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Laddering Italian With Assimil
This year, I've been going through a bit of an Assimil phase. Already I have a few different types of Assimil books, from the phrasebooks to the grammar workbooks to the Sans Peine/Without Toil series. I was drawn to them simply because of the variety of languages they offer, and also because they're mostly cheap.
For those of you who don't know, Assimil are a French company who have been making language books for a long time. Their method is focused less on boring grammar drills and lengthy descriptions, instead they try to teach you a language through assimilation (hence the name "Assimil"), through reading dialogues and then eventually translating them back. Most of their books are in French, but some of them are available in other languages such as English and Spanish. .
I had already started Italian last year (2022) through Duolingo and a class. After taking one term of classes, I wanted a way to continue learning the language without having to rely on just Duo. That's why I picked up the latest Assimil Italian book, L'italien sans peine. I didn't get it with the audio recordings because I am cheap, but I'll get more into that later. The book is in French, which I don't mind. It doesn't look like there is currently an English version available. Because it was all in French, that meant I would be "laddering" Italian, which means learning a language through another language that isn't your mother tongue.
I am almost at the very end of the book now, so I feel I am ready to share my experiences learning through it. Keep in mind that French is not my first language, I already had some past knowledge of Italian before starting, and that I am more of a visual/auditory learner. Even though everyone has a different learning style, hopefully this page will be of some use to someone.
The way Assimil books work is that they give you fifty lessons that consist of a dialogue, explanations of some of the grammar, and a few short exercises. Every seven lessons is a review, with more detailed descriptions of the grammar that should've assimilated into your head through the dialogues. The next fifty lessons are exactly the same, except you're supposed to go back after every one and translate a previous lesson. For example, in my book you're supposed to cover up the Italian dialogue, translating the French version back into Italian. They want you to do this orally, but I just wrote it down instead.
I found the first few lessons quite easy, because I already knew some Italian. The French explanations were mostly simple to understand for me. Although I had to look up some French words, I didn't mind that because I was learning two languages at once. The lack of audio didn't really matter for me since I was already familiar with the sounds of Italian, but I think if it was a completely knew language, I would want the recordings with me. I also think that having the audio would help me remember the new words a bit easier.
The exercises aren't all that hard, but for me they were quite difficult at times. They mostly involve translating French into Italian. This isn't too bad for a native speaker, but for an Anglophone, this wasn't the easiest. Even if I knew the Italian words already, I had them mapped in my head to an English equivalent, not a French word. So sometimes it would give me something to translate and it would take me a long time to translate it, whereas in English it would be much quicker.
I felt like remembering words was also a lot more difficult because it was in French. I probably could've made flashcards, but that's not how they want you to do it. It's supposed to "assimilate" into your brain gradually. I found that the grammar actually went into my head quite well through repeated exposure through the dialogues, while the vocabulary didn't. At first I was thinking: "How on Earth am I going to remember all this grammar?" but I was surprised at how it sunk into my head as if by magic. This would only work if I made sure to read the book everyday.
When they say "soyez régulier/be regular", they mean it! If you skip a day and then come back to it, you don't remember as much. I tried my best to read a least a little bit each day, but often I couldn't. Even now I'm finding it hard to find time and energy to finish the book, because of the new school year. That's why I'd recommend only using the Assimil method if you have the time, otherwise it won't work as advertised.
The dialogues were quite interesting. They try to cover all topics, which is good, but that means that sometimes you'll get a dialogue on a subject that you may find boring. The artwork throughout the book is cute, it's good at helping you remember some of the phrases. I prefer dialogues that each centre around the same characters and plotline, like the Integrated Chinese or Genki textbook series. The Assimil dialogues (or at least, the ones in this book) are all about completely random, often unnamed people, which can sometimes make it harder to be invested. A good plotline sometimes helps me learn better. At the end of the lessons was a little paragraph about the culture of Italy, which I found quite interesting. The dialogues were also quite relevant to Italian culture, which is always good. You don't want stuff that could apply to literally any country or language, that way you wouldn't be able to learn anything about the people who speak the target language.
I found the "Active Phase", where you're supposed to translate the dialogues from French into Italian, quite difficult, but they did help me get the words and grammar into my head. What I did was this: First, I translated the French into Italian, then I'd get the Italian text and then translate it back into either English or French (sometimes both). This would really help get the language into my head, and it also helped improve my French writing. It was especially hard to do this part after taking a break for a few days, so that's why regularity is important!
The laddering process, while more difficult than just learning using your native language, is actually a good brain workout! You can also learn two languages at once. A lot of people debate whether it is really so effective, but sometimes there is no choice. Some languages only have resources in a certain language, like for example, Romanian seems to have more resources in French than in English. (I actually have the Le Roumain sans peine, but I haven't had the time to really work on it yet.) Learning Italian through French skipped a lot of the detailed grammar explanations that would be there if it was being taught through English. A lot of the way the conjugations work is similar between the two Romance languages, so there's no need to explain how the different past tenses and auxiliary verbs work, whereas an English course would need to explain everything.
The cover of the book claims that finishing it will get you at a B2 level. I'm almost finished, and I feel that I am just about at B1. I do love the fact that it teaches you about different subjects, and it does that very well, but I think I lack a lot of vocabulary. Then again, I haven't been studying it as much lately, so that's probably why. I also feel like my writing and speaking skills are rather poor, due to the fact that the book does focus a lot on understanding, rather than producing. However, I think it did get me to a decent level in less than a year. Taking a classes in Italian probably wouldn't get you this far in so short a period.
Did I manage to use what I learnt in real life? Yes! I went to Italy and used it a bit. I managed to successfully order a meal a few times, and one time I managed to ask the waiter to bring me some milk for my tea. He asked me if I wanted cold or hot milk, and I managed to understand fine. It was more difficult to use it when I was travelling with people who only spoke English, but I tried my best to speak when I could. I also managed to eavesdrop on conversations and understand a bit of what they were saying. I did watch a bit of Italian TV, that was more difficult to understand, even Cartoon Network which you would think would be easier.
Although I have less time to learn Italian now school has started up again, I'm going to try my best to start immersing myself in the language. I didn't do all that much of it, because I couldn't find stuff I liked in Italian. I do listen to a lot of music, and sometimes I watch the news. It feels like they speak super fast on the news, but I can understand at least the subject of their discussion. Italian seems a lot easier to understand as a beginner than French does. I did watch one TV series (with Italian subtitles) before I started my Assimil book, it wasn't the most difficult to understand. So far I haven't read any books, so I should start finding novels or comics to learn with.
I would recommend the Assimil books, they're a good way to self study and there's such a variety of languages, even rarer ones, to choose from. Although, you are quite limited for choice if you only speak English. They are easy to purchase on Amazon (in Canada at least), but sometimes they have to import them which can take a while. I have managed to find a few of them in Canadian bookshops, only in French though. Apparently learning non-Romance languages with Assimil can be more difficult, but I'm not sure how true that is. I would just say that if you're laddering through French with Assimil, make sure your level is around B2.
I've just realised that I haven't actually demonstrated to you my Italian capabilities, so none of you can tell how well I really know it. Maybe I'll show you my writing skills on another page somewhere. A dopo!
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