Can anyone recommend the Assimil series of language courses Konuyu gönderen: williamson (X)
|
|---|
williamson (X)
Local time: 16:44
Hollandaca > İngilizce
+ ...
The Assimil series pretend to be a method of learning a language the natural way = Absorbing grammar and vocabulary step by step and through repetition. As I do not have spare-time to follow extra language courses during the evening and would like to know some basic Japanese and Finnish, feedback on how good such courses are would be wellcome.
Tia
| | | | Angel Biojo
Amerika Birleşik Devletleri
Local time: 07:44
İngilizce > İspanyolca
Assimil is, in my opinion, the best method to learn a foreign language without a teacher.
| | | | VBaby
Local time: 15:44
İngilizce > Fransızca
+ ...
| Yes, it's excellent to learn the basics | Jul 26, 2002 |
I have used Assimil to start learning Spanish and Thai and I think it may be the best product around to learn how to get by in a language pretty confidently in about 2 months.
The method is deceptively simple -- just steady listening and repetition -- but IT WORKS! The text of the lessons are a little naff sometimes, but that\'s not a serious drawback.
Assimil is good by itself but, when you take into account value-for-money, it\'s brilliant compared to ... See more I have used Assimil to start learning Spanish and Thai and I think it may be the best product around to learn how to get by in a language pretty confidently in about 2 months.
The method is deceptively simple -- just steady listening and repetition -- but IT WORKS! The text of the lessons are a little naff sometimes, but that\'s not a serious drawback.
Assimil is good by itself but, when you take into account value-for-money, it\'s brilliant compared to what you would pay for executive oriented courses like Linguaphone, not to speak of private tuition. I think the fact that it is low tech compared to CD-Rom based methods with lots of bells & whistles is also an advantage.
Beyond the basic first book, there are more advanced follow up courses in the main languages but not, I think, for Finnish or Japanese.
To progress further, you can switch to more elaborate methods, private tuition or visit the country. A single note of caution: when I started Thai, I made fast progress initially but because Assimil was based entirely on phonetic transcriptions (not native characters), I had to go back to first grade school books when I decided to learn on and that was quite painful. I\'m not sure if it would be the same with Japanese, although, unlike Thai, it\'s not tonal I think. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rod Darby (X) 
Gana
Local time: 15:44
Almanca > İngilizce
+ ...
| love Assimil | Jul 26, 2002 |
I used Assimil many years ago to learn Spanish (badly, as I thought), but was amazed to discover I could hold two hours\' conversation with a Spanish woman who spoke no English (long story: her husband \'dumped\' her on me at a Rugby club party in Accra - he\'d married her at the personal request of her father after he\'d got her pregnant during a Rugby tour of Spain. She was the room-maid. I gather her father was in possession of a shot-gun. I am definitely NOT kidding and can produce witnesses... See more I used Assimil many years ago to learn Spanish (badly, as I thought), but was amazed to discover I could hold two hours\' conversation with a Spanish woman who spoke no English (long story: her husband \'dumped\' her on me at a Rugby club party in Accra - he\'d married her at the personal request of her father after he\'d got her pregnant during a Rugby tour of Spain. She was the room-maid. I gather her father was in possession of a shot-gun. I am definitely NOT kidding and can produce witnesses for this).
And, after recommending Assimil for many years, I am now using it myself to learn Italian. You have to stick at it, though, just keep repeating them dumb phrases until they stick. Then you\'ll find it\'s easy to use the same constructions with different words.
You\'ll be amazed how well it works!
Rod
▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
Ulrich Garn
Amerika Birleşik Devletleri
Local time: 08:44
İngilizce > Almanca
+ ...
| good listening material | Aug 21, 2002 |
I have about 20 Assimil courses. They offer loads of great listening material, but they don\'t present the grammar very well, so you\'d need some complementary manual. The Finnish course is good, but the Japanese course is somewhat confusing. I actually use Assimil just for listening and comprehension purposes. Anyway - just one method is never enough to learn a language.
| | | | Iouri Belov
Finlandiya
Local time: 17:44
İngilizce > Rusça
+ ...
| Linguaphone is better | Apr 25, 2005 |
I helped my ex-girl friend to learn Russian, my native language, with an Assimil course "Le nouveau russe sans peine". At that time I could not find any other textbook. Together we've studied about half of the lessons. The texts were a bit boring, and grammar explanations were not always clear. There were no oral drills.
That's why I much prefer Linguaphone courses, and have used them for learning English, French and Spanish. The courses (full versions, I do not know about abridged... See more I helped my ex-girl friend to learn Russian, my native language, with an Assimil course "Le nouveau russe sans peine". At that time I could not find any other textbook. Together we've studied about half of the lessons. The texts were a bit boring, and grammar explanations were not always clear. There were no oral drills.
That's why I much prefer Linguaphone courses, and have used them for learning English, French and Spanish. The courses (full versions, I do not know about abridged versions like All Talk, Fastlane, Visa) are well-structured and interesting. I bought my first Linguaphone in Moscow in 1984. It cost almost two average Soviet salaries, but the course was well worth it, because it helped me to enter Moscow Linguistic University. Now I buy only used courses, which are much cheaper. ▲ Collapse
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Can anyone recommend the Assimil series of language courses | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
