Comments on: Review of Pimsleur Foreign Language Learning CDs

By: jf

jf — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:23:22 +0000

Excellent idea, Catherine. The only challenge with Pimsleur CDs is checking your work since they don't provide transcripts as far as I know. This would probably work better with audio podcasts that include transcripts (e.g. ChinesePod, EnglishPod, FrenchPod, SpanishPod, ItalianPod, Get It Done Guy, TED Talks, etc.)

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By: Catherine

Catherine — Sun, 23 May 2010 18:21:07 +0000

It is an expensive program, so you might as well get all you can out of it. Pimsleur doesn't have to stop at the conversation – add spelling and writing in your target language to the mix.

I used it to train myself to write in Thai script. Because it's repetitive and builds on learned words and phrases, a beginner doesn't get as discouraged.

And having to listen close enough to be able to write down what you are hearing is excellent practice. Especially in a tonal language.

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By: jf

jf — Wed, 05 May 2010 10:38:13 +0000

Excellent point, Frances. I forgot to mention pronunciation in the good. Pimsleur does do a good job of getting people used to moving their tongues and lips in strange new ways, though I do think stick to my conviction that speaking too soon (i.e. before you have received enough input) can lead to fossilized, mispronunciations. One thinks they are speaking exactly like the speaker, but are in fact making a rough approximation that is often unintelligible to native speakers.

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By: Frances

Frances — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:23:10 +0000

One of Pimsleur’s prime uses for me (using the Mandarin set) was getting accustomed to hearing and producing the brand new sounds. The formula of trying to say something, hearing the native speaker say it correctly, and with the contrast in mind saying the same thing a second time was hugely useful to me. For languages that use sounds very different from English, it’s a huge thing to be able to make the leap to comprehensible pronunciation.

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