OUT NOW: Brand new Assimil 'Le Hindi' course

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willcouchman
White Belt
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2018 1:48 pm
Languages: Korean (Beginner), French (B1), Hindi (Beginner), Arabic (A1).
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Re: Brand new Assimil 'Le Hindi' course due out on April 14th

Postby willcouchman » Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:01 pm

Just to let everyone know the new Le Hindi is now for sale!
2 x

jeffers
Blue Belt
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Location: UK
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
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Re: Brand new Assimil 'Le Hindi' course due out later this year

Postby jeffers » Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:44 pm

bolaobo wrote:
willcouchman wrote:Assimil has released the audio previews on Soundcloud for lesson 1, lesson 50, and lesson 85.

Just to whet the appetite for those interested :)

https://soundcloud.com/assimil/sets/le- ... al_sharing

Will


It seems decent, but I prefer the voices from the previous course. More emotion. I'm pleasantly surprised that lesson 1 isn't spoken at that insanely slow pace though.


I agree, I liked voices in the original version. One particular issue I've noticed with the new version: one of the speakers seems to have a lisp! Listen to lesson 1, at 12 seconds the 2nd speaker says "namaste" with a lisp. I hope he just misspoke on the one instance, otherwise it will be difficult to listen to!
1 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

willcouchman
White Belt
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2018 1:48 pm
Languages: Korean (Beginner), French (B1), Hindi (Beginner), Arabic (A1).
x 124

Re: Brand new Assimil 'Le Hindi' course due out later this year

Postby willcouchman » Sun Jun 26, 2022 3:57 pm

jeffers wrote:
bolaobo wrote:
willcouchman wrote:Assimil has released the audio previews on Soundcloud for lesson 1, lesson 50, and lesson 85.

Just to whet the appetite for those interested :)

https://soundcloud.com/assimil/sets/le- ... al_sharing

Will


It seems decent, but I prefer the voices from the previous course. More emotion. I'm pleasantly surprised that lesson 1 isn't spoken at that insanely slow pace though.


I agree, I liked voices in the original version. One particular issue I've noticed with the new version: one of the speakers seems to have a lisp! Listen to lesson 1, at 12 seconds the 2nd speaker says "namaste" with a lisp. I hope he just misspoke on the one instance, otherwise it will be difficult to listen to!


So my reflections on having been working with this course are that it is fantastic and a delight to be working through - Assimil have nailed this one - EXCEPT that the speaker mentioned above does have a lisp and rather poor diction; this all means that his words slur together and he is really difficult to understand without having the book to hand. The other speakers are fine and clear, but this one is one of the main voice actors in the course and it is making the course that little bit more challenging than it would otherwise be.
5 x

jeffers
Blue Belt
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Location: UK
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
x 2774
Contact:

Re: Brand new Assimil 'Le Hindi' course due out later this year

Postby jeffers » Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:32 am

willcouchman wrote:
jeffers wrote:
bolaobo wrote:
willcouchman wrote:Assimil has released the audio previews on Soundcloud for lesson 1, lesson 50, and lesson 85.

Just to whet the appetite for those interested :)

https://soundcloud.com/assimil/sets/le- ... al_sharing

Will


It seems decent, but I prefer the voices from the previous course. More emotion. I'm pleasantly surprised that lesson 1 isn't spoken at that insanely slow pace though.


I agree, I liked voices in the original version. One particular issue I've noticed with the new version: one of the speakers seems to have a lisp! Listen to lesson 1, at 12 seconds the 2nd speaker says "namaste" with a lisp. I hope he just misspoke on the one instance, otherwise it will be difficult to listen to!


So my reflections on having been working with this course are that it is fantastic and a delight to be working through - Assimil have nailed this one - EXCEPT that the speaker mentioned above does have a lisp and rather poor diction; this all means that his words slur together and he is really difficult to understand without having the book to hand. The other speakers are fine and clear, but this one is one of the main voice actors in the course and it is making the course that little bit more challenging than it would otherwise be.


A main voice actor with a lisp rules this course out as a viable recommendation, in my opinion. If a learner was already confident with their Hindi pronunciation, then perhaps it would be usable, but a beginner would risk picking up the mispronunciation. I don't know how Assimil could have let this happen.
0 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

willcouchman
White Belt
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2018 1:48 pm
Languages: Korean (Beginner), French (B1), Hindi (Beginner), Arabic (A1).
x 124

Re: Brand new Assimil 'Le Hindi' course due out later this year

Postby willcouchman » Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:56 pm

jeffers wrote:
willcouchman wrote:
jeffers wrote:
bolaobo wrote:
willcouchman wrote:Assimil has released the audio previews on Soundcloud for lesson 1, lesson 50, and lesson 85.

Just to whet the appetite for those interested :)

https://soundcloud.com/assimil/sets/le- ... al_sharing

Will


It seems decent, but I prefer the voices from the previous course. More emotion. I'm pleasantly surprised that lesson 1 isn't spoken at that insanely slow pace though.


I agree, I liked voices in the original version. One particular issue I've noticed with the new version: one of the speakers seems to have a lisp! Listen to lesson 1, at 12 seconds the 2nd speaker says "namaste" with a lisp. I hope he just misspoke on the one instance, otherwise it will be difficult to listen to!


So my reflections on having been working with this course are that it is fantastic and a delight to be working through - Assimil have nailed this one - EXCEPT that the speaker mentioned above does have a lisp and rather poor diction; this all means that his words slur together and he is really difficult to understand without having the book to hand. The other speakers are fine and clear, but this one is one of the main voice actors in the course and it is making the course that little bit more challenging than it would otherwise be.


A main voice actor with a lisp rules this course out as a viable recommendation, in my opinion. If a learner was already confident with their Hindi pronunciation, then perhaps it would be usable, but a beginner would risk picking up the mispronunciation. I don't know how Assimil could have let this happen.


I agree, though I'd welcome input from others who are using the course as maybe I'm being too sensitive to this particular actor's voice - but I am finding blind shadowing (where you try to imitate the sounds before looking up the meaning) too difficult with his voice - I simply can't differentiate some of the sounds :/

I try to avoid criticism in general, and the content of the course is fabulous, but this issue is a massive downside.
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