Hello Lads!

To begin with, Assimil is a book-and-audio programme that is designed to be used on a daily basis, it is considered one of the best ways of learning your target language. Assimil exists for many languages; such as German, French, etc.

Assimil consists of two waves. The first wave of Assimil is relatively hard, and it must be done with the first 100 lessons in the book. The second wave starts when you reach the 50th lesson in the book. This wave is relatively easier (since you've done most of the heavy-lifting in the first wave).

In this post, I'll be sharing the method that is used to do Assimil, which can be used to learn your target language.

Without furtherado, let's begin:

(Keep in mind that the points mentioned below must be done sequentially)

Assimil - First wave

Time : 15 - 45 minutes

• Play the audio with the book closed, 2 times.
• Play the audio while looking at the English side of the book, while covering your target language with your hand, 2 times.
• Play the audio while looking at your target language, 3 times.
• At this point, you should have a general idea of what's happening in the lesson.
• Read out each line from your target language's dialogue, repeat this until you're comfortable with your pronounciation.
• Cover your target language's dialogue and read the English dialogue, try to translate it to your target language (say out loud, go sentence by sentence). Repeat this until you get nothing wrong
• Listen to the audio with the book closed, you should be able to recognize every word. (if not, repeat the audio.)
• Read the notes provided with the lesson, do the exercises, correct your work.
• Listen to the dialogue one last time, for reassurance.

Assimil - Second wave

Time : 10 - 25 minutes

• Simply read the entire lesson (dialogue, notes, exercises, colloquialisms).
• Read both dialogues several time until you can recognize every single word.
• Cover your target language's dialogue and write out each sentence (in your target language, in a notebook) while looking at the English side.
• Read your written dialogue with the audio for reassurance, and correct your work.

Finishing notes

Keep in mind that there's no one-size-fits-all solution for Assimil. This is only the basic guide, and I've made it because the book doesn't explain its method very well. Oh, and you can modify it as you please. You can lessen the workload (or double it, depending on how masochistic you are ;D). I also recommend to use the notebook for exercises and such, to keep things tidy.

Hello everyone, Since I've seen no one do it yet, I've decided to make my own language learning community! If you're interested, click here to join and discuss language learning with fellow language enthusiasts!

Hello!

This post will be offering resource that I've found helpful when it comes to learning languages. If you have any resources (of any language) that you wanna share, please comment them down below so that I can edit this post and add them So, without further ado, I'll be listing the resources:

French

For French, I've tried many learning resources. Here are the ones that I find most useful:

Assimil French with Ease

One of the best resources out there for learning French. It is a book which comes with audio CD's. The book is divided into close to a 100 lesson that should be done on a daily basis.

Pros:

• Massively enhances listening skills.
• Massively enhances reading skills.
• Promises to get you to a B1 level.

Cons:

• Doesn't do much when it comes to speaking.
• Requires some serious time investment, especially after the 50th lesson.

Pimsleur - French

One of the most popular resources for learning French. It is an audio-only programme which is divided into 5 levels. Each level has 30 lessons that should be done on a daily basis.

Pros:

• Massively enhances speaking skills.
• Massively enhances listening skills
• Requires little time investment, about 30 minutes a day.

Cons:

• Takes a long time to finish (approximately 5 months).
• Doesn't do much when it comes to reading (I'm aware that there are optional reading lessons, but in my opinion they don't work very well).

Le Français Par La Méthode Nature

Le Français Par La Méthode Nature (French by the Nature Method) is a book that aims to teach French the way that we've learned language as kids: by tying words to illustrations and objects. It is a rather unique and effective approach to language learning. The book has over 1000 pages which contain stories as well as illustrations and exercises. Sometimes, grammatical explanations are provided.

Pros:

• A unique way to learn, can be rewarding because you feel like you understand about everything.
• Significantly improves reading skills
• Audio recording of the book are fully available on YouTube, which can help you pronounce certain words.

Cons:

• Lots of repetition, can sometimes be painful to complete a chapter
• Speaking isn't acknowledged.

IF YOU HAVE MORE RESOURCES FOR MORE LANGUAGES, PLEASE SHARE THEM DOWN BELOW. I PLAN ON ADDING MORE RESOURCES ONCE I HAVE THE TIME.

How to start learning a foreign language

Hello and welcome to your first steps towards learning a foreign language. If you're coming here fresh to the endeavour, you've got a lot to cover, but we promise the effort will be worth the reward!

The LanguageLearning community is a general community - we don't support any particular language. Rather, we try to help you on your journey in two ways:

• We serve as a hub to help you find all the great communities and resources that are out there
• We share advice and tips that apply to all languages

When it comes to your specific language, there are lots of great places to find resources and get support. The best place to start is with the language communities. If you'd like to know how we recommend you start learning a language, you can start with the guide below.

There's a fair amount to cover, so to make it as easy as possible someone (from reddit) has organised everything into a guide. The guide has two formats: an online version and a PDF. The content is almost entirely the same, but the online version is updated more frequently.

You can find the online version here.

You can get the PDF in multiple ways. You can one-click download with this link. You can use Google Docs' Viewer to view the guide in your browser here.

If you would like to offer support, you can purchase the guide on Leanpub or send a tip to the author.

What's in the guide?

There are lots of guides out there in the internet, so why did we need another one? Most guides out there are very theoretical. They talk a lot about language learning theory or dispense a smattering of advice without covering the breadth of any one topic. Theory is important, but it can also be very lengthy. Oftentimes, the learner is still left wondering "ok great, so I think I understand how to learn, but what do I actually do to start? What resources should I use? What should my routine be?". Here we take the position that understanding the basic steps to learning a language is far more important for a beginner than dealing with lots of theory.

To help you best, the subreddit guide is structured as follows:

• The start contains a bare minimum of theory, covering only the basics you really need to know before you begin.
• The guide then focuses on helping you find resources. You will review the types of resources you need to start and where to find them.
• The guide then helps you put everything together, covering your routine with some advice on ensuring you learn as fast as you can.

After that, the book covers more core language learning theory:

• You will be shown how to use your resources optimally.
• You will then cover more broad language learning theory, such as how best to learn grammar, vocabulary, and the four skills.

From there, the guide moves on to more intermediate topics, including great intermediate activities and advice for studying without a course. The end of the guide has a large set of appendices to provide additional information and respond to common queries. Beginners don't need to read this far.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of content or advice here, we recommend you just start your language. Most of us who have been here a while or started before language learning on the internet was possible had to figure out what works for ourselves, and we've done just fine. Ultimately, if you're engaging with the language and enjoying it, you are already most of the way there.

THIS GUIDE IS EDITED, AND WAS COPIED FROM THE R/LANGUAGELEARNING SUBREDDIT AND SHARED FOR THE PURPOSE OF LEARNING