Trying Assimil Chinese! - An Old Favorite Language Learning Resource

Assimil was an old favorite resource of mine, but I haven't used it for a few years now. As I near the end of the "beginner" stages of Chinese, I decided this would be just the thing to take me forwards!
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[@cj5273]

I just finished Assimil German with Ease (passive phase) a few days ago. It took me 6 months of hard work! I love Assimil and I'm now at B1 level German

[@tarantababu1149]

Could you please share your study plan for an inspiration? Did you do some review sessions?

[@cj5273]

@@tarantababu1149 I did one lesson per day. For each chapter, I listened to the recordings about 10 times or so until I could understand everything start to finish. I read the text aloud several until I could read it fluently. I read the grammatical notes and did the exercises as well. I reviewed previous chapters by listening to the recordings and reading the texts. I probably spent 200 intensive hours on this book. I’ve now been learning German for 2 years now and have a good B2 or maybe even low C1 level. I’ve learned a lot about language learning since when I started with Assimil. Looking back, I think I spent too long on this book by trying to master each chapter and memorise all the new words. I think a better strategry would be to push on more aggressively through the book and not worry about remembering every new word, or understanding every point of grammar. You want to blast through lots of content and materials and not get bogged down on one book.

[@tarantababu1149]

​ @CJ Thank you so much! I am also a kind of perfectionist and I am scared of going so deep with the book. Your feedback ıs valuable. I hope I'll reach B1 at least at the end of this year. All the best.

[@cj5273]

@@tarantababu1149 I think being a perfectionist is great in many areas of life but not language learning. I got a lot further with learning German when I got comfortable with being imperfect and began to consume a wide range of materials and content, rather than trying to master a narrow scope of material. I wish you good luck on your language learning journey :)

[@zakuro8532]

Hey Meister, wie läufts?

[@mandelish]

I like , especially for shadowing method. Highly recommend for people who need to break speaking block ... It got me speaking french after years of blocking ....

[@phantomvox]

Im using Luca Lampariello’s language learning technique. He recommends Assimil so that is my source to start my journey in Italian. What I like about it and is helping me is that I get some form of structure to stick to without getting anxious trying different resources at the same time. Just stick to the book for about 3 to 6 months and move on to anything else.

[@kgcreaciones]

Wow. I recognize myself in the way you describe your learning method. I am learning russian and arabic simultaneously with Assimil and it works well for me. A lot of self-study, repeating stuff, speaking to my own, constructing phrases. Makes me more confident to later speak fluently which I do in other languages. I want to add chinese and you convinced me. Thanks a lot !!

[@alfonsobifulco-of6oc]

My favorite method!❤ The best!

[@gabrieldias6430]

I think you should record another video saying if assimil worked for you, it would be pretty nice!

[@soundsgood9417]

Oh thank you! I’m on lesson 18 of French Assimil and I can’t correctly answer the exercises! I was wondering how many times I’d have to repeat the book to make it stick.

[@boomrang9503]

Assimil és el mejor libro para empezar a aprender un idioma... De hecho, no me imagino aprender un nuevo idioma utilizando otros metodos... Me encantan sus conversaciones y anécdotas... De veras es el mejor metodo para aprender lenguas de una manera divertida y sin esfuerzo. 😍😍 Assimil 😍😍

[@irenemcnamara9699]

OMG! I understood most of what you said en Espanol!

[@alfonsobifulco-of6oc]

Estoy aprendiendo español con Assimil 😂 entiendo todoooooo😂

[@cloeye32]

Assimil very good course are used it for Russian on the MEMRISE app for years ago and it helped a lot. The only complaint that I had out was but it had too much unnecessary vocabulary that I didn’t need to use in my daily life ET see. However I would still recommend that particular course to people who wanted to learn a language.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

I agree! I usually just block out all the unnecessary words like learning every color on the color wheel, the name of every food dish and things like "washing machine", "dish washer" haha. But yes it's a great resource for getting exposure and I love all their little, bite-sized grammar notes 😄

[@paco1688]

I love Assimil, I would like them to have their improving method in more languages though

[@steveb851]

I know this video is old but where did you get this? I’m in the UK and it’s so hard to get anything Assimil. It all seems to be online now whereas I prefer the physical book

[@SteveW67]

Robin, would you recommend Assimil (French) while doing LingQ and Babbel. I’m A1-A2 and have done a little speaking with a tutor. Excellent videos many thanks.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Hey Steve! I think those are all good resources. Personally, I would do either Assimil or Babbel rather than both at the same time, just because they are both so rich and plentiful with great language content and either one will keep you busy for plenty of time. My personal favorite here would be to do Babbel - there is so much French content it will keep you busy and take you very far. LingQ would be a great resource to pair with this so you can get lots of exposure to all the things you learn with Babbel (or Assimil). Does that help? 😊

[@SteveW67]

