German Assimil

I know this is an opinion post, but I was curious about this program.

I’ve known of some tutors on iTalki that use it, but I’ve not spoken with them, just read their profile.

What is your experience with it?
Have you used others?
How do they compare?
Has anyone read it that is native German?
What are your thoughts on it?

Thanks all :slight_smile:

As a language teacher, I can recommend all editions of Assimil textbooks, not only German but also Russian, English, French, Spanish etc as the fiirst textbooks. They have good examples of some necessary grammar plus important vocabulary and everyday topics.
But of course they are not ideal, they have some old fashioned structures and some artificial dialogues. However, the benefits of the Assimil textbooks are much more then some their drawbacks.
And of course they are good only as the first step in your language learning.
After and besides Assimil use a lot of interesting German lessons and articles here in lingq.com and after that you have a giant choice of the German materials in the Internet.
Good luck! Viel Erfolg!

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Vielen Dank für die Informationen!

Now I’m wondering if it is even worth getting now that I’ve been studying German since March. I’m already into fairly advanced content, can’t read the simple stuff anymore, it is too boring.

I’m weak on grammar, writing, and speaking. It is about time to start iTalki lessons I think.

Wenn Sie sich wirklich für die deutsche Grammatik interessieren, können Sie solche von meinen Kursen in der deutschen Bibliothek von Lingq.com verwenden:
GRAMMATIK UND SYNONYMIE: Login - LingQ
GRAMMATIK IN BEISPIELEN: Login - LingQ
DAS DEUTSCHE VERB: Login - LingQ
VERBEN MIT PRÄFIXEN: Login - LingQ

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I agree with Evgeny. I’m a big fan of Assimil and I’m currently going through the Norwegian method. The German one is very good as well. If you feel that you’re missing out in grammar, my advice would be for you to get it. You only need to read a bit everyday and you get lots of notes on usage and grammar reviews every seven lessons. If your level is already good you’ll blast through the first part and then you can just read a lesson per day, which should take you about 10 minutes while taking note of the grammar points. I consider their texts to be more interesting than your usual beginner content.

What is advanced to you? I noticed you only have around 1400 words on linq, which is not advanced, although if you are doing stuff outside of lingq that may not reflect your actual level?

I have the Assimil German book and I thought it was great. Lots of dialogue, new vocabulary, some good grammar. It bills itself as getting you to B2 level to give you some kind of reference that you might apply to your current level. I think it’s generally considered a little misleading in that respect.

It does have audio. You didn’t mention listening comprehension, but if that’s something needed that’s a great aspect. You could also use the book to try and translate from English to German. That’s part of the lesson plan they suggest too, so that might help with producing the language, rather than just reading comprehension of the language.

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I watch a lot of shows on Netflix/Amazon in German, some of them w/o subtitles. Also, I read books, and listen to German music all the time. My stats in Lingq don’t reflect my experience, I’ve only been doing it for maybe a few weeks. My listening comprehension is pretty good in the sense I can identify all the words without a problem. It is just a matter of speed and not knowing all the words that trips me up.

I’m sure I’ve read a million words or more and have 100’s of hours listening under my belt, but I’m not really too concerned about what is reflected here, just my abilities, some have too much ego about the former.

I appreciate everyone’s input and suggestions! I think I’ll go ahead and get the book and check it out. :slight_smile:

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I’m using it for Arabic right now and I think it’s great. What I really like about it is that it doesn’t start with tourist situations, like so many other textbooks. I don’t need that, I just want to know how the language works. Not the whole grammar bible, just a few chapters and so far I can say it is the best textbook I’ve come across. LingQ and Assimil are a very good combination.

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So, I’m looking at this link for $76.53 USD:

https://smile.amazon.com/German-Super-Pack-Book-Audio/dp/2700580494/ref=pd_cp_14_1?pd_rd_w=2iD8y&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=2D06N5DSWQ4KRRC8V4XY&pd_rd_r=43ae5b20-a016-4a77-8634-1dc3a874e440&pd_rd_wg=UNaqW&pd_rd_i=2700580494&psc=1&refRID=2D06N5DSWQ4KRRC8V4XY

It states an MP3 CD and 4 audio CDs. I don’t have a CD player in my car or in my computer. I might be able to get an external CD player if necessary. But, I’d rather copy the files to my phone or mp3 player. Anybody know if that is possible?

I’m asking because the last audio course I got for German came with a CD and it had its own program to listen to the files and there was no way to extract them, so I was stuck at a computer :frowning:

Yes, I copied the files to my phone without a problem.

Yes. The mp3s xan be copied and played any as mp3. You can also extract the subtitles into text and upload to lingq (privately).

No worries. I was just trying to get a feel for what you meant by advanced since the only metric I can see here was your number of read words on lingq. I think Assimil can still be useful. You said you needed some grammar help and Assimil has plenty without being overwhelming. Every 7th chapter is a grammar overview of the important points and at the end is a summary and/or topics not covered in the other chapters. Sprinkled throughout are some grammar points and meanings of certain word combos that may not necessarily translate as you would think they do. Plus many expressions that Germans may use, that again, may not be intuitively obvious what their meaning is.

You can also attempt to translate from English back to German to practice both speaking and/or writing.