Assimil Perfectionnement allemand (old and new editions)

[aravinda]

Can I ask a related question? Are there different editions of La pratique de l'allemand? I mean actual contentwise not the reprints with or without a new design.

[Speakeasy]

Hello, Aravinda. I have copies of three different "generations" of the Assimil second-level courses for German as listed below. This publisher has a practice of issuing numerous "editions", repleat with specific ISBN's, for works which have identical content (dialogues, exercises, notes). For this reason, as I do not wish to add to the confusion, I have decided to refrain from attempting to identify the generations by these numbers in this post. Nevertheless, if requested to do so, I will specify the ISBN's in a subsequent post; in other words, I want to keep this particular post as "clean" as possible.

In trying to track down the various generations of the Assimil courses, I have had my greatest success when using the names of the authors as a means of distinguishing one generation from the other. Unfortunately there are two complications with this approach: (a) the names of the authors are not always clearly specified by online sellers, and (b) in some cases, as was done for the second-level German courses, Assimil employed the services of the same author for two different generations.

Here are the Assimil German second-level courses that I have in my collection:

Perfectionnement Allemand, by Volker Eismann, circa 2012. I believe this to be the second modern edition, superceding Volker Eisman's previous work from the 1980's, below, for which the contents are completely different from this one. My copy, published 2012, has the following chapter titles:
1. Do you speak English?
2. Übung macht den Meister
3. Rufen Sie uns einfach an!
4. Pläne im Indikativ
et cetera

Perfectionnement Allemand, by Volker Eismann, circa 1980. I believe that this was the first modern generation, which I suspect appeared in the 1980’s, superseding the previous generation(s) which had been published under A. Chérel’s name. My copy, published in 1991, has the following chapter titles:
1. Das ist doch ganz einfach!
2. Fundsachen
3. Einstein und die Taschenlampe
4. Kirschen im Dezember
et cetera

La Pratique de l’allemand, by A. Chérel, circa 1944. I have two copies of this course, one which was published in 1945 and another which was published in 1969. This is the generation that preceded the first edition of “Perfectionnement Allemand” by Volker Eismann, which appeared in the early 1980’s. That is, all of the editions of “La Pratique de l’allemand” by A. Charel from 1944 through to the early 1980’s are identical as to content (L2 dialogues and exercises, L1 notes). Nevertheless, a matter which distinguishes the 1940's editions from the later editions is that all of L2 dialogues and exercises were printed entirely in German Fraktur Font. I would imagine that the transition from the older font to the more modern one was effected at some time during the 1950's. The only reliable means of determining exactly when the transition was made would be to consult a copy of every edition of this generation that was ever published. My copies of “La Pratique de l’allemand”, published in 1945 and 1969, have the following chapter titles:
1. Meyer bei Schmid, Schmitt und Schmidt
2. Der Dolmetscher
3. Eine Reisebekanntschaft
4. Eine Bismarck-Anekdote
et cetera

La Pratique de l’allemand, by A. Chérel, prior to 1944? I have not found any information concerning the existence of a “second level” Assimil German course prior to 1944.

Incidental Comment
In addition to the usual difficulties of identifying the Assimil generations, I deplore what-seems-to-be the increasingly generalized practice on the part of the major online booksellers of listing their wares under incorrect ISBN's, edition numbers, titles, authors, and the like. This practice, coupled with their refusal to provide clear answers to simple questions, means that one is frequently left with choice of either "buying a pig in a poke" or simply doing without. Good luck with your searches!

EDITED:
Typos. Tinkering.
Updates to all of my comments, subsequent to my acquistion of a copy of La Pratique de l’allemand, published in 1945.

[aravinda]

Thank you, Speakeasy. As always, a very helpful post. It seems I have been confused (again!). Perhaps, I was thinking of L'allemand Sans Peine (1939) reineke mentioned in a similar thread.

[Speakeasy]

Hello, Aravinda. Your reply prompted me to conduct a new search of the older editions of La Pratique de l’allemand, by A. Chérel. According to the large online booksellers, editions of this book were published in years 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948 and later, all attributed to A. Chérel and all with 357 pages. I have just placed an order for a supposedly 'good' copy from 1946. I have added this comment to my post above and, upon receipt of the book, I will indicate the chapter titles.

As an example of the poor listing of books on the large online booksellers' websites, a few moments ago, I came across an offer listed as "Méthod Assimil, la pratique de l'allemand - Coffret 20 x 78T + livre CHÉREL 1946 rare++". My heart skipped a beat at the thought of acquiring the original 78 rpm records along with the book! And then, I took a closer look at the photograph (see below) and my heart sank. At least, in this case, despite the errors in the listing, the photograph clearly shows that the book and the records are not a match.

IMAGE
Méthod Assimil, la pratique de l'allemand - Coffret 20 x 78T + livre CHÉREL 1946 rare++

[Speakeasy]

I have updated my post, above, concerning the Assimil second-level courses for German, by specifying the chapter titles of La Pratique de l’allemand, by A. Chérel circa 1944, and by making appropriate changes to the text.

[Stefan]

Thank you for the thorough summary of Assimil courses Speakeasy. I went through my Assimil collection tonight and found La pratique de l'allemand which I had forgotten about. After going through Google I eventually ended up back here on the forum to find the answer.

[PfifltriggPi]

I went through my Assimil collection tonight and found La pratique de l'allemand which I had forgotten about.

Sits jealously in silence, thinking about only having five Assimils.

[PfifltriggPi]

I went through my Assimil collection tonight and found La pratique de l'allemand which I had forgotten about.

Sits jealously in silence, thinking about only having five Assimils.

Now I have seven though!

[orbita24]

Hello all

I found a PDF of the first edition (56 lessons) of Assimil Perfectionnement Allemand. I wonder if anyone knows where I can find audio recordings for this edition?

Many thanks in advance!