I met up with my Austrian friend at work, along with the Australian co-worker who's married to an Austrian and speaks German reasonably well. It almost didn't happen because I lost track of time completely, but we got there in the end. My confidence hasn't improved at all, in fact, it might be worse than before. I'm even forgetting things I used to know. Not good. As you might be able to tell, I'm not feeling good about a mid-July target anymore, and I just really haven't found the time lately to make solid progress in my "sit-down" studies. As you may have noticed, I haven't had an Assimil update for a while because, well, I've been slack and I haven't really made any progress. I did a translation a couple of weeks ago of an article with audio, and I've listened to that a bit, and read it a bit too, but nothing really focused. I'm working on a new article at the moment from Deutsche Welle's "Alltagsdeutsch" which I'll hopefully have ready soon.
On the weekend I took "The Hof" along with some other mates on a rogaine. We didn't speak in German much because we spent most of the time as an English speaking group. At the end of a 6-hour rogaine, I tried to chat a little, but I was just shattered. I did learn a new word - "der Hügel" - which I was given as a translation for knoll. Now that I look at it on Linguee I see that perhaps ein Hügel is too big for a knoll. Apparently, the English word knoll is cognate with the German word "die Knolle" which means "tubers, bulbs, lumps". The dictionary.com definition is "a small, rounded hill or eminence; hillock". Linguee gives "die Kuppe, das Hügelchen, niedrieger Hügel". So, yeah, a small hill :-)
This week, the plan is to meet up with my Austrian friends for some more focused German-time, and also to get back into training for the 14km City2Surf here in Sydney. I've decided to count my 20.2km walk+jog on Sunday as my training for last week!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
A brief, noisy mobile phone conversation...
Not much to report lately. I'd say I've been busy, but I've been lazy instead. I think it's hard to see my way through my time constraints to get to the level I need to be in 4 weeks time, which is only making me waste my time more.
I guess it's partially brought on by my lack of actual speaking practice and the feeling that it's just not frequent enough to improve. I'll try to think of some ways to improve this, but I think I was relying on my German co-workers wanting to speak to me. I still have my one Austrian friend, which is brilliant, but when my German co-workers didn't respond to my email, I died a little on the inside...
OK, that's an exaggeration, but I was, and still am, disappointed by this.
I am meeting up with another Austrian friend this Sunday for the whole day, but we will be with 3 non-German speakers, so I doubt we'll get much chance to speak German, though I'll try, even if it's a little rude. Anyway, this Austrian friend (aka "The Hof") rang me yesterday to confirm some of the details. I think he was calling from the train, and there was also a lot of noise on the line. On top of that, I was in the office at work and felt a little awkward speaking German. However, as usual, the Hof insisted on speaking German! I really appreciate this, and so pushed on. I got through most of it OK comprehension wise, but my speaking was awkward and stilted. Sigh. The only spot where he switched to English was when he mentioned a suburb name, but with the noise in the background, the bad line, and a little bit of an accent, I got lost on this whole phrase - I thought the suburb name was a German word I couldn't understand!
I told him as much and he had a good laugh and we switched back to German. After that, my speech was a little better, so I guess I should try to have a laugh at myself earlier on in our conversations :-)
As I walked out of work yesterday I did a little reflection. Perhaps my spoken German level's not so bad considering the actual amount of time I've spent speaking it. Apart from previous classes (which amount to very little actual conversation), I spoke on the tram to a work colleague in Germany for about 10 minutes, and had conversations with various other German people enough to add up to maybe 1 hour in total (I'm be generous here). Then I've met up with my Austrian friends here in Australia (in work and out of it) for a total of maybe 3 hours of actual German conversation. So, despite living in Germany for 6 months while I learnt German, I've spoken German for a total of about FOUR HOURS! No wonder I don't feel prepared for the B2 exam!
Just goes to show you, living in a country is no guarantee of conversing in its language! Another way to look at what I've done so far is that I've spoken 3 times as much German while living in Australia as I ever did while lving in Germany.
This does give me a little boost I suppose. I mean, perhaps I'm not so bad at speaking after all - just bad at practicing to speak!
I guess it's partially brought on by my lack of actual speaking practice and the feeling that it's just not frequent enough to improve. I'll try to think of some ways to improve this, but I think I was relying on my German co-workers wanting to speak to me. I still have my one Austrian friend, which is brilliant, but when my German co-workers didn't respond to my email, I died a little on the inside...
