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Assimil Learning methods | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6739 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 65 of 96 19 February 2007 at 9:15am | IP Logged | ||
Roger, I also like grammar and reading, sometimes with a dictionary, sometimes without. However, one then still faces the task of learning to speak. How do you plan to address that with your approach? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Roger Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6388 days ago 159 posts - 161 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Indonesian | Message 66 of 96 19 February 2007 at 3:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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That is the hard part. I will listen to load's of Italian radio and watch alot of DVD'S in Italian, once I have the required vocabulary level that is. I will try reading aloud to myself from a book or newspaper and will try and get some magazines so that I can read some interview's. I am also very much into football, so I will watch Italian football on bravo, although almost everything on it is spoken in English, you get the odd interview with paolo maldini or someone like that, which is spoken in italian. I also intend to go to Italy for around 2 months, which I would imagine will help my conversational ability alot. Im also trying to convince a friend to start learning Italian, so that I can have conversation's with him, but he's yet to be persuaded.
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| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6334 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes Speaks: English* | Message 67 of 96 19 February 2007 at 7:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here is an idea, transcribe a parallel universe from Assimil just like in Star Trek Mirror Mirror. From there a native German speaker could narrate the text.
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| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6888 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 68 of 96 19 February 2007 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Roger,
So would it be fair to assume that (back to your original question) there are only two ways to use Assimil: those that work:) and those that don’t:(? Assimil seems to be unique among all the learning programs because it taps into something deep in each learner. It seems either you have a knack for it or you don’t. There are about 2 years worth of rants from perplexed or disappointed learners on the forum. The common thread seems to be the aptitude for “global” versus “sequential” learning. Or in other words do you want to see the big picture first and then look for the details or would you rather take each detail step by step. Assimil is all about the presenting the big picture and leaving it to the user to sort out the details. It sounds like, based on your comments about Michel Thomas and grammar guides, that using Assimil up front is not offering you enough practice with the details such as basic subject-verb-object combinations? If so, it seems your frustrations with Assimil have not all been in vain. Have you tried doing a search for learning types on the forum? There are a few good topics that are worth reading. John Edited by Farley on 19 February 2007 at 9:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6739 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 69 of 96 19 February 2007 at 10:13pm | IP Logged | ||
John, I actually find Assimil's dribbling out of grammar bit by bit to be more of a sequential than global approach too, despite its unstructured superficial appearance. There are people who'd rather get a "quick and dirty", but more complete, overview of grammatical features with the least vocabulary possible and then just dive into "input" of all sorts, and I am not sure this approach should necessarily be characterized as "sequential", provided one does not incessantly drool over grammar workbooks, but rather, having gotten an injection of grammar, devotes oneself to "input" for a while, until (s)he is truly ready for the next dose. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6888 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 70 of 96 19 February 2007 at 11:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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David,
You just might send me back to the drawing board with that question because I was not considering the “quick and dirty” study of grammar! We might just be quibbling over terms, but I don’t think a study of “the rules” accounts for the “big picture”. To get the “big picture” you need lots of words and phrases. Just speaking for myself, structure by itself is meaningless. I would rather dive head first into the language and let the context reveal the rules and words rather than study them separately. Once I have learned enough phrases, grammar just falls into place. I never had luck with the advice to master the structure first, if anything mastering the structure without context just gives me the key to an empty box. Rules first, then input simple does not work for me, instead it input first then the rules. That is the difference I’m getting at. John 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6899 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 71 of 96 20 February 2007 at 1:57am | IP Logged | ||
Now there you have a succinct comment that says exactly what I have been banging on about on this forum for far too long. Perhaps that quote should be placed at the top of the website as some sort of motto. Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6899 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 72 of 96 20 February 2007 at 2:05am | IP Logged | ||
David, I don't know if the above characterises you or not but it certainly sounds a lot like me. I love the Assimil approach but I simply cannot avoid coming across an unfamiliar structure (or an incompletely explained one) without going off and finding out the answer myself. That done, I do tend to then put it to one side and no longer worry about it even if I haven't got it "nailed" in my mind. The only thing I haven't done with German and Catalan (in contrast with French and Spanish going back in time) is resort to comprehensible input of all sorts - possibly because my Catalan and German is still too weak :-). This reflects my learning style which is neither wholly global nor sequential but a bit of each. Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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