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Pimsleur Spanish 4 grammar? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4764 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes  Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 7 19 October 2012 at 5:23am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm sorry if I've failed to search properly and this has already been covered well, but...
How much grammar is covered in Pimsleur Spanish Phase 4? It seems to me that most people find pimsleur to have diminishing returns at each level. Does Pimsleur Spanish 4 get into very far past Phase 3? steve 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5711 days ago 326 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish Studies: Hindi | Message 2 of 7 19 October 2012 at 7:05am | IP Logged | ||
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The first three sets of Pimsleurs are great! The fourth one was concocted recently and it only has ten lessons, mainly focusing on the book publishing industry. I took this as a nice way of advising you to start reading. Not recommended. It's not even set up with the same innovative design of the others and doesn't seem to follow Dr. Pimsleur's graduated interval recall at all. It introduces new vocabulary, but no new tenses if I recall correctly, and the program design makes it hard to remember any of the new words except "publisher".
Pimsleur, makes it a point not to teach too much grammar, rather it forces you to learn how to use what you've got and it does an excellent job at this. I'd say if you're a beginning language learner: - Quick & Simple: skip it unless that's all that's available - Level 1: a must for any beginner; it'll give you a perfect accent - Level 2: definitely do it, especially if you can check it out at the library - level 3: if you like the method go for it; if you think you're ready for something more challenging, move on. - level 4: skip it, waste of time and money 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7220 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 3 of 7 19 October 2012 at 8:33am | IP Logged | ||
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@ Rout,
It seems you are unaware that Spanish Comprehensive IV has been out since November 2010. The reviews for it has been mediocre, but not horrible. I presume the heavily panned 10 lessons from the plus are included, but do not know for sure. Customer service was the one who informed me that it was. I believe it is less for your money, because it would have been better for all new thirty lessons. The Spanish plus has been phased out. I believe it will also happen to German plus, French plus and Italian plus eventually, if not already. @ Sfuqua, Take a look on Amazon.com at the reviews. They were not really glowing. One aspect was the lack of learning other verb tenses. Edited by alang on 19 October 2012 at 8:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4549 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 4 of 7 20 October 2012 at 12:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Coincidentally, I went to the library today and found they finally got this level. I
checked it out and will let you know what I think after using it for a bit. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5711 days ago 326 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish Studies: Hindi | Message 5 of 7 21 October 2012 at 2:10am | IP Logged | ||
Yes, "it seems that I'm unaware". :) Thanks for sharing your insight. I hope, for anyone that purchases level IV, it's nothing like the Plus. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7220 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 6 of 7 21 October 2012 at 5:49am | IP Logged | ||
If the 10 lessons are in it, then at least 1/3 is terrible already. >:o 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4549 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 7 of 7 21 October 2012 at 7:43am | IP Logged | ||
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I've done 3 lessons so far, but I'm not sure how long I'll keep up with it, as it's so
boring. Part of this can of course be explained by the fact that it's way below my level. I wasn't expecting to actually *learn* anything, but there is room for improvement in the automaticity and fluidity of my speech, so I figured it couldn't hurt to try it for free. I never did 1 or 2 (because I didn't know about Pimsleur when I was at that level) but have done 3 and plus(from the library also.) Anyway, I don't think the same lessons from Plus are on it, because, even though I've only done 3 of them, those 3 incorporated elements from Plus lessons that I remembered, but they were altered quite a bit. FE, the first lesson starts out with an American man striking up a conversation with a Mexican woman on a plane; they talk about where they live, what they do for a living, etc. The same scenario was on Plus but the woman was Argentinian, and now the man works for a software company rather than a publishing house. None of the lessons so far deal with the publishing industry, but the latter 2 have included conversations about novels and authors. So far it seems slightly more advanced than 3 or Plus, though I don't remember the content of those levels in great detail(I've never repeated any of the Pimsleur lessons I've done.) There has been some use of the actual future tense (rather than "ir a," which I'm pretty sure was the only way the future was dealt with previously) and one use of the present subjunctive (which I also don't remember having already encountered on Pimsleur.) They also introduce the use of the phrase "la semana entrante" as an alternative to the always-taught "la semana que viene." I've noticed that native speakers (at least here and in Mexico) more often use the former. So, my verdict so far is that it's an improvement over Plus, but still ridiculously elementary considering that these are lessons 91-93. EDIT: Per Rout's comment, it does use the characteristic Pimsleur graduated interval recall/spaced repetition, which seemed to be, if not entirely lacking, improperly executed on Plus. Edited by Gala on 21 October 2012 at 9:56am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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