OK, that's an exaggeration, but I was, and still am, disappointed by this.
I am meeting up with another Austrian friend this Sunday for the whole day, but we will be with 3 non-German speakers, so I doubt we'll get much chance to speak German, though I'll try, even if it's a little rude. Anyway, this Austrian friend (aka "The Hof") rang me yesterday to confirm some of the details. I think he was calling from the train, and there was also a lot of noise on the line. On top of that, I was in the office at work and felt a little awkward speaking German. However, as usual, the Hof insisted on speaking German! I really appreciate this, and so pushed on. I got through most of it OK comprehension wise, but my speaking was awkward and stilted. Sigh. The only spot where he switched to English was when he mentioned a suburb name, but with the noise in the background, the bad line, and a little bit of an accent, I got lost on this whole phrase - I thought the suburb name was a German word I couldn't understand!
I told him as much and he had a good laugh and we switched back to German. After that, my speech was a little better, so I guess I should try to have a laugh at myself earlier on in our conversations :-)
As I walked out of work yesterday I did a little reflection. Perhaps my spoken German level's not so bad considering the actual amount of time I've spent speaking it. Apart from previous classes (which amount to very little actual conversation), I spoke on the tram to a work colleague in Germany for about 10 minutes, and had conversations with various other German people enough to add up to maybe 1 hour in total (I'm be generous here). Then I've met up with my Austrian friends here in Australia (in work and out of it) for a total of maybe 3 hours of actual German conversation. So, despite living in Germany for 6 months while I learnt German, I've spoken German for a total of about FOUR HOURS! No wonder I don't feel prepared for the B2 exam!
Just goes to show you, living in a country is no guarantee of conversing in its language! Another way to look at what I've done so far is that I've spoken 3 times as much German while living in Australia as I ever did while lving in Germany.
This does give me a little boost I suppose. I mean, perhaps I'm not so bad at speaking after all - just bad at practicing to speak!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Friday lunchtime Stammtisch...
Just a quick report on today's Stammtisch at my work. Well, it's kind of a Stammtisch. There's definitely a Tisch involved!
Today we were three - the native German speaker (an Austrian), me, and a native English speaker who's married to an Austrian (why are all my German contacts here Austrian? No idea!) and who lived in Austria for a year. The latter's level is somewhat similar to my own, probably, but definitely better. He has a somewhat larger vocabulary, he's more at ease with German, and understands a little more (or so it seems to me - this is all just my subjective assessment).
This time we sat at a table of 4 and started speaking German from the start, which reduced the chance of any interruptions in English. And thankfully that's exactly what happened. It was a pleasant conversation, and I really appreciated again the patience and helpfulness of people who give up their lunchtime to put up with my bad German.
Unfortunately, that last statement isn't an exaggeration. I felt halting, and heard myself making plenty of grammatical mistakes, and struggling for words at times. Not surprising considering that, although I haven't been counting exactly, I haven't spent that much time really speaking German. My comprehension was pretty good, though there were passages of speech that I couldn't get into the flow of. Perhaps partially because there was a 3rd person there who wasn't a native speaker, I think I also felt more awkward than usual.
I also read Deutsche Welle's description of B2 level. I have to say, I am definitely somewhere between B1 and B2 still, and probably not close enough to B2 by far to successfully pass the Goethe-Zertifikat-B2 exam in about 1 month's time. Suffice to say, I'm feeling a mixture of fear and depression.
The only thing I've done since yesterday is listen to "Entenvolk" from yesterday. Before I hit the road going home today I'll try to make sure I read through the parallel text that I made (see the above post) so that listening to it is more useful. I have to admit that I'm not super interested in the topic. I really should have made sure I would find it interesting and appropriate before I bothered to translate it! Today I made a bit of a search for some more interesting articles, so I'll find one soon to start a new translation :-)
Should I proceed with my mid-July plan and try to find a way to push harder to reach there? Or should I reassess and replan? I've come a LONG way since I started this process, and having B2 as a goal has been very helpful to me, forcing me to focus much more than I otherwise would have, and to find German-speakers to chat to. Now it's getting down to the last days, and to pass the actual exam I will need a more concerted and focused effort. I'm not going to spend $180 on an exam without being fairly certain of passing it!
Any readers out there already done the Goethe-Zertifikat-B2 or higher? How did you feel 1 month out? How had you prepared?
