What to Pair with German Assimil with ease?

[EthanH]

Hello to everybody again! If you've read my other posts, you'd know that I was debating between studying Russian and German at university. I chose to study German and am now a month into Assimil and Anki. I've been making good progress and compared to Russian, German is a breeze; however, I am in need of another book/activities to pair with Assimil to help me learn more grammar. I dug around the forum and found some recommendations but am wondering what all the cool kids use Recommendation?

[Speakeasy]

Too Many Choices
There are so many excellent resources available for the study of the FIGS that virtually all suggestions will be valid.

Grammar
It is worth bearing in mind that, for a number of reasons, most introductory-level self-instructional language courses provide only the basic notions of grammar which are essential to an understanding of the accompanying dialogues and exercises. Idem for most classroom-oriented course books. A more in-depth study of grammar is often reserved for the intermediate level of study; that is, at a stage when the student will have acquired some familiarity with the spoken language up to the CEFR A2 level.

Grammar versus Pairing
Inevitably, the “pairing” two courses with a view to reinforcing your grasp of grammar will expose you to two different sequences of this aspect of language acquisition. That is, it is highly unlikely that another course will introduce the grammatical concepts in exactly the same sequence as does the Assimil German course. This means that you will be jumping around a little. To avoid this problem, you could simply accompany your study of Assimil German by familiarizing yourself with a very BASIC German grammar, such as McGraw-Hill’s “German Verbs & Essentials of Grammar” by Charles J. James, and by consulting it as required. While there are literally hundreds of competing grammars available, I would suggest that you refrain from diving deeply into the subject lest you be drawn down a rabbit hole.

A Short List of Recommendations
You still might wish to consider the following:

Cortina Conversational German (circa 1954)
Although rather long-in-the-tooth by today’s standards, this course (which is freely available via the Yojik website) is well-structured. The notes to the student, which appear at the bottom of the pages, resemble those accompanying the Linguaphone and Assimil courses. The key advantage of the Cortina notes is that they are referenced to a grammar in the annexe. In addition, the course includes a study plan of reading specific sections of the grammar as a prelude to each lesson. Old school in approach along with some rather dated vocabulary? Yes. Exaggerated delivery by the voice actors during the first half of the course? Yes. Does it work? Yes (provided that the user is an adult capable of discernment and independent thought)!

DLI German Gateway (circa 1978)
This self-instruction course was conceived as a sequel to the DLI German Headstart course of the same era. Although the scope is very much that of a “familiarization” course similar to, say, the Routledge Colloquial German course, the dialogues, exercises, and notes on grammar are superior to those of many commercial courses. The materials are (should be) freely available via the Yojik website; I just checked but could not locate them. I’ll send a note to Eric asking him to reload them and, if necessary, will send him a copy.

Living Language Ultimate German (Beginner-Intermediate) (revised 2004)
These courses are now out-of-print; however, copies can still be found on the internet at low prices. This course would make an excellent companion to the Assimil German course. In fact, I often recommend that the two courses be studied concurrently, most particularly as, in my opinion, the exercises in this series provide insufficient reinforcement of the materials presented in the dialogues and notes. However, the two courses make for a great pair. The notes are among the very best that I have ever encountered in a commercially-prepared, introductory, self-instructional language course.

So, Ya Wanna Drill Grammar?
FSI German Basic (1967) … drill, drill, drill, puke. Tip: if you go this route, skip the first two units.

Other Recommendations?
Anyone else’s recommendations will be just as valid, if not more so, than mine.

EDITED:
Typos, tinkering.

[David1917]

As Speakeasy said, there are dozens of suitable accompaniments:

Cortina is an excellent option as it does contain keys to the reference grammar in the readings. The first 16 lessons follow a storyline, and then 17-20 are long (10 minute recordings per lesson) discussions on German life/culture/history/etc. It is free, though in order to make effective use of the reference grammar you'd either want to print it out or just order one of the many used copies on Amazon for a few bucks. Scrolling back and forth 100 pages at a time is not enjoyable.

I might also add German Made Simple by Eugene Jackson - this is perennially reprinted, so widely available, and still an excellent overview course. It has the benefit of including readings/storyline, grammar explanations, and exercises all in one book. Similarly any of the Hugo's books will probably be nice, and they include audio and exercises, and maybe a somewhat shorter storyline.