Robin MacPherson thanks for that yes it does help, I’m doing Babbel at present and LingQ so will continue with these. I know your a fan of Babbel as you’ve mentioned it before. I’m also doing a little Spanish on LingQ from scratch as I plan a holiday there later in the year (after lockdown) hopefully this is achievable and shouldn’t hamper my learning. Or would you suggest getting a good standard on one language first ? Many thanks for your videos your way of putting things across appears laid back and enjoyable which removes the stress of learning. Regards Steve.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Personally I think it is fine to study them both in parallel as long as you are able to dedicate enough time to each one and take your time 😊 Let me know if you have other questions about that! I'm really pleased that my videos are helping remove the stress of learning 🙂

[@SteveW67]

Robin MacPherson excellent thanks for taking the time to reply, the pressure is the one I put on myself which your delivery makes me realise this is a marathon not a sprint. Like many I want to be fluent yesterday which is why many quit I guess. I’m slowly coming round though and realise this is learning forever. Looking forward to your next video while working my way through your others. Many thanks 🙏. 😎🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@danielfariassaturno9667]

I’m using it with Italian and Babbel as well!! Great videos bro greetings from Buenos Aires!! 🙏👍🏻🏆

[@lestry7878]

Wow, this book was my first introduction to Mandarin Chinese. I was around 11 and we went to my favourite book shop with my mom, who was visiting from Sweden. I saw that book and ended up getting my mom to buy it for me. I had it for many years until I finally gave it to my cousin as a gift. I never went further than 15 or so lessons. But I went through the first lesson so many times that I still can recite the dialogue hehe. Ni hao, ni hao, ni e ma, wo bu e, ni lei ma, wo bu lei, hao zou, zou. (hehe) I actually opened the French Bulgarian sains peine but tbh I don't enjoy it. How do I even learn from that? I understand the texts perfectly (at least the first 20 or so) because it's a related language to Polish and I've already studied it for a while. Do I just read it? (I don't have the audio). Do I write the dialogues down? I'm totally lost as to how to use it, and I never feel like I'm DONE with a lesson which makes me not wanna go further, and then I'm stuck on one lesson for a month.

[@verydemureverymindful-i3f]

You can search here in KZbin, "how to use assimil..." And they tell u that the audio file is very important, so... Or if this doesn't work for you, change the method

[@paulwalther5237]

I've heard about Assimil and I like the physical layout of the series. I've heard unfortunately that the Asian languages aren't as well done as the European ones - mostly because they don't push the learner enough and you end up at a lower level after completing the course. I haven't gone through it myself. I purchased the Japanese Assimil way back in the day but like many of my language books, I got bored and didn't finish it :(. This is a year ago so maybe you finished the book already and blogged about it. I'll have to go look.

[@yushishinoda2304]

ロビンさん、お元気ですか？実は僕もつい最近Assimilのイタリア語教材を購入しました。説明言語はフランス語です。ポリグロット・コミュニティではAssimilのファンが多いので、多分これも良い教材だと思います。僕はAssimilに出てくるイタリア語のセンテンスをANKIのアプリで1つずつ丸暗記して、焦らずにゆっくりと消化していくつもりです。先はまだまだ長いですが、お互いに頑張りましょうね！:-)

[@fivantvcs9055]

Hello +Yushi Shinoda イタリア語を学ぶ勇気を持って、私は日本語を始めます（ASSIMILだけでなく、2021年3月末以降のRoutledgeエディション「COLLOQUIALJAPANESE」とPIMSLEURもあります）！

[@yushishinoda2304]

@@fivantvcs9055 日本語のお勉強、ぜひがんばってください。難しい言葉ですが、できればとても楽しいですよ！僕も引き続きイタリア語をがんばります！

[@jasoncollins865]

Do Assimil do one in traditional Chinese?

[@valentino5999]

Is the e-course okay? Or should I get the books

[@ajc4762]

Love Assimil, its the best for vocabulary!

[@masterp69]

How do you use the Assimil books? I see that many people like to use the .mp3 files for flashcards along with text. What is your opinion on that?

[@Ahmed_ed12332]

Can u tellme at which level in language can i reach with assimil book?

[@OhWanya]

B2 :)

[@dcrock8978]

Wanya 哇倪爱Oh 偶 Chinese Assimil says B2, but definitely A2.

[@philtrem]

Oh yes! A favorite of mine too :)

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

I really did enjoy using it again! I found that I was already satisfied with it after the first volume/45 lessons or so, but it was great! :)

[@Luckyvegan01]

I start learning chinese and use youtube and the app hello chinise, i gonna try assimil too, looks very good

[@irenemcnamara9699]

I just ordered Assiimil in French. I got the book yesterday. I also ordered your book Robin, and I got yesterday too. I am going to read 1 chapter a day. I am at an associative stage in Russian, but I am at a cognitive stage in all the other languages I study, except for English, of course.

[@erisvaldofernandesdemirand8044]

O grande problema que vejo com o assimil, é que todos os vídeos que tratam do livro, não mostra a pessoa falando a língua que ele diz ter o livro. Incrível, isso! Só propaganda do livro.

[@prestokrs1]

Wow you ARE excited.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Hahaha always 😆

[@TimMcNamara-sh2cg]

I have a French Assimil book, and I got bored with it. I cant find it now.

[@heartandmindovercome3214]

Are you fluent in French now?

[@julialianjosecarrera5649]

Omg Robin, you're sounding a bit american😂

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Hahaha my poor accent gets so confused at times 😂