6 Months of German

[jeffers]

I recently paused Assimil German after lesson 53, and this is the third time I've paused the course. Each time I restarted, I moved back 20 lessons or so, and got back into it. This time I've decided to give the Assimil A2 German course a go, after which I'll probably restart the main course around lesson 40. The A2 textbook is only available in a French base, but the audio is freely available on Spotify and a few other streaming platforms, and listening through might be a nice way to review. Here's a Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/3UWIXXWR8HODjbscG2MVx2?si=xMaDsc9eRKaiqC1oT_sOIw

How do you copy the German text to Notion? Do you have an electronic version of the textbook?

[ShawnP]

Like Jeffers, I paused Assimil German around lesson 40 or so. Just kept banging my head trying to recall words, things just not syncing in my brain good enough.

I've switched over to the free courses on Duetsche Welle website called Nico's Weg and listen to a couple different German learning channels free on YouTube such as Naturlich German, Learn German with Anja, and Easy German. And of course, Coffee Break German podcasts to round it off.

For me, DW has much better content for brand new German learners. There are also other A1 level courses there also so you have choices. Highly recommend checking it out if you need an Assimil break.

https://learngerman.dw.com/en/learn-german/s-9528

[garyb]

jeffers and ShawnP are wiser than me. I persisted with Assimil German until the end, but with hindsight I don't think it was the best use of my time and I should've gone with a more slow and thorough course or three first.

[mitgedichte]

I recently paused Assimil German after lesson 53, and this is the third time I've paused the course. Each time I restarted, I moved back 20 lessons or so, and got back into it. This time I've decided to give the Assimil A2 German course a go, after which I'll probably restart the main course around lesson 40. The A2 textbook is only available in a French base, but the audio is freely available on Spotify and a few other streaming platforms, and listening through might be a nice way to review. Here's a Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/3UWIXXWR8HODjbscG2MVx2?si=xMaDsc9eRKaiqC1oT_sOIw

How do you copy the German text to Notion? Do you have an electronic version of the textbook?

I hand-type each lesson from the book. Probably not the best use of time, but at this point it's almost like an additional drill for remembering the vocab/grammar. I re-read the lesson notes when I'm transcribing as well. With a digital copy, you could probably use OCR to copy the text without typing it all manually, though.

Thank you for the audio resources, I'll add them to my hoard

Like Jeffers, I paused Assimil German around lesson 40 or so. Just kept banging my head trying to recall words, things just not syncing in my brain good enough.

I've switched over to the free courses on Duetsche Welle website called Nico's Weg and listen to a couple different German learning channels free on YouTube such as Naturlich German, Learn German with Anja, and Easy German. And of course, Coffee Break German podcasts to round it off.

For me, DW has much better content for brand new German learners. There are also other A1 level courses there also so you have choices. Highly recommend checking it out if you need an Assimil break.

https://learngerman.dw.com/en/learn-german/s-9528

I've heard great things about Nico's Weg and will definitely look into it if Assimil continues to give me grief. Funnily enough, I found lesson 50 to be significantly easier than some of the lessons in the 40s, so it might be a case of up and down for me. My main draw to Assimil is that I like being able to do my main studying away from a computer, but the Deutsche Welle site seems to be set up well for mobile, so that could be an option too.

Thanks for the feedback and insight!

jeffers and ShawnP are wiser than me. I persisted with Assimil German until the end, but with hindsight I don't think it was the best use of my time and I should've gone with a more slow and thorough course or three first.

It almost feels like an exercise in tenacity as much as an exercise in language learning! I'm going to try my best to get through it just for the simple and prideful reason of proving to myself I can haha. It definitely ramps up and has proven to be difficult for a complete beginner, though. I think you're all right that some true beginner prep work would probably have been ideal.

[mitgedichte]

Step 2, Update 2

I've reached Assimil lesson 64. I missed 4 days of study for a fishing trip, but other than that have been on track with new lessons and reviews. Active phase is continuing as well. I've been meaning to take the Dialang test to see how I've improved down the line, but my comprehension is still so low, it hardly seems worth it

With new Assimil lessons, I don't feel like I'm retaining hardly anything at all, but when I revisit them later with reviews, I have much better comprehension than I expect. It's been neat seeing my brain absorb the information with what feels like little effort compared to my more intense, deliberate, and long-winded study of Japanese. I've started watching Dark on Netflix again after losing my log-in for a month or so, and I'm surprised at how many words I'm able to pick out compared to when I first started watching. I'm able to parse entire sentences on occasion, but more often than not I'm getting a sensation of "hey, I've heard that word before". The feeling is making me more excited to try the L-R method next month after I finish lesson 100 of Assimil. Even if I don't know the meaning of the words I'm hearing, the feeling of listening to them now is very different.

I would say between new Assimil lessons, lesson reviews, and input, I'm averaging around an hour a day of study. Nothing too crazy (yet). Having fun and eagerly awaiting the next step with L-R.

