Assimil - Current generation vs the older With Ease and Without Toil versions

[Le Baron]

I do have around 1-2 hours most days a week to dedicate to language learning, and I do find that I have an easier time with motivation if I'm doing 2-3 different activities vs just working on one at a time. As mentioned above, it is a good way to keep motivation up when I am getting bored of one specific course or activity.

...I don't plan on adding much more at this time other than Linguaphone and an Assimil course.

I'll reiterate though that any course, done with full attention and commitment, will suck up that 1-2 hours a day. Doing a course and assuming it's just 15 or 30 or 45 minutes and that there's time over for course no.2 (or even no.3) is classic 'spreading oneself thinly'. When the books close and the audio is off, the learning process hasn't stopped.

To 'do one thing' and thoroughly, as I'm characterising it, doesn't mean just do Linguaphone and nothing else. It means do Linguaphone. But also tentatively begin reading books, begin following video series', begin perusing news sites... etc. All the things for language in use. This is more than enough to get a basis.

The view that one has to stack loads of courses concurrently for success, is to my mind unfounded and actually distraction and overload.

[kennyaa]

If the 80s one has been re-printed with this cover I have run through it a good few times although not recently, I remember liking it well enough. I remember I edited the audio files in Audacity to take out a lot of the pauses in the first 14 or so lessons and listened to it a lot. I have a copy of the old without toil and liked that as well.



I know there's a new version but I haven't been able to listen to it yet. There may be exceptions but AFAIK all the newer Assimil courses are pretty good. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them really.

I think there's not really much in it, there's some poor Assimil courses out there but I think all the Spanish ones have been pretty good (open to correction if I'm wrong, I love talking about Assimil )

I know it's not what you're asking for OP but I was recently asked by someone how to go about beginning to learn Spanish and my main recommendation these days is go ahead and do whatever course/take whatever class you want but start watching Dreaming Spanish everyday when you're not studying, just 1 video per day to build a habit. Whichever course book you choose, its purpose should be to get you semi-ready to begin watching native material and I think watching these videos is basically the best resource for making the transition.