Any and all suggestions gratefully received :-)
Today we were three - the native German speaker (an Austrian), me, and a native English speaker who's married to an Austrian (why are all my German contacts here Austrian? No idea!) and who lived in Austria for a year. The latter's level is somewhat similar to my own, probably, but definitely better. He has a somewhat larger vocabulary, he's more at ease with German, and understands a little more (or so it seems to me - this is all just my subjective assessment).
This time we sat at a table of 4 and started speaking German from the start, which reduced the chance of any interruptions in English. And thankfully that's exactly what happened. It was a pleasant conversation, and I really appreciated again the patience and helpfulness of people who give up their lunchtime to put up with my bad German.
Unfortunately, that last statement isn't an exaggeration. I felt halting, and heard myself making plenty of grammatical mistakes, and struggling for words at times. Not surprising considering that, although I haven't been counting exactly, I haven't spent that much time really speaking German. My comprehension was pretty good, though there were passages of speech that I couldn't get into the flow of. Perhaps partially because there was a 3rd person there who wasn't a native speaker, I think I also felt more awkward than usual.
I also read Deutsche Welle's description of B2 level. I have to say, I am definitely somewhere between B1 and B2 still, and probably not close enough to B2 by far to successfully pass the Goethe-Zertifikat-B2 exam in about 1 month's time. Suffice to say, I'm feeling a mixture of fear and depression.
The only thing I've done since yesterday is listen to "Entenvolk" from yesterday. Before I hit the road going home today I'll try to make sure I read through the parallel text that I made (see the above post) so that listening to it is more useful. I have to admit that I'm not super interested in the topic. I really should have made sure I would find it interesting and appropriate before I bothered to translate it! Today I made a bit of a search for some more interesting articles, so I'll find one soon to start a new translation :-)
Should I proceed with my mid-July plan and try to find a way to push harder to reach there? Or should I reassess and replan? I've come a LONG way since I started this process, and having B2 as a goal has been very helpful to me, forcing me to focus much more than I otherwise would have, and to find German-speakers to chat to. Now it's getting down to the last days, and to pass the actual exam I will need a more concerted and focused effort. I'm not going to spend $180 on an exam without being fairly certain of passing it!
Any readers out there already done the Goethe-Zertifikat-B2 or higher? How did you feel 1 month out? How had you prepared?
Any and all suggestions gratefully received :-)
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Lang-8 language corrections tutorial...
I recently received a friend request on Lang-8. Now, I've never really used it, and my profile says almost nothing, so I can only guess it's a bit of a fishing attempt. Or maybe it's genuine. I don't know. Since I started trying to meet people (and succeeding!) in person who speak German (my current target language), the idea of random penpals, or people to chat with on Skype, has begun to appeal to me less and less. The problem, as I've mentioned before, is that if I don't have anything in common with the person I'm chatting to, it becomes much harder to sustain the conversation and just the overall effort. As it is, with a fulltime job, long commute and busy extended-family social life, I have little time to maintain frequent contact with my English-speaking friends, let alone anyone else, so I need to choose wisely :-) Contacts I can make at work are an exception, of course, because I can use lunchtime to socialise in another language. This is "free" time which I'm doing my best to put to use!
My current German-speaking contacts include: infrequent, but highly helpful, correspondance with my former German teacher, meeting up occasionally with an Austrian couple I found on CouchSurfing, and an Austrian woman at my work who I've had lunch with once so far, and which looks like being a regular weekly thing (hopefully I'll have a new update on this tomorrow). I would like to improve upon this both because the date upon which I plan to sit the Goethe-Zertifikat B2 rapidly draws ever nearer, but also because I find it refreshing to get a different worldview.
As my "diary" update for the day, I've kept up with my Anki decks, and they are getting easier and quicker to do the more frequently I do them, so that's a real bonus. I planned to do a new exercise from the book Lesetraining B2 this morning, but instead I looked at the last question I worked on (Aufgabe 4) and realised that I have a few words I need to add to my Anki deck. This is really an important part of making real progress on my reading comprehension. And finally, I listened to lesson 15 in Perfectionnement Allemand this morning during my commute, but again I couldn't find the enthusiasm to try to keep up with it. I have seriously contemplated skipping to lesson 16, but I probably really just need to knuckle down and get it over with.
Anyway, to the subject of the post. After getting the friend invitation on Lang-8, I looked at their tutorial on how to correct a post:
http://lang-8.com/help/correction_1
The incorrect sentence starts out as "I think to review the corrections is very important for language learning." The "corrected" sentence? "I think to reviewing the corrections is very important for language learning."
