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Finished Pimsleur French After 8.5 Months | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| fsc Senior Member United States Joined 6275 days ago 100 posts - 117 votes  Studies: French | Message 25 of 43 13 April 2008 at 4:29am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Taken right from the Simon and Schuster website for Pimsleur - "Only 30 minutes a day". The instructions do say "try to do one lesson per day but you may repeat a lesson more than once". Edited by fsc on 13 April 2008 at 5:05am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| fsc Senior Member United States Joined 6275 days ago 100 posts - 117 votes Studies: French | Message 26 of 43 13 April 2008 at 4:36am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thanks Alex, especially for the tip about starting with the basic course. Before I read your reply, I tried the phonology and wondered how many years it would take and how far I would get if it was just going to keep repeating the same couple of phrases. Then I saw there was the basic course but by that point I was already bored with it. So, I will check it out again. I had previously looked at the Loquella site and wondered what the advantages/disvantages are verses FSI. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| fsc Senior Member United States Joined 6275 days ago 100 posts - 117 votes Studies: French | Message 27 of 43 13 April 2008 at 4:56am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I am in the same boat as you but the exact opposite. My library has Pimsleur but not Michel Thomas. They refuse to get his course despite my request, so I have not used it. However, from what I read, Michel Thomas just wants you to relax and NOT try to remember. I would think my way would be very contrary to his method, which people seem to praise quite highly. There is a URL=http://www.michelthomas.co.uk/FanClub.htm]Michel Thomas Fan Club messaeg board[/URL] and I'm sure people who have actually used the course would be able to give you a better answer. Just to clarify. When I started doing the lessons for 100%, I wouldn't go back to the beginning of the lesson as soon as I made a mistake the first few times through the lesson. It was only after I had repeated the lesson many times (going through it completely each time) that I would see if I could get 100%. I felt going through the entire lesson for several times gave me exposure to the things I didn't know and time for my subconscience to process them. As for my way, it is yet to be seen whether it was of any benefit. In another post I just made to this thread, I mentioned repeating some Pimsleur lessons I did prior to getting 100% before moving on and was discouraged to see that I didn't do so well. After some time I will go back to the lessons I did 100% and see how well I do. I am thinking of buying Michel Thomas as the other course I have dabbled with seem to only be memorization courses. Edited by fsc on 13 April 2008 at 5:03am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Leopejo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6055 days ago 675 posts - 724 votes Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English Studies: French, Russian | Message 28 of 43 13 April 2008 at 5:34am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thanks for your answers. Yes, that "30 minutes a day" is misleading. Your "case" is quite interesting. Reading your latest posts, it seems to me that you'd like to have another Pimsleur, maybe Pimsleur IV, V and VI, and you are settling on Michel Thomas because it's "similar" to Pimsleur? On the other hand, you had to put an enormous effort to get results, so probably Pimsleur is not the best for you. Pimsleur was not designed to go for a 100 % approach. Maybe you should try something more traditional. Don't you think that having written text could help you "visualize" and learn the words and phrases? So maybe something more traditional, with written dialogues, to be repeated over and over, more explicit grammar rules (that is, clearly explained as opposed to having to be deducted from the dialogs), and plenty of exercises would fit you better? On the other hand, this sounds quite paradoxical, but you should perhaps try the Listening - Reading method suggested in other threads. You will feel completely lost at first, but maybe you will eventually enter inside, feel the language - a task where Pimsleur failed with you, even if you eventually mastered it. But I have no experience yet with Listening - Reading, there are more knowledgeable members here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| fsc Senior Member United States Joined 6275 days ago 100 posts - 117 votes Studies: French | Message 29 of 43 18 April 2008 at 4:46am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I'd have to agree. Like you, there were things about Pimsleur I did not like. I thought I would be glad to get done with it but when I found that so many other course involve just listen and repeat memorization, I have a new appreciation for Pimsleur and would probably try more if it went further and I could get it from the library. I heard they are coming out with a Pimsleur French Complete course this summer. Like you said, I did put a lot of effort into it, especially the third level, yet the results don't seem to justify the time. I don't want to sound like a defeatist but, maybe I just don't have the smarts to learn another language. I can't blame every language learning course for my problem of not being able to get it. The reason I thought of Michel Thomas is because it appears to be a course that teaches instead of just another memorization course. Since it is also an audio course, and speaking and understanding is what I want to do well first, I thought it might be a good next step. It is unfortunate I can't get it from the library because I don't want to get into the habit of throwing money into an endless pit of language courses with no benefit. I still haven't bought it and don't know if I will. Even if I did and it was good, what would I do nest? I think Pimsleur with more explanations and some other changes (like not wasting 4 lessons in a row about playing tennis) would be good. I rather good a slower place and make steady progress than go at a fatser pace and not make any progress.