[aravinda]

Not a cool kid by any stretch of the imagination but I'm (or was) using Assimil as my main method. I'm currently on Lesson 66 and after the first 40-50 lessons I've been having considerable difficulty remembering vocabulary and grammar from the past lessons. (I only study German for 30 minutes a day). I'm thinking of reviewing all the previous lessons before moving on.
I have tried many other resources and here're my favourite two so far:
Basic German: A Grammar and Workbook
A simple grammar workbook that can be used from the beginning. A very well thought-out grammar with 29 small units. Simple exercises containing a lot of useful phrases. Comes with the answer key at the end of the book. There's an Intermediate book too but I haven't used it.
Begegnungen DaF A1+
This was recommended by some kind souls here. Very good, comprehensive course/series. The answer key and the audio CD are included with the textbook. All instructions are in German but there's a Glossar. You can opt to use a dictionary instead of the Glossar but using the Glossar is easier.

[Elexi]

I would go to Udemy and work through the five units of the 'German for Beginners' A1 course by Juliane Klingenberg Nery.

[EthanH]

oh man, thank you very much!

[sirgregory]

Cortina Conversational German (circa 1954)
Although rather long-in-the-tooth by today’s standards, this course (which is freely available via the Yojik website) is well-structured. The notes to the student, which appear at the bottom of the pages, resemble those accompanying the Linguaphone and Assimil courses. The key advantage of the Cortina notes is that they are referenced to a grammar in the annexe. In addition, the course includes a study plan of reading specific sections of the grammar as a prelude to each lesson. Old school in approach along with some rather dated vocabulary? Yes. Exaggerated delivery by the voice actors during the first half of the course? Yes. Does it work? Yes (provided that the user is an adult capable of discernment and independent thought)!

Since the Cortina grammar is confined to the end, seemingly as an afterthought to the main dialogues, I didn't expect much from it. But it's actually an extremely well done reference grammar. The dialogues are also good though you do get sentences like "Do you wish a derby or a felt hat?"

Living Language Ultimate German (Beginner-Intermediate) (revised 2004)
These courses are now out-of-print; however, copies can still be found on the internet at low prices. This course would make an excellent companion to the Assimil German course. In fact, I often recommend that the two courses be studied concurrently, most particularly as, in my opinion, the exercises in this series provide insufficient reinforcement of the materials presented in the dialogues and notes. However, the two courses make for a great pair. The notes are among the very best that I have ever encountered in a commercially-prepared, introductory, self-instructional language course.

I bought an unused coursebook last month for $14. But the audio CDs are scarce and are only available used at exorbitant prices (if at all). The new Living Language "Complete Edition" in the slick looking box is $50 list price but only around $30 online. The consensus seems to be that it's not as good as previous editions, but it seems like a reasonable value considering that it has the audio. I got the old one (Ultimate) since I was more interested in the explanations.

[Speakeasy]

... The new Living Language "Complete Edition" in the slick looking box is $50 list price but only around $30 online. The consensus seems to be that it's not as good as previous editions, but it seems like a reasonable value considering that it has the audio...

Living Language Complete Course - Third Generation (circa 2012)
In my opinion, this generation was nothing more than a cheap marketing ploy on the part of the publishers, Random House. The first unit of the second generation course was removed and replaced by the relevant Living Language "Starting Out in …" course. Given the completely different approaches to teaching, this shotgun marriage resulted in a rather jolting transition between the first unit and the subsequent ones. Superficial revisions were made to units 2 through 10, along with a new print font. The vast majority of the audio recordings of the first unit are verbatim readings of the English text, requiring some very deft handling in order to access the L2 part of the recordings. The previous edition’s single course book was split into three separate manuals: Essential, Intermediate, Advanced. The resulting product was inferior to the previous generation. I would not recommend using this generation at all, neither as a stand-alone course nor in conjunction with another one.

[sirgregory]

Besides standard courses, I've found myself using YouTube more and more. My current favorite channel is "Learn German with Anja," but there are several good ones. At first I was just watching casually, but now I've started approaching them as proper lectures. I pay close attention, pause as needed, and I take notes. I think it's also a good idea to watch methodically, rather than just watching random videos. A good channel will usually have playlists that are useful for providing some structure.

Often I'll follow up a video series with some self-directed study with a pocket grammar. I'll go over a particular topic (cases, verb tenses, etc.) and make myself a "cheat sheet." I now have a growing stack of these which I look at as needed. The idea is that I'll need to look at these less and less and eventually not at all.

[kanewai]

I'm making a note of all these recommendations, since I've been working on Assimil German too - and also feel the need for some type of grammar book to pair with it. Assimil just isn't quite enough.

When I'm serious about a language I pair it with FSI. If you have the time and inclination I'd go for that! For me, I'm not as serious about German, so I'll be picking a grammar reference book that's less intense.