I think to reviewing??? What?
Oh man...
I seem to recall that this is what put me off Lang-8 the first time I looked at it after registering. Or should that be "I seem to recalling that this is what put me off Lang-8 the first time I looked at it after to registering".
Is that shallow of me? Yes, yes it is. So sue me - that's how I roll...
My current German-speaking contacts include: infrequent, but highly helpful, correspondance with my former German teacher, meeting up occasionally with an Austrian couple I found on CouchSurfing, and an Austrian woman at my work who I've had lunch with once so far, and which looks like being a regular weekly thing (hopefully I'll have a new update on this tomorrow). I would like to improve upon this both because the date upon which I plan to sit the Goethe-Zertifikat B2 rapidly draws ever nearer, but also because I find it refreshing to get a different worldview.
As my "diary" update for the day, I've kept up with my Anki decks, and they are getting easier and quicker to do the more frequently I do them, so that's a real bonus. I planned to do a new exercise from the book Lesetraining B2 this morning, but instead I looked at the last question I worked on (Aufgabe 4) and realised that I have a few words I need to add to my Anki deck. This is really an important part of making real progress on my reading comprehension. And finally, I listened to lesson 15 in Perfectionnement Allemand this morning during my commute, but again I couldn't find the enthusiasm to try to keep up with it. I have seriously contemplated skipping to lesson 16, but I probably really just need to knuckle down and get it over with.
Anyway, to the subject of the post. After getting the friend invitation on Lang-8, I looked at their tutorial on how to correct a post:
http://lang-8.com/help/correction_1
The incorrect sentence starts out as "I think to review the corrections is very important for language learning." The "corrected" sentence? "I think to reviewing the corrections is very important for language learning."
I think to reviewing??? What?
Oh man...
I seem to recall that this is what put me off Lang-8 the first time I looked at it after registering. Or should that be "I seem to recalling that this is what put me off Lang-8 the first time I looked at it after to registering".
Is that shallow of me? Yes, yes it is. So sue me - that's how I roll...
A few days of holiday...
Just finished up an extra long weekend. Despite my intention to power through a lot of German study, I only kept up with my Anki and worked on some of those crosswords I mentioned previously, but I didn't do much beyond that. I should have been able to at least finish lesson 15, but I'm finding it a bit boring. I also discovered this book in the small collection of books where we were staying and felt compelled to finish it before I left. I expect to be able to finish lesson 15 tomorrow... ish... Like I said, I find this one less interesting than previous ones - it's a series of postcards with no real continuous story. They are simply intended to show the different levels of formal address required in writing - actually quite an importatant topic! I just can't get into it :-)
As I mentioned before, I have put the word out with two more German-speakers at my office. It's been a week with no reply. I wonder if they never received the email, or perhaps their silence is my answer. Germans can be like that - if they think the answer is obvious, they won't write you anything to confirm details, etc. Now I'm not sure what to do - should I try them again and risk annoying them? I really need to find more German practice partners, and work seems like the perfect place to find them. I do have one already, and she has been incredibly helpful in just one lunch. I'll be having another lunch with her either tomorrow or the next day, but I did hope to find more. The search continues...
Which reminds me - I really must organise to meet up with my Austrian friends sometime soon and perhaps figure out something regular. I'll write more once I've got something sorted.
Anyone have any suggestions on how I could get my German co-workers to respond affirmatively to my request for occasional meetups? I lived in Germany for six months, but I never really managed to crack the German social code :-)
As I mentioned before, I have put the word out with two more German-speakers at my office. It's been a week with no reply. I wonder if they never received the email, or perhaps their silence is my answer. Germans can be like that - if they think the answer is obvious, they won't write you anything to confirm details, etc. Now I'm not sure what to do - should I try them again and risk annoying them? I really need to find more German practice partners, and work seems like the perfect place to find them. I do have one already, and she has been incredibly helpful in just one lunch. I'll be having another lunch with her either tomorrow or the next day, but I did hope to find more. The search continues...
Which reminds me - I really must organise to meet up with my Austrian friends sometime soon and perhaps figure out something regular. I'll write more once I've got something sorted.
Anyone have any suggestions on how I could get my German co-workers to respond affirmatively to my request for occasional meetups? I lived in Germany for six months, but I never really managed to crack the German social code :-)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Putting the word out...
