What to Pair with German Assimil with ease?

[Jean-Luc]

So many tools available... but I will suggest:

Yabla for cross culture knowledge and listening improvment (a really, really good tool) https://labdeslangues.blog/2016/06/13/yabla-un-site-branche-sur-la-vraie-vie/

This German grammar to download on your pad:https://labdeslangues.blog/2018/06/15/grammaire/
Immersive (all in German), it's clear, easy and have got all the basics you need.

If you are business oriented, best tools to start with are these two German books for conversation and writing:
https://labdeslangues.blog/2017/05/02/h ... anophones/

[Skynet]

I found Assimil's superficial notes to be tremendously frustrating in my study of German. I used all three German courses simultaneously, and still had unanswered questions. Are you using the 2nd (Hilde Schneider) or 3rd (Maria Roemer) generation? The 2nd gen is the worst Assimil I have ever seen (and I am on my seventh beginner book)! Those English translations were ghastly and I needed the Rosetta Stone to decipher them.

[Harangue over]

DLI German Basic:
~40 hours of audio + 92 lessons = an excellent course. Whilst I completed the course in about 30 days, I did not do it intensively and did not bother to master everything before proceeding to the next lesson. I now rue the day that I made that choice, because I am still paying for that decision.
+ great grammar explanations
+ designed to be done at the pace of one lesson a day
- audio is not good quality
- starts off quite quick from the very first lesson (fasten your seat belt!)

Linguaphone German:
I am surprised that no-one mentioned this, but the course is formidable. I used both 2nd and 3rd gen for French, and I can vouch for them.
+ 2nd gen (50 lessons) is identical in all languages: lesson 37 in French = German = Spanish = Portuguese etc
+ 2nd gen has a better gradient than 3rd gen (30 lessons). You can do 1 lesson a day with 2nd gen, but not with the 3rd gen.
- 2nd gen is essentially extinct in the wild, or costs a pretty pence when it surfaces. Fortunately, there are extremely helpful members around these parts.
- both generations have separate books for exercises, explanations and the original L2. On a good day, you'll have two books open on your desk at once

[Cavesa]

I'd recommend to pick one of the grammar books with exercises, organised by doublepages and possible to work with in any order you like. Pairing Assimil with another full course is possible, but I found it a bit hard, due to different progress etc. Too much like sitting on two chairs. Instead, something like Klett's Klipp und Klar (but there are more options on the market) can serve more like a way to learn what Assimil presents you in more detail, with more practice, and easier include it in the bigger picture of the grammar.

[sirgregory]

I found Assimil's superficial notes to be tremendously frustrating in my study of German. I used all three German courses simultaneously, and still had unanswered questions. Are you using the 2nd (Hilde Schneider) or 3rd (Maria Roemer) generation? The 2nd gen is the worst Assimil I have ever seen (and I am on my seventh beginner book)! Those English translations were ghastly and I needed the Rosetta Stone to decipher them.

I just got Assimil German a couple of days ago. It's the Roemer one with a blonde girl on the box (glad to hear that's the better one). I probably have enough material already, but I was very curious to try it. I started studying two months ago, so I've got some of the basics down already.

My honest first impression of it was mild disappointment. I looked at the first lesson and it was five lines long with not even twenty words of German text. Then lengthy expository footnotes. Then some unremarkable exercises. It feels like they've padded it with other stuff in an attempt to make it a comprehensive, stand-alone product, but personally I would prefer to see them play to their strengths and just give more bilingual text with only light annotations. For the basics, I prefer a traditional, structured presentation over having it dispensed bit by bit in footnotes. After looking ahead at the later, more substantial lessons, I do think it will be an excellent resource overall and I will probably use for other languages. But I'm glad I started out with other material.

[Skynet]

It's the Roemer one with a blonde girl on the box (glad to hear that's the better one). I probably have enough material already, but I was very curious to try it...My honest first impression of it was mild disappointment. I looked at the first lesson and it was five lines long with not even twenty words of German text. Then lengthy expository footnotes. Then some unremarkable exercises. It feels like they've padded it with other stuff in an attempt to make it a comprehensive, stand-alone product, but personally I would prefer to see them play to their strengths and just give more bilingual text with only light annotations. For the basics, I prefer a traditional, structured presentation over having it dispensed bit by bit in footnotes. After looking ahead at the later, more substantial lessons, I do think it will be an excellent resource overall and I will probably use for other languages. But I'm glad I started out with other material.

'New' German with ease is definitely the better one. I too was stunned by the brevity of the first lessons, but I quickly realised that it was necessary to make the learning gradient as gentle as possible. German has not been as easy as either French or Spanish for me. I can only assume that the same would hold true for Portuguese. Assimil was the least difficult introduction to German that i had after running away from the first lessons of Living Language Ultimate German and Linguaphone (3rd gen) German.

I am a notorious course hoarder and only the sheer lack of time has prevented me from attacking German and Spanish as I did French last summer. I hoard because I primarily study languages to get the certificate, then worry about consuming native media etc later.