Assimil Language Courses : Italian with Ease (Book only)

by Assimil (editor)

How did you learn to speak?

You probably don't even know. You listened to your parents, gradually understanding the meanings of sounds, words, and then whole sentences. Then, once you had absorbed or assimilated the meanings of the word associations, you began to link words and form your own sentences. Assimil applied this same natural process adapting it to the abilities of adults, young and old.

You assimilate in two
The Passive Phase
The Active Phase

The first step is to familiarize yourself with the new language through daily sessions lasting 20 to 30 minutes. You listen and read and you understand what is being said through the translation provided. You repeat each sentence aloud to practice your pronunciation, with the help of easy phonetic spellings and, better still, recordings. During the Passive Phase you shouldn't try to form sentences. Just immerse yourself in the language. Every seventh lesson you'll find a review of all the points covered in the previous six lessons and a summary of the main grammar points learned during the week. The key to success is the daily routine.

The first two weeks are crucial. The rest will come naturally.

The Active Phase starts when you have acquired enough passive knowledge around Lesson 50.

This phase continues alongside passive learning, and involves revising Lesson 1, then Lesson 2 and so on, completing one active and one passive lesson each day.

In the Active Phase, you cover up the text in the target language and, using the translation on the opposite page, try to say it out loud or in writing if you wish. The Active Phase continues throughout the entire second half of the book. For most major languages, it takes about five months to assimilate a course of 100 lessons.

You'll be amazed at your results! During this second phase, you will be building sentences with ease and this encourages you to go on and complete your course.

A With Ease course will enable you to reach a level of fluent everyday conversation.

Genres: Language, Italian Literature, Nonfiction, Reference, Italy

450 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

Reviews

[Al Capwned · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's difficult to learn a foreign language just by using one method but I guess this specific one is one of the best.

[Iouri Belov · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a typical Assimil self-study textbook: small lessons with a couple of exercises in each and every seventh lesson is devoted to revision. There are almost only dialogues in the book, with a few monologues. I wish to have other texts as well, e.g narratives and reasoning, and more realistic ones. The grammar progresses much too rapidly (since the editors claim that with this book one can go from zero to the B2 level). To some extent this is justified, due to similarity of Italian and French, but just one translation exercise and one exercise on filling the gaps for each lesson are not enough. What I especially miss in Assimil textbooks are lesson word lists and oral exercises of the drill type. Still, I prefer this method to many others, except Linguaphone.