BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4659 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 1 of 21 10 July 2014 at 4:08pm | IP Logged |
I have completed;
michel thomas perfect Spanish
Assimil Spanish with Ease
Currently working on;
FSI Basic Spanish
Learn in Your Car Levels 2 and 3
Living Language Beyond the Basics Spanish
I use the Learn in Your Car series...in my vehicle and while walking. In two weeks I'll be done with the series. I know I can always go back to it but was wondering if Pimsleur would offer anything. I have no experience with their course. If the course were to be beneficial, where should I jump in...level 3, 4 etc?
Thanks in advance,
BOLIO
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Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4910 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 2 of 21 10 July 2014 at 4:14pm | IP Logged |
Pimsleur could be thought of as somewhere in-between FSI and Assimil. FSI exercises uses single sentences with substitutions. Assimil, on the other hand, uses extended blocks of text. Pimsleur gives you a lot of repetitive verbal practice, but not as repetitively as FSI, so the exercises are a bit more like real conversation. If you are happy with the courses you are using, you could skip Pimsleur. On the other hand, if you want more directed verbal practice, then Pimsleur is useful.
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BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4659 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 3 of 21 10 July 2014 at 4:20pm | IP Logged |
Thanks Jeffers, any idea as to which one I should start with...2,3,4,?
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iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)
| Message 4 of 21 10 July 2014 at 4:40pm | IP Logged |
At your stage of Spanish, Volume 1 would be painful. Probably Volume 2 would probably be best- and maybe the middle of Volume 2. The thing with Pimsleur is "graduated interval recall". Going through one lesson until you get about 80% of it down until moving to the next makes for momentum. The graduated interval recall will through up something from the earlier lessons to solidify it in your memory- "Do you remember how to say, "X"?" Skipping some of it will mean you'll miss some of this because there are a lot of different ways to say something, but the course will have used one specific way. This can be frustrating at first when you jump in at where you need to be, but after a while it sorts itself out.
I'd only use Pimsleur if I could get it free (library) or very cheaply. I would use it as a supplement to other methods for synergy.
Edited by iguanamon on 10 July 2014 at 4:42pm
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Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4053 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German
| Message 5 of 21 10 July 2014 at 4:52pm | IP Logged |
Bolio,
First, I am a very enthusiastic supporter of the Pimsleur method and have completed the full programme for each of German, Spanish, and Italian. Since you have already used other methods, note that a small "surprise" awaits you with the Pimsleur method in that it is truly all-audio. That is, while a so-called "Reading Booklet" is provided, there is no glossary, there are no transcripts, and grammatical issues are not presented in a straight-forward manner.
Second, under normal circumstances, I would not hesitate to recommend Pimsleur to a beginner. However, if you have already completed Assimil Spanish With Ease, in my opinion, you have already progressed beyond what Pimsleur offers and I suggest that you continue with your current programme of study. If you do decide to try Pimsleur, I suggest that you attempt the Phase IV Level. You might be able to find a copy at at a library. Otherwise, as far as I understand, the publisher, Simon & Schuster offers the lowest prices for MP3 downloads.
Edited by Speakeasy on 10 July 2014 at 4:52pm
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BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4659 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 6 of 21 10 July 2014 at 4:56pm | IP Logged |
Yo podrĂa tratar de encontrarlo en la biblioteca.
Como siempre, gracias I-Mon!
Speakeasy, thanks for the info. I will see if I can find it at the library. I am looking for all audio courses to fill the down time while traveling to and from work.
I am not an all audio learner to say the least. Reading and writing give me comfort and honestly, I cannot understand how someone could become proficient in speaking a foreign language using an audio only method. But, to each his own.
Thanks again,
BOLIO
Edited by BOLIO on 10 July 2014 at 5:04pm
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hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe
| Message 7 of 21 10 July 2014 at 5:51pm | IP Logged |
BOLIO wrote:
...I cannot understand how someone could become proficient in speaking a foreign language using an audio only method. But, to each his own.
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I don't think I've ever met anyone that has become proficient in an foreign language using just audio. Well, adult learners, anyway.
I think both Pimsleur and Michel Thomas are pretty good introductions for people that might otherwise be intimidated by a foreign language, though.
R.
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James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 8 of 21 10 July 2014 at 7:25pm | IP Logged |
At your level you should skip Pimsleur. Definitely. Spend the time working through FSI.
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