You may be absolutely correct. Since my priority was to speak and understand, I thought any reading and writing would just take me longer to get the speaking and understanding down, especially with the spelling of French being so different from the way it sounds. Now I may have to go that route.
Interesting that you would mention that because I was reading some of the other threads and was looking into that method. I think it is contradictory to say Pimsleur failed me yet I mastered it. Mastering something would suggest the opposite. Perhaps wasting time memorizing something which didn't work for me would be a better way to describe it. I should wouldn't say I mastered something when the end result did in fact fail me. I normally listen to Journal en français facile but the last couple of days I listened to it while following along with the written script from the website. Thanks for your input. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| fsc Senior Member United States Joined 6275 days ago 100 posts - 117 votes Studies: French | Message 31 of 43 19 April 2008 at 9:19pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Thanks for the encouragement Fcollins. Although I am going back through one Pimsleur lesson a day, I am amazed at how much of it I still don't know. In fact, the longer I have been studying French, the more confusing it all seems to get. I can't keep the verb congregations straight and even the simplest phrases seem to elude me. I feel like I am stuck. Other courses I have tried are nothing but "memorize the phrase" types which put me off. I have looked at some audio courses involving books and I find in doing book work, I retain even less than doing audio courses. Pronunciation is very important to me because there are words I learned in Pimsleur that I have found I have not been pronouncing properly. Now anytime I hear something I am not sure about, I don't want to put the effort into learning it because I don't want to waste time getting it wrong. Most courses don't want to bother with that. They just want to say phrases and have you repeat them.
I don't feel like I am burning out but am beginning to wonder if I lack the brains to make the time investment worth the rewards. At this point, I can see myself studying for 10 years and not getting to an even basic level. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Leopejo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6055 days ago 675 posts - 724 votes Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English Studies: French, Russian | Message 32 of 43 20 April 2008 at 2:54am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I don't think so! But obviously you must find the method that works for you. Have you tried starting Pimsleur from scratch, that is from lesson 1 of course 1? (but maybe this time doing each lesson only once or twice) Or, have you looked for a transcript of the Pimsleur lessons? You'll probably find one on the net, and while Pimsleur don't want them published, your dedication to them deserves one! I don't know your real level, but if you feel to really know "nothing", I'd scrap the "I want a perfect pronunciation" attitude, if it goes into the way of your overall learning. I'm sure that with your Pimsleur base it is already good even if a word or two go wrong. Pronunciation will improve as long as you continue to study and speak. If I were you I'd really try some Listening-Reading for three reasons: 1) it may let you "inside" the language, that is, suddenly give you the confidence that you understand it and "know" it: kind of the sudden switch between "beginner" and "intermediate" level; 2) if you can do it it will give you a tremendous confidence which you seem to be lacking; and 3) it will teach you not to care of the single word you don't understand, but go for the meaning. Do you have French speaking friends/acquaintances, or are you planning a week in France or Quebec? That would both be a great motivator - and having to speak "for real" will be a terrific boost for your language. You'll realize that you haven't forgotten what you learned with Pimsleur after all, even if it seems so while doing old Pimsleur lessons again. I hope that you a) continue your quest, and b) keep us informed on this (or a new) Learning Log! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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