Since my recent meeting with a German speaking co-worker went so well, I felt emboldened to write to two more German speakers here. A day has gone by without a reply, however, which doesn't feel like a good start. I suspect they will just ignore me and hope I don't ask again - and there I was with visions of having a German-speaking lunch 3 days a week! Damn :-)
In better news, I finished lesson 13 in Perfectionnement Allemand and since lesson 14 is a review lesson (which I'll read tonight with any luck) I'll be listening to lesson 15 during my trip home today.
I've almost finished another easy crossword (a bit harder than the previous ones this time!) which has been a good exercise. I plan to add a bunch of new words to my Anki list as a result. Speaking of Anki, I've been slack with this over the last few weeks, and have been trying to catch up again in the last few days. Doing it every day is the way to go, for sure, I just don't always get there, which is pretty lazy. And whenever I have a conversation, or try to read a text, and I'm missing useful words from my mental database, I'm reminded of my German classes (all 8 or 9 of them!) in Germany where the teacher would say "Words! You must learn words! Without words, you cannot speak!"
Too true... Damn words!
In better news, I finished lesson 13 in Perfectionnement Allemand and since lesson 14 is a review lesson (which I'll read tonight with any luck) I'll be listening to lesson 15 during my trip home today.
I've almost finished another easy crossword (a bit harder than the previous ones this time!) which has been a good exercise. I plan to add a bunch of new words to my Anki list as a result. Speaking of Anki, I've been slack with this over the last few weeks, and have been trying to catch up again in the last few days. Doing it every day is the way to go, for sure, I just don't always get there, which is pretty lazy. And whenever I have a conversation, or try to read a text, and I'm missing useful words from my mental database, I'm reminded of my German classes (all 8 or 9 of them!) in Germany where the teacher would say "Words! You must learn words! Without words, you cannot speak!"
Too true... Damn words!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Review of Perfectionnement Allemand
Now that I'm up to lesson 13 in Assimil's Perfectionnement Allemand (Advanced German), I feel that I have a good enough sample of the whole work to post a review over on Amazon.com. It hasn't appeared there yet, but in any case, it seems worth repeating here. I know I sound like an Assimil fanboy, but I don't think they are the be-all-and-end-all of language learning. I just really believe that their books have helped me immensely, more than any other language course I've tried (and I've tried a few!).
Before the review, my other bit of news for the day is that I met up with an Austrian woman from my work at lunch today for about an hour of chatting. Again, I felt a bit weak in lots of ways, but she never needed to dumb it down (too much) and we had a pretty flowing conversation overall. I tried to ask questions which would elicit long responses because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't dominating the conversation with my bad German, which wouldn't help me, and wouldn't make for a pleasant chat. It looks like we'll be able to meet up weekly, so that's another bit of face-to-face time that I really need. I'm going to try to meet up with another person from work on a different day. At this stage, it's obvious to me that I need all the help I can get!
Here's the review, reproduced from here:
It's sometimes hard to believe that Assimil language learning books are not more popular outside of Europe. They are just a brilliant, yet simple, way of progressing in a language, allowing the development of vocabulary, correct grammar (and phrasing) as well as pronunciation (albeit, you need to self-correct, which can be difficult), through a daily progression. Well, for me it's every few days on these advanced lesson, but still, it's constant exposure and progression in a way that really works. On top of that, you get so much more actual content in the target language than with other courses (2 hours 40 minutes in this course). And it's ALL in the target language. This means that when you're reviewing the lessons purely through the audio, you don't have any other language interrupting your focus on what you are trying to learn.
There are a few variations/interpretations on the Assimil method - I discuss the way I use the Assimil books on my blog (http://yetanotherlanguage.blogspot.com/2011/04/couple-of-new-arrivals.html) so I won't repeat it here.
I only have two small issues with this book (so far - I'm up to lesson 13/56) - one it the format which has changed in the latest iteration of Assimil's books. Previously they had a more robust cover (though it's still fairly hard wearing - which is great for a book that gets dragged everywhere!), and also the lack of a red cloth bookmark. Originally I thought I wouldn't care about that, but it is just the best way for quickly accessing the book in those spare moments. Even on public transport, I often have just a short gap in which to check what's being said, and the built-in red cloth bookmark was invaluable for this. Bring back the cloth bookmark please, Assimil!
