https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRWIheSDaw0. I am using Assimil and have for the past 4 months. Hola, This is my first time posting on this forum, so nice to meet you! By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. I live in the US, but I'm comfortable using this resource and would simply remove the "θ" sound from my speech. They have two types of audio, including a pure native Assimil-like "at home" version and an "on-the go" version, very well paced, multiple consistent actors who almost all sound native, very carefully structured, very clear text, language and cultural note sections, good short bidirectional exercises with a separate per-chapter answer key, etc. Awesome, thanks for the info! If I bought Pimsleur, I would probably purchase it from the used section on Amazon. Assimil vs Living Language. I only really suggest doing one or the other. The closest that we actually got to Latin American countries was to discuss the "dangers of communism" in Latin America; the rest of the class was merely about modern politics in the United States, specifically whom we should vote for in the 2016 election. Hola, This is my first time posting on this forum, so nice to meet you! The instructor was a native Spanish speaker, but seemed to have no passion for Spanish at all. Lots of American students use Assimil without picking it up. Language Transfer and I are well acquainted; I absolutely love the method and have already used the Arabic course. I just find myself really frustrated by the lack of quality Greek materials and I want to give it a try. Despite the books being labeled Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced, it's a beginner's course. Thinking of trying it for Greek :-D. I tried it for German, and I'd say it's as good as any paperback program. The audio lessons were good too. A subreddit for anyone interested in Spanish. Returning to my purpose for posting, I'm interested in the Assimil course Spanish With Ease . Check back soon, as we add more free language learning downloads all the time. I wish that I were kidding, but I ended up wasting a considerable amount of money on that class, and I'm still angry about it to this day. And PM if you need a study buddy. I suppose that's possible if you're doing one lesson per day, but if you really want this stuff to sink in you'll also need lots of review and practice. I also like that each chapter includes a conversation to put the vocabulary into context. Press J to jump to the feed. I completely understand that these courses are in no way a replacement for a real native speaker. Also, do you know of any Latin American focused programs that are comparable to Assimil and affordable? I'll make this short. My first real experience with the language was in a classroom setting, and, unfortunately, the class was terrible. I've heard good things about Assimil in the past, and this would be my first course with this company. If I were going to pick on one thing, I'd say that like many language courses, the first few lessons (the Essential level) is primarily focused on making simple declarative statements like "The keys are on the table", or "I have a gift for you." Thr normal price is reported to be $125. If you are a first time learner (but serious), it may even be preferable than doing Assimil to be honest, depending on the language, since it has the content of Assimil but more structured, explains grammar and is more flexible. The instructor was a native Spanish speaker, but seemed to have no passion for Spanish at all. All are welcome, whether beginner or polyglot. Its actually where I started for German. We used that tutoring time to actually speak in Spanish. So yeah, go for it. Professor Arguelles reviewed the Living Language series too and broadly liked it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRWIheSDaw0. If you have something to share or a question about the Spanish language, ask and we'll help the best we can! That was also good. Also, at least on the old-style books, they said you could complete the lessons and be using your new language in just six weeks. Afterwords I was able to read Harry Potter with a dictionary. I printed out "Shaquille O'Neal," "National Basketball Association," and "Futbol Americano." If you've purchased one of the Living Language iKnow programs, or if you would just like a handy phrasebook with over 1,500 essential words and phrases, click on one of the Download icons below to download a free PDF of the iKnow content. Transcripts: iKnow Programs. Spanish. But if you really want go for Living Language, I personally never used it. I can give you some tips on the book as well :). They do a pretty good job of explaining why things are they way they are, e.g., the German case system, and the built-in exercises allow the student to apply the knowledge right away. I like things with lots of exercises and keys, plus concise explanations of grammar that isn't too technical. The only thing that made the class salvageable was that I was able to make a connection with a Spanish speaker who volunteered to tutor me. Remember to provide enough context, read the sidebar/wiki, and use the search function. I've been studying Spanish since the Spring of 2016. This allows me to learn the vocabulary behind the topics I'm interested in so that, hopefully, I can start listening to podcasts about them and keep taking in the content I actually care about. Cool, thanks! I’m now using it for Spanish. But I hear it is good albeit very expensive. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, EN (N)|Hebrew|Arabic [Leb, Egy, Gulf]|Farsi|ESP|Assyrian. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the learnspanish community. I've tried lots of programs so I might give this a try myself :-), New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the languagelearning community. Any honest feedback is appreciated, as well as alternatives that are either cheaper or more geared toward Latin American Spanish, but comparable to Assimil. If you want to learn Spanish, Living Language will help you achieve your goal. It's the 2nd best language resource I have used and will use it with all the future languages I intend to study. As of June 30, 2018, live e-Tutoring has been discontinued. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Instead of discussing culture and history in the Latin world, we merely became a glorified politics class. ... Grammar and culture notes to give you the most complete picture of the language; Learn more about our Comprehensive Courses or try a Free Lesson. I'm also aware that the course uses the European Spanish accent. Like most commercial programs, the claims on the box are a bit of a stretch. I used Complete course: Basics, and I found it was an excellent breakdown of basic grammar, as well as a nice primer. Instead of discussing culture and history in the Latin world, we merely became a glorified politics class. Also, I will gladly take you up on that study offer. There will be vocabulary lists for which you'll have to make up your own exercises or just memorize, but the program does make an effort to show you how to connect those words into sentences. I simply want to know if this product is worth purchasing, in your opinion, especially in comparison to programs like Pimsleur and Living Language . I also had Ultimate German. Don't be afraid of the Spain accent haha. No need to buy both. I don't know about the current series, but the old Ultimate series, at least for German, is pretty amazing for serious self-study students or as a college-level like supplement. I found it on Amazon.com on sale for around $55.00. Cookies help us deliver our Services. TLDR: Is Assimil Spanish With Ease a good investment, or should I go with programs like Living Language Complete Spanish or a used Pimsleur in good condition?