Pimsleur approach any good?

[Pimsler Guy]

I've had an eye on those Pimsleur coursed for a while now. I think those tapes alone can't teach you a language, maybe they help you just with pronunciation. What's strange is that for some languages they have only level 1, for others they have level 1 and 2 and still others have level 1, 2 and three. So what do you think of the Pimsleur tapes?

Pimsler Guy

[Torsten]

You are right, there are some Pimsleur language courses that offer tapes for 1 level while others include tapes for 2 or more levels. The reason for this is rather simple: some languages are more popular than others and so the demand/supply situation is different for each language.
As for the Pimsleur approach itself, it enables you to learn phrases without being attached to a computer or text book. You can expose yourself to the language you are learning wherever you are and whatever you are doing at the moment.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Moving an airplane

[Em]

I recieved an email from www.pimsleurapproach.com about learning a language in 10 days which seems a bit short. Since you have bought it have you learned much since?

Thanks,

Em

[Torsten]

Hi Em,

So you received an email from Pimsleurapproach. That's good news. You certainly can learn a language in 10 days, the question is how you define learn a language. Learning a language is a life long process so you can learn a language for 10 days and you will have achieved a certain level of success and you can learn a language for 10 years and the result will be different. I'd venture to say that you can learn the basic phrases of daily communication in any language within a week or so. Still, the question remains: How exactly do you measure your language competency?

TOEIC listening, photographs: Sitting on a roof

[Eagent]

[Rickj]

Em,

It always takes more than 10 days to learn a language. I've used the Pimsleur method to learn how to converse in a few languages, but each full level of the course has 30 lessons. According to the instructions, you are supposed to only play one lesson per day--you can play that lessons multiple times in one day, but you should not try to "cram" in different lessons in a single day. That means to learn properly, it will take more time than Pimsleur Approach claims.

I've bought my lessons from Pimsleur Direct, which also has bookchips, a cool digital format that is cheaper and smaller than CDs.

Hope this helps & happy learning!
Rick

[MarinaT]

Hi,

I have just posted a new topic My experience to get the best ‘blended’ learning with Pimsleur, where I tell about my own experience of combining a very good asynchronous method as Pimsleur with support of the right real life tutoring. It worked very well for me, as the teacher is helping me with intensive conversations and correcting my mistakes, both in pronunciation and when putting different known sentences into a new one.

I hope it gives some good ideas to other people really interested in learning a language.

Marina

[Outkast92]

I have a question...
After the ten days they say it will take to learn the language, in this case Spanish... would you be able to have an appropriate conversation with your Spanish teacher? I already know it does not teach you idioms of the language and figurative language, but just a regular literal conversation. Does it allow you to have one?
And also, how does it work? When do you listen to the tapes and do you have to do anything while you are listening? Do you have to pay attention while listening?
Please answer ASAP
Outkast92

[Tyoshi]

Has anyone had some experience with the Japanese module one? Do you know which one is the best method or the one that has proven to work the best?

Thanks

[Mariosk]

The Pimsleur CDs are more expensive than the memory stick type which can be fitted in a USB port. In fact there are usually 3 levels and in some instances 4. They can be bought separately or as a set. Pimsleur works. It has worked for me and I feel OK with myself to recommend it to others. I have finished all four stages of German. I cannot claim that I speak fluent but I have learned a lot. Best if combined with another method, self taught or otherwise. My approach was Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone. I rate Pimsleur 60-70 vs 30-40 for Rosetta Stone.

[Esp4tw]

Anyone have experience with this method for learning Mandarin?

[MikeyESL]

I have had a big dissapointment with Pimsluer's business model in the last 2 weeks. I ordered a beginner Italian set for $9.95. Now it turns out I am subscribed to something that is 100% risk free but they are going to start billing my credit card for advanced courses if I don't ship back this mysterious box that came to me yesterday.

Shipping is at my cost.

I suppose there is some fine print I did not read at the bottom of one of the pages I used to place the first order.
Tried to call them today and was dropped by their phone menu twice, tried another number and was on hold listening to their music for a very long time.

I am very unhappy. It is one thing to buy a product and another to burn up 30 minutes of my time just trying to end a relationship with some company on the web who has my credit card number.

Mike

[Krudi]

Mikey, they put it in small print usually so you miss it, but you have to read accurately. Be carefull, anyone else had this problem? BTW, you say shipping is at your cost, but don't they allow a digital download? I thought most programms have this, that you can download off internet.

[Sagetiki]

What type of Spanish do the CDs teach? Is it Latin American or Castilian? I'd LOVE to learn Latin American Spanish to be able to interact with the influx of Hispanics from that area. Thanks! :-)

[Kobyn]

I am Colombian and we all Colombians speak the best Spanish in the world. I am living in USA for a while and let me tell you that getting another Language fluency is so difficult. I got Rosetta Stone long time ago, I went to College to have English Classes for almost 2 years and I am still keeping reading online news every single day. I understand now almost everything that I read and I understand almost 100% also when someone is speaking to me in English. But speaking the language has been a real challenge to me, getting English fluency has been more difficult than getting my AA here in Miami. What to do then? Buy online classes that give you a warranty that you will learn a language in 10 days? I do not think so. I think the best way to learn a language is interacting face to face with someone who speaks the native language. I think we learn a language listening and watching the other one mouth movements or expressions. So people who want to speak Spanish have to interact with a Spanish Speaker. That's why I think I can't speak good English because in Miami almost everyone speaks Spanish.