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.