. I didn't buy the CDs at the time but later on I was able to provide our local library with an off-site security backup (they only need ask) but I've never listened to it. Book's in the loft, so I might get it down and have a look. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| noriyuki_nomura Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 5134 days ago 304 posts - 465 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Japanese, FrenchC2, GermanC2, ItalianC1, SpanishB2, DutchB1 Studies: TurkishA1, Korean | Message 11 of 24 21 November 2010 at 6:44pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Personally, I would stick with Assimil or Living Language (if you have the money, why not both?), since they are really value-for-money and offer more substance compared to many of the other language products out there in the market. However, if you can speak German, Langenscheidt offers also very good learning materials for a wide range of languages. And as you progress further, try the various textbooks available out there in the market, such as El Ventilator for C1 level or listen to Spanish news in podcast or simply watch some Spanish news on youtube.
On a side note, I think that Assimil and Living Language work better especially for their western languages, when it comes to non-western languages however, the 'entry level' into the language can be very steep as the beginning chapters of Assimil can be kinda difficult... Edited by noriyuki_nomura on 22 November 2010 at 9:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gateway Newbie Australia Joined 5241 days ago 13 posts - 15 votes | Message 12 of 24 22 November 2010 at 9:01am | IP Logged | ||
|
Thanks Noriyuki
I am interested in Vietnamese and Chinese. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AntonioJBrown Newbie New Zealand Joined 5338 days ago 10 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Spanish | Message 13 of 24 22 November 2010 at 9:39am | IP Logged | ||
|
I bought Assimil Spanish with Ease, as a complete beginner in Spanish I am ashamed to say
it just went too fast for me and after a while I was just totally lost. I think it is probably reasonable if you already know some basic Spanish and have an understanding of the grammar. Also before trying Assimil I listened to Pimsleur. Since my exposure to Spanish was latin American Spanish I found the European Spanish accent to be very strange ! It is funny how quickly one develops these kind of biases ! I haven't tried Living Language but I've tried Pimsleur which was OK, but really not particularly advanced. Also Michel Thomas was a bit annoying for some reason, I couldn't finish listening to it. In my opinion most of the popular language courses around such as Pimsleur, Living Language, Michel Thomas just aren't that good !! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 6940 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 14 of 24 22 November 2010 at 10:03am | IP Logged | ||
|
I like both Living Language and Assimil. I would recommend both courses. I have Assimil Spanish Without Toil and the old Living Language courses as well as Ultimate Spanish. I like a mix of learning materials but I stick to using Assimil on a daily basis and the other courses as extra.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4683 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 15 of 24 18 November 2013 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | ||
|
bumping this thread up rather than starting a new one
Short Version: Choose Assimil if you already have a sense of the language from previous studies, or from knowing other related languages; or to refresh a forgotten language. Choose Living Language if you are new to language learning, or for 'harder languages,' or for languages where Assimil has a bad reputation. Longer Version: I'm half way through Living Language Japanese Complete (2012), and it's been an excellent introduction to Japanese. The strong points are: clear recordings, a lot of short lessons, good integration with online games and tools, the use of kanji, hiragana, and katakana throughout the book (this must be a change from the previous version), and a nice, steady pace. It is definitely a "sit down and study" course, as opposed to the kind where you can read on a commute, or do while lying on the sofa. I don't think I would have the patience for this course if I were already familiar with other similar languages, or if I already were at an >A2 level. My only real complaint is that the books are over-sized. I like standard paperbacks, as they're easier to carry around. It's still amateur level - LL is great for a hobbyist; a serious language learner or academic might want something more rigorous. Living Language could definitely become one of my 'go to' courses for new languages. I would love it if they had a Turkish version (they don't), and if I ever tackle Arabic again, or decide to try Russian, this would be one of my top choices. I don't think I would use it for Romance or Germanic languages; Assimil would still be my personal choice for these. Particularly for Romance languages - I've had enough exposure to French and Spanish that I think (I hope) I could move straight from Assimil to native materials for Italian, Catalan, or Portuguese. Edited by kanewai on 18 November 2013 at 11:04pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 16 of 24 18 November 2013 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | ||
|
The Living Language Ultimate courses get into much more detail on grammar and exercises than Assimil.
Some of the newer Living Language courses are not good. Be sure you are getting one of the good courses. The Living Language Ultimate Spanish courses are well done. I also recommend the "Beyond the Basics" courses by Living Language which are similar to the Ultimate-Advanced courses, but with less stuff and slightly shorter dialogues. I really liked the Beyond the Basics Spanish course. A great follow up to Assimil's Spanish with Ease. Edited by James29 on 18 November 2013 at 11:12pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
