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Struggling with Pimsleur | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| lethalfairy Newbie United States Joined 5113 days ago 3 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 23 10 August 2010 at 9:32am | IP Logged |
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I'm currently using Pimsleur to learn Spanish. It seems a lot of people who use
Pimsleur for an "easier" language like Spanish can follow it and answer the questions easily, but I cannot. I feel like the program doesn't explain anything to me and likes to introduce new uses for words. Like, I thought que meant "what" then it started using que to mean "than" with no explanation. I could just not be hearing it correctly, but that brings me to my second problem. Often when it introduces a new word, I have no idea how to actually say this word correctly. For example, I thought verdad was "berda" and was pronouncing voy "boy" for two weeks before I actually saw the word in the booklet. Sometimes I listen to the same answer to a question several times and give up hope on ever understanding what was just said in it. I see Pimsleur recommended as a foundation or a starting point. I've seen people say you want to start with an audio-only method because seeing the words would hinder your ability to pronounce them. I am learning with Pimsleur but the way it presents grammar is extremely frustrating for me and I often don't know what I'm saying unless I'm lucky enough to stumble upon the word in one of the few reading lists. Often times I just feel stupid as I draw a blank when asked for an answer to a question. Am I the only one who struggles with Pimsleur? Does anyone have any advice for starting Spanish? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5850 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes  Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 2 of 23 10 August 2010 at 11:16am | IP Logged |
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Spanish doesn't make a distinction between B and V in pronunciation, so voy isn't a problem.
Verdad... that really depends on where the speaker's from, and I'm not familiar with the Pimsleur Spanish course. Personally, I started with Michel Thomas, and I felt everything was explained well enough, so you could try getting that from a library. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| lingoleng Senior Member Germany Joined 5137 days ago 605 posts - 1290 votes | Message 3 of 23 10 August 2010 at 12:20pm | IP Logged |
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The problems you describe seem pretty natural to me, I would have them, too with an audio only course.
Maybe you can have a look at these two pages from wikipedia, both free of course, and they may help you for an easier start: course 1 course 2 Both look reasonable, and maybe you can enjoy the Pimsleur lessons more afterwards or in parallel. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Khublei Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Yugoslavia homestayperu.net Joined 5186 days ago 90 posts - 141 votes Speaks: English*, Irish*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Khasi, French, Albanian | Message 4 of 23 10 August 2010 at 4:08pm | IP Logged |
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The thing is that Pimsleur is the kind of program that teaches you to speak, and that's it. No understanding of grammar or writing (unless you use the booklet I suppose).
That's fine for some people, but maybe you're the kind of learner who likes to understand things, likes to know why something is that way. I was like that with most languages, but for Russian for example Pimsleur was great because I couldn't understand the writing well anyway and the grammar would probably have scared me off. Your options are to use it, and blindly say things you don't understand, or start with something else and come back to it. Everyone learns differently. Edited by Khublei on 10 August 2010 at 4:09pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5166 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 5 of 23 10 August 2010 at 7:47pm | IP Logged |
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Try Michel Thomas, he gives great grammar explanations and his course goes great with Pimsleur.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lexii Senior Member United States Joined 5061 days ago 162 posts - 194 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 6 of 23 10 August 2010 at 7:53pm | IP Logged |
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I'm currently using Pimsleur as one of the many methods I'm using to study Japanese. For the most part, I'm loving it! I'm only on Lesson 11 of the first course, but I feel as if my speaking and listening skills have already increased significantly. I'm delighted with the progress I've made so far.
That being said, Pimsleur is not without its limitations and that's why it's simply one of my building blocks, as opposed to being my sole or primary source of learning. For one thing, I NEED visuals. This is something I know about myself. I'm glad that I learned my kana and some kanji before starting with Pimsleur (and I continue to work on those while working Pimsleur). While Pimsleur has been wonderful in helping to hone my pronunciation and listening comprehension, I need to SEE the words, too. It's just the way I am; it's not worth the effort to try to change it or to work against it. Seeing the words is also vital for me because the two speakers sometimes pronounce words slightly differently (her way sounds like "n", his way sounds like "m", for example) I find myself visualizing the kana or kanji for the words. And, although I know it is against the Pimsleur rules, I make flashcards for many of the phrases to help me remember syntax. It's my study plan, so I structure it in the way that is most beneficial to me, even research suggests my way is not necessarily the most effective way. My only other issue with Pimsleur is that sometimes I don't have enough time to formulate and deliver my answer before the speakers spurt out the answer. Because Japanese syntax is different from English syntax, it takes me time to A) find the words in my memory bank, B) put them in the correct order, then C) remember how to pronounce them. Sometimes I want to smack that little show-off speaker :). In any event, lethalfairy, short answer to your question: no, you're not the only one with Pimsleur frustration. I share your concerns (but am still absolutely delighted with the course itself). My advice to you is to perhaps tailor Pimsleur to your own needs, just as you might tailor an off-the-rack suit. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5404 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 7 of 23 10 August 2010 at 8:15pm | IP Logged |
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Have you tried the free first hour lesson of Michel Thomas on the MT website or looking in your local library? If you can get over the fact that he has a strong Polish/German accent and is a gruff old man, you might find that doing MT first makes Pimsleur the more useful. That is certainly my experience.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| lethalfairy Newbie United States Joined 5113 days ago 3 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 23 10 August 2010 at 9:02pm | IP Logged |
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"My only other issue with Pimsleur is that sometimes I don't have enough time to
formulate and deliver my answer before the speakers spurt out the answer." That happens to me so often! I tried pausing it so I could answer the question but that actually was counterproductive. And then sometimes I answer it too late and while I'm trying to say the answer the voice starts talking and I missed the answer. Thanks for the help! I'll check out MT and look for something that explains the language to go with Pimsleur. Sadly, my library pretty much has Pimsleur CDs and a dictionary for Spanish. Strange because I live in a metropolitan area and it is connected to a university, but I guess no one in California wants to learn Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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