The other "minor" problem depends on how good your French is :-) Unfortunately, the advanced German course is only available in French. My own French is not great, and so a lot of the explanation of more colloquial/metaphorical usage is a little lost on me, but overall I feel fairly confident I'm understanding most of the explanations. I just look up anything more complicated online. The great thing about the audio being purely in German is that once you've read the text and understood it (perhaps with a bit of looking up online) you can listen to the audio over and over without the influence of any other language. With other language courses, I imagine trying to do them in a language in which you are not very confident would be pretty much impossible.
When you use Assimil programs though, it is clear why they don't produce all their volumes in all languages - there is a lot of thought and care put into both the quality of the translations, and also in appropriate explanatory footnotes.
If French is not a barrier for you, then this is the book for the advanced German learner. The dialogs are clear and professional, the text is well written and genuinely funny (the same couldn't be said of the beginner's course in German :-) ) and they are worth every penny of their price. You will go past just about any modern "advanced" course in the first half of the beginner's Assimil book.
And one last point - although you definitely need to practice speaking with native speakers to improve your speaking abilities, you will actually develop good conversation abilities (good pronunciation and comprehension) without native speaker practice. However, it won't help you with gathering your thoughts and explaining yourself in your target language - only real-world practice can do that!
Before the review, my other bit of news for the day is that I met up with an Austrian woman from my work at lunch today for about an hour of chatting. Again, I felt a bit weak in lots of ways, but she never needed to dumb it down (too much) and we had a pretty flowing conversation overall. I tried to ask questions which would elicit long responses because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't dominating the conversation with my bad German, which wouldn't help me, and wouldn't make for a pleasant chat. It looks like we'll be able to meet up weekly, so that's another bit of face-to-face time that I really need. I'm going to try to meet up with another person from work on a different day. At this stage, it's obvious to me that I need all the help I can get!
Here's the review, reproduced from here:
It's sometimes hard to believe that Assimil language learning books are not more popular outside of Europe. They are just a brilliant, yet simple, way of progressing in a language, allowing the development of vocabulary, correct grammar (and phrasing) as well as pronunciation (albeit, you need to self-correct, which can be difficult), through a daily progression. Well, for me it's every few days on these advanced lesson, but still, it's constant exposure and progression in a way that really works. On top of that, you get so much more actual content in the target language than with other courses (2 hours 40 minutes in this course). And it's ALL in the target language. This means that when you're reviewing the lessons purely through the audio, you don't have any other language interrupting your focus on what you are trying to learn.
There are a few variations/interpretations on the Assimil method - I discuss the way I use the Assimil books on my blog (http://yetanotherlanguage.blogspot.com/2011/04/couple-of-new-arrivals.html) so I won't repeat it here.
I only have two small issues with this book (so far - I'm up to lesson 13/56) - one it the format which has changed in the latest iteration of Assimil's books. Previously they had a more robust cover (though it's still fairly hard wearing - which is great for a book that gets dragged everywhere!), and also the lack of a red cloth bookmark. Originally I thought I wouldn't care about that, but it is just the best way for quickly accessing the book in those spare moments. Even on public transport, I often have just a short gap in which to check what's being said, and the built-in red cloth bookmark was invaluable for this. Bring back the cloth bookmark please, Assimil!
The other "minor" problem depends on how good your French is :-) Unfortunately, the advanced German course is only available in French. My own French is not great, and so a lot of the explanation of more colloquial/metaphorical usage is a little lost on me, but overall I feel fairly confident I'm understanding most of the explanations. I just look up anything more complicated online. The great thing about the audio being purely in German is that once you've read the text and understood it (perhaps with a bit of looking up online) you can listen to the audio over and over without the influence of any other language. With other language courses, I imagine trying to do them in a language in which you are not very confident would be pretty much impossible.
When you use Assimil programs though, it is clear why they don't produce all their volumes in all languages - there is a lot of thought and care put into both the quality of the translations, and also in appropriate explanatory footnotes.
If French is not a barrier for you, then this is the book for the advanced German learner. The dialogs are clear and professional, the text is well written and genuinely funny (the same couldn't be said of the beginner's course in German :-) ) and they are worth every penny of their price. You will go past just about any modern "advanced" course in the first half of the beginner's Assimil book.
And one last point - although you definitely need to practice speaking with native speakers to improve your speaking abilities, you will actually develop good conversation abilities (good pronunciation and comprehension) without native speaker practice. However, it won't help you with gathering your thoughts and explaining yourself in your target language - only real-world practice can do that!
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