[mitgedichte]

Step 2, Update 3

Just here to give a small update and show that this is still ongoing. I've reached lesson 83 of Assimil, and am still continuing with my daily reviews. I haven't been keeping up with the active phase as much as I'd like, but at the least I'm staying consistent with my new lessons. I can't help but feel like I'd be further along in my language comprehension if I put more time and attention into understanding every facet of every lesson, but I'm trying to let the language wash over me and not worry too much about complete understanding of every little thing. Lessons that were once difficult to me are very easy to understand now, and I know that there will come a time when I feel similarly about the lessons in the 60s-80s and beyond, so no need to sweat it now.

Watching a show in German has been fun (Dark on Netflix). I've been doing a few episodes a week. I'm surprised by how much I'm able to pick out and understand, but I'm sure the subtitles help. Once I finish my passive phase of Assimil and begin listening to audiobooks I think I'll find I understand very little, but I'm interested to see if that changes quickly or agonizingly slowly. The Listening-Reading part of this is what I'm looking forward to the most.

Anyway, thanks again to all who have been keeping an eye on this thread. I would estimate my current level to still be very low, and that doesn't bother me. I'm sure there are a million and a half ways one could progress a language more quickly, but this has been a fun use of an hour-ish a day for the past few months. Until next time!

[mitgedichte]

Step 2, Update 4

Entering the home stretch of Assimil. I've reached lesson 92. So far my takeaway is that I like the Japanese Assimil With Ease much more than their German program. The Japanese version has an English translation and a complete literal word by word translation under it for every phrase. Given how mixed up some of the words get in German sentences compared to English sentences, I would have found that to be helpful to reference. Additionally, I don't find the notes to be particularly helpful. One example: "in must be followed by the dative here; there is no article, so you have to decline the adjective. Lauwarm, lukewarm; kalt, cold; both end in -em (dative neuter)." As far as I'm aware, these terms the notes reference aren't actually taught within the book anywhere. Heaven help me I have no idea what declining an adjective or a dative neuter are.

I've still found the lessons helpful. I learn well with parallel texts and comparing sentences. I've seen talk of different Assimil courses varying in quality, and I see what those people are getting at now. Not that the German Assimil With Ease is of low quality, but the Japanese version suited me much better. This does, however, make me curious about the Deutsche Ohne Mühe (Without Toil) series, and how it compares to the later With Ease version.

[ShawnP]

I recently paused Assimil German after lesson 53, and this is the third time I've paused the course. Each time I restarted, I moved back 20 lessons or so, and got back into it. This time I've decided to give the Assimil A2 German course a go, after which I'll probably restart the main course around lesson 40. The A2 textbook is only available in a French base, but the audio is freely available on Spotify and a few other streaming platforms, and listening through might be a nice way to review. Here's a Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/3UWIXXWR8HODjbscG2MVx2?si=xMaDsc9eRKaiqC1oT_sOIw

How do you copy the German text to Notion? Do you have an electronic version of the textbook?

jeffers, did you get started with the Assimil A2 German course? If so, what do you think of it compared to normal Assimil German book?

[jeffers]

I recently paused Assimil German after lesson 53, and this is the third time I've paused the course. Each time I restarted, I moved back 20 lessons or so, and got back into it. This time I've decided to give the Assimil A2 German course a go, after which I'll probably restart the main course around lesson 40. The A2 textbook is only available in a French base, but the audio is freely available on Spotify and a few other streaming platforms, and listening through might be a nice way to review. Here's a Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/3UWIXXWR8HODjbscG2MVx2?si=xMaDsc9eRKaiqC1oT_sOIw

How do you copy the German text to Notion? Do you have an electronic version of the textbook?

jeffers, did you get started with the Assimil A2 German course? If so, what do you think of it compared to normal Assimil German book?

I worked quickly through the first chapter, but I decided to save the rest for a later German push (I'm focusing on Hindi for now), probably during the 6wc starting in August. I'm planning to write a review once I've done more of it. I can say it's definitely well-designed, and specifically organised to cover all the standard A2 criteria, which is something Assimil haven't done before.

[mitgedichte]

Step 2, Update 5

I'm free... I'm finally free. I don't know why, but those last 8 lessons felt like pure sadistic torture. I took a 5 day break somewhere between my last post and now. But wow, those final lessons sure were a slog. I must also admit that I've been very lax about my active phase lesson translations. Shame on me. In my first post, I mentioned that about now I would be taking a mock exam for my language proficiency. I feel, well, not very proficient!

I don't know if it's a me problem or a German With Ease problem, but I really did not care much for this series. This shocked me considering how much I loved the Assimil Japanese With Ease. I must resist the useless temptation to go through Assimil's German Without Toil and continue onward.

With my current groundwork, I plan on focusing more on input than "lessons" per se. My primary input will be audiobooks accompanied by parallel text. I will also be using my new free time to get more serious about my active phase lessons, I think those will help my comfort with the language quite a bit.

Well, onto the next! Until next time!