Grading / Ranking of Pimsleur Programs (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Grading / Ranking of Pimsleur Programs
Tags: Pimsleur
Share with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes

31 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4 Next >>

Elexi
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5567 days ago
938 posts - 1840 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French, German, Latin

Message 9 of 31

25 December 2010 at 11:01am | IP Logged

After the initial burst of about 100 words in Pimsleur you never get more than 3-5 new words per lesson (excluding international product nouns like 'IBM' 'Coca Cola' and 'Books International') - add it up 100 + 5 words in 100 lessons (lets include 'Plus' here) = about 600 words max. As Leosmith says, count this up in a transcript and you get just over 500 for the whole 3 levels and + series.

Now that may not be a bad thing as it teaches you to manipulate a language without having to scrabble to remember, but I am certain you don't get 2500 words - if you did Pimsleur would be far more useful.

BTW why does Pimsleur French insist on J'aimerais rather than Je voudrais? I understood J'aimerais to be 'I would like' in the tentative sense, as in 'I would like to live in the Country but my job does not allow it', or 'I would like so much for you to come with (implying 'but I know you will not')' whereas Je voudrais is used as a polite form for wanting something. I could have been taught this usage wrong, so please correct me on the point.
1 person has voted this message useful

leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6552 days ago
2365 posts - 3804 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

Message 10 of 31

26 December 2010 at 1:37am | IP Logged

Here's what I believe,
J'aimerais = I would like, but used in very polite register
Je voudrais = I would want, but used where we would normally say "I would like" in English.
Either can be used in the sense you mention.
But please correct me if I'm wrong.
1 person has voted this message useful

Martin M
Newbie
United States
Joined 5257 days ago
20 posts - 26 votes
Studies: Spanish

Message 11 of 31

26 December 2010 at 8:03pm | IP Logged

Thanks. This is exactly what I wanted to know.

As for Pimsleur, I love it myself. Will start to incorporate Michel Thomas alongside Pimsleur Spanish. And Assimil.

How is Pimsleur for Chinese, Arabic and Hindi? Has anyone tried them?
1 person has voted this message useful

leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6552 days ago
2365 posts - 3804 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

Message 12 of 31

26 December 2010 at 8:50pm | IP Logged

Pimsleur Mandarin is excellent. Be sure to get a good handle on pinyin before starting.
1 person has voted this message useful

HenryMW
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5176 days ago
125 posts - 179 votes

Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French
Studies: Modern Hebrew

Message 13 of 31

27 December 2010 at 10:06am | IP Logged

You think so? I tried it and wasn't so impressed. I had just finished FSI Spanish, though, so I may have been expecting something else.
1 person has voted this message useful

alang
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 7223 days ago
563 posts - 757 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish

Message 14 of 31

28 December 2010 at 3:16am | IP Logged

I think Pimsleur is great for beginners and I highly recommend it to many people. This program was the most effective method for me, as you start talking immediately.

leosmith wrote:

It's about 150-200 words per level, or a total of about 500 words for all 3 levels. Depending on how one interprets
their advertising, one could say they only claim 2500 words are needed to reach a certain level they talk about, and
they don't actually claim to teach all the words. But I've actually written to them to complain, and got some very
nasty letters in return claiming that they do teach those 2500 words, and how dare I claim otherwise. It's pretty easy
to count words in a transcript, so I disagree. People who think they teach more than 500 either never counted them,
or they count things like different conjugations of the same verb.

One other thread about the Pimsleur company also stated the program would take a learner to 99% fluency. I finished the Spanish courses I, II, III and the plus. (IV was not out then.) and I can say without any doubt the statement is 100% false. If anything customer service really does not know much about the program, as the main goal is to sell the product.
2 persons have voted this message useful

leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6552 days ago
2365 posts - 3804 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

Message 15 of 31

02 January 2011 at 11:51pm | IP Logged

HenryMW wrote:

You think so? I tried it and wasn't so impressed. I had just finished FSI Spanish, though, so I
may have been expecting something else.

You went from FSI Spanish to Pimsleur Mandarin, or am I misunderstanding you? Anyway, yes, I think Pimsleur
Mandarin is excellent, as long as one learns pinyin first and works with a transcript, like I did ;)

alang wrote:

One other thread about the Pimsleur company also stated the program would take a learner to 99%
fluency. I finished the Spanish courses I, II, III and the plus. (IV was not out then.) and I can say without any doubt
the statement is 100% false. If anything customer service really does not know much about the program, as the
main goal is to sell the product.

Totally agree.
1 person has voted this message useful

Li Fei
Pro Member
United States
Joined 5125 days ago
147 posts - 182 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Mandarin
Personal Language Map

Message 16 of 31

03 January 2011 at 12:52am | IP Logged

@Leosmith: where did you find a transcript for Pimsleur Mandarin 2? I had a great one for Mandarin 1, but can't
find anything online for Mandarin 2, and I agree that using a transcript and SRS is very helpful for the Pimsleur
program.

As for this thread's main question: Having just finished Pimsleur Mandarin 1, I am no expert. But I am able to have
brief, basic conversations with natives (I mean VERY basic) due to Pimsleur. My university course, reading, and
workbooks may offer more depth, but Pimsleur gives confidence and pronunciation skill; it drills in useful, easy
sentences.

1 person has voted this message useful

This discussion contains 31 messages over 4 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >>

Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum

This page was generated in 0.8438 seconds.