Cavesa wrote:Wow! Exactly as promised in the log title! Congratulations! You're awesome!
Thank you. I bet you're awesome as well.
miket12 wrote:Since you've accomplished what you set out to do and for part of your learning used Assimil, I wonder if you have any advice or tips on what you found helped you get the most out of that program? I'm about to start using it for Italian.
Absolutely.
I would advise to not fall into the "hoarding" pit-trap. In other words, do not use a lot of different materials at once. Language learning is a long-term process and you need time to process the source material that you're using. Therefore, cramming isn't going to do much good if you overextend and stop studying for a while. It's a lot better to do 30 mins per day that one 4 hour cramming session per week.
So, in order to use Assimil effectively, I would advise to stick with the program guidelines as they're written. For me it worked wonders, even if some lessons were tedious (and especially the active wave - but it truly has its benefits).
I would recommend keeping Assimil as your main source material. You can add a grammar book for supplementary exercises, so you can benefit from some structured learning. Assimil gives you the "inmersion" factor, while grammar helps you to identify patterns that will boost your language learning process.
This is how I used Assimil.
- I would listen to the recording two times, with the book closed.
- I would listen to the recording two times, repeating every sentence after it was spoken. I would stop the recording, repeat it (trying to imitate the accent), and then continue.
- I would then hear it once or twice once again with the book open.
- I would then, read the text in the target language a couple of times. If I didn't know the meaning of a particular sentence or word I would look at the translation.
- After this, I would give the text a couple more readings, but stopping at each particular lesson note. These are important because they explain some nuances of the text that aren't obvious at a first glance.
- Finally, I would complete the exercises.
After the first 50 lessons, mind that you have some extra work. You need to do the second wave, which I would complete as follows:
- Listen twice the text in French, with the book closed.
- Read the translation in your native language, then try to translate it back to French. Don't worry if you make mistakes. You're supposed to make them.
The main advice I would give while using Assimil is to not obsess with perfection. You will get some things wrong. Heck, I still make some stupid mistakes. Today I answered to a colleage "Ça marche" (which means "I agree", or "It works for me") to a "Comment ça va" ("How are you").
There is a saying in Spanish that summarizes this: "Lo perfecto es lo enemigo de lo bueno".