Pimsleur approach any good?

[Kobyn]

Hi, I think the best way to learn a language is speaking to a native speaker and reading a lot about the target language. Si lees a diario en español, si practicas con alguien que hable español, para ti será más fácil aprender este bello idioma.

[Glavanway]

That last post just screams Peggy Hill!

LOL, mostly because of my own attempts to pronounce the Spanish. I am starting day-1 of Spanish-1 and am keeping a JOURNAL (not a blog, or v-log, just a journal). Of course, the journal is on the computer (face palm). But, I'll try to keep this thread updated. I too, was *very* curious about the effectiveness of the courses. I know and interact with many native Spanish speakers. I am starting with Spanish, but will move on the Russian (Because my wife's boss' wife is Russian) (no, not the mail-order type, he works in Russia a lot). Anyway, talking to her should test the Russian.

[Glavanway]

I did days 1 and 2 yesterday, and days 2 and 3 today. Because none of the vocabulary was new I figured it wouldn't hurt to accelerate until I start learning new things. Couple things I have noticed, Pimsleur is great for pronunciation. You really learn the right way (or at least the way the speakers say things). The other is much more beneficial, and it's proper usage. I had learned a long time ago things like "donde" and "de donde" (forgive my spelling). But never knew exactly how they were used. I had a really good idea but was not certain. That's more to the point, it has given me more confidence. I am much more certain of usage and syntax.

[Glavanway]

Ok, did 4 and 5 on Friday, then had to go out of town (to San Antonio, TX) for a family (sort of) emergency. I didn't do any of the lessons on Saturday or Sunday, I know, I know, I am a very bad student. However I started up again today, Monday, and it was remarkably hard to push through the lessons. I found it tedious and boring for some reason. I still haven't learned any new vocabulary, but my pronunciation is getting really good. Since I have learned thus far by talking with people you can't get them to say something over and over until you get it right like you can with a tape.

While in San Antonio my father-in-law asked us to pick up a very specific donut. We went to the donut shop and guess what? No entiende English!!! So I stepped right up and asked for a chocolate twist en Espanol! It was awesome, and even though I could have done this before Pimsleur I was always hesitant due to the fact that I had little confidence in my abilities. So, if nothing else so far, Pimsleur has given me a great confidence in my speaking ability and its correctness.

[Rhinoblitzing]

Can you learn to be a physicist in only 10 days? A chemist? A contractor? Well I have news for you, learning a language is just as difficult (if you want to be fluent) as any of the aforementioned. All of these places that guarantee you'll speak in 10 days, 3 months, whatever, are a JOKE! I moved to Japan when I was a kid and spent many years there and even while living there, I'd spend 10+ hours a day trying to learn to speak and write and read, etc... Some days I thought my mind was going to explode with frustration. 10 days? Really? To be able to walk around and speak as if you're a native, (as they claim- no accent), you're going to 1. have to move to the country. 2. speak it 24 hours a day for at least a few years and 3. then you end up forgetting a lot of the vocab and in my case, kanji! If someone learned Japanese in 10 days as well I as learned in 20 years, I'd... well, I'd probably jump off a bridge. Just more bs...

PS, $10 bucks? If you could truly teach someone a language in 10 days, don't you think it'd cost a bit more than just $10???? That was the first tip off. There is NO language learning device, tool, system, that you can adopt to learn a language and speak like you REALLY UNDERSTAND IT. Other than what I mentioned above. Sorry guys, nothing is easy and if it were, we'd all be fukokakuko, sankokakuko. (bilingual and trilingual in Japanese.....)

[Shmavid1]

So I got Pimsleur French from pimsleurapproach.com. Their marketing is extremely shady. Not only can you not learn the language in any meaningful way in 10 days (duh), but when you sign up to recieve your 10 dollar/10 day learning, you also are signing up to recieve a "free" trial of the entire French 1, which is like 30 or so more days and costs a couple hundred dollars which they will "conviniently" charge for you without you having to lift a finger. GEE THANKS! Read the fine print carefully if you order this, because then you'll find yourself either shipping it back to them on your own dime or paying 50 bucks a month for a few months to keep the fully meal deal they send you after a few weeks.

Now, the program is quite good, but just go to pimsleur.com, the official Simon and Schuster dealer of this program and just download it. It's cheaper and more convenient. No waiting several weeks for them to deliver it or ripping of CDs onto your mp3 player or computer. Also, don't expect to learn the language in 10 days. By the end of the 10th lesson you'll be able to strike up a meaningless conversation with a French person for about 10 seconds. But I believe if you stick with it, you might actually have a nice foundation to build upon (especially since you get the pronunciation and sentence structure right from the beginning without really trying).