Finished Pimsleur French After 8.5 Months (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Finished Pimsleur French After 8.5 Months
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fsc
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6271 days ago
100 posts - 117 votes

Studies: French

Message 33 of 43

22 April 2008 at 4:04am | IP Logged

Leopejo wrote:

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)

[/QUOTE]

That was my exact intent. However, I originally download the recordings from www.netlibrary.com. When I went back to download the first level, it wasn't available, nor were any of the other levels. I emailed them about it and they said they were removed because they are going to be replaced with new versions. I thought it was pretty dumb to remove the older versions before replacing them with the newer versions. It has been this way for at least a couple weeks.

I am currently going through the lessons in Level two, just once or twice per day. I did notice that the further I get through the level the better I do. I think that because it took me so long to complete the course, the lessons I was having trouble with this time around were originally done so long ago so that the material was not fresh in my mind. I originally did level 1 in one month, level 2 took about 2 1/2 months, and level 3 took 5 months to get through.

Leopejo wrote:

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.

I don't recall mentioning "I want perfect pronunciation". My main concern was knowing the material as I know pronunciation will improve with practice. As I mentioned previously, I am not obsessed with sounding like a native or having a perfect accent, but I do want to be understood. My main thing with pronunciation is to know how the word is supposed to be pronounced. Sometimes it is not clear to me and then I end up developing a bad habit of saying something incorrectly.

Leopejo wrote:

If I were you I'd really try some Listening-Reading for three reasons:

I was thinking the same thing.

Leopejo wrote:

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.

Unfortunately I don't, know any French speaking people but wish I did. When I started learning French, I decided I would like to visit France within the next few years so that does motivate me.

Leopejo wrote:

I hope that you a) continue your quest, and b) keep us informed on this (or a new) Learning Log!

Thank you for your help and I will do so.
1 person has voted this message useful

LilleOSC
Senior Member
United States
lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6633 days ago
545 posts - 546 votes

4 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

Message 34 of 43

10 June 2008 at 10:15am | IP Logged

fsc, where did Pimsleur take your speaking skills? Do you feel comfortable speaking, but you lack vocab?
François, the site owner and forum administrator, has an interesting comparison between Pimsleur and FSI. FSI is
like an army approach and Pimsleur is similar to a contextual approach. FSI forces you to speak the language
with drills, but does it really get you to think in the language like Pimsleur does? I have been using FSI French for
awhile now and I think my speaking could be a lot better. I still have trouble recalling words and forming
sentences. That is why I started using Pimsleur to see if it would help me to speak and think in the language
better. Maybe each course depends on the learner.

Quote:

During WWII the Americans had to "produce" efficient speakers of German, japanese and russian very
quickly. With not that many Germans willing to help, they developped methods using audio tapes that the
intelligence officers (language learners) could use without teachers, saving these for advanced students. The
programs were centered on dialogs to be learned by heart and, not surprisingly, drills that stressed patterns of
speech (phrase structures). The system was so efficient that after 6 months the officers could begin active work. This approach was a real advance for the time, but after some years the defects appeared : being centered on
drills, the students found it difficult to connect phrases they knew with real life situations. Critics emphasized
the rigid, mechanical exercises that hindered spontaneity. But people were already at work to make it better. People like Dr Pimsleur improved the army audio-lingual method by emphasizing the link to the context of
utterances. For example, in Pimsleur's tapes the voice explain you the particular situation in which you are (You
are in a bus in St Petersburg. A young woman seats next to you. What do you say to her?) before making you
speak. The result is far better than with the army method, because when you fall in these situations, the right
phrases immediately come to your mind, even if you have to create them "from scratch".

Source: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/guide/index.html
3 persons have voted this message useful

Cammela
Tetraglot
Newbie
Senegal
Joined 4995 days ago
28 posts - 31 votes
Speaks: French*, Italian^C2, Spanish, German^B2

Message 35 of 43

22 February 2011 at 8:13pm | IP Logged

I think begin with Pimsleur is a bad idea. After 30 assimil lessons I finished all the 100 lessons of Pimsleur without effort in 3 days.
3 persons have voted this message useful

DrPaulRobertson
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 4908 days ago
5 posts - 10 votes
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: French

Message 36 of 43

21 April 2011 at 4:29pm | IP Logged

I thought that I would add my experience for those who may be interested.

I just finished Pimsleur French+ I have finished 100 lessons in 100 days. I thought that I would share a few comments on how it worked for me (so far) -- not that it will be the same for anyone else. I decided to follow the rules of the course. I forced myself to never miss a day. I listened to the same lesson multiple times in a day and sometimes listened to prior days. I did all of my lessons in the car (except at weekends). I didn't force myself to master a lesson before I moved forward -- and this seemed to work well because (1) lesson content is repeated sufficiently that I ended up getting everything, and (2) I didn't want to memorize the lessons - I wanted to learn the content. For the sake of pronunciation I avoided supplementing the courses with other material (mostly) as recommended in the course. Around the middle of French 2 I started meeting with a french tutor once a week for an hour of undirected conversation. I am still doing this. Conversation with a person is a lot harder than answering the structured responses in the lessons. This weekly practice has helped a lot. Around the middle of Pimsleur 3 I started watching the "French in action" videos. I am working through them now. I think that they help to complement the Pimsleur courses. Around the start of Pimsleur French +(4) I began finding French penpals on (LanguageExchange.com) This has helped me with written French and colloquial dialog -- but it is still early days. I found some french radio stations on the internet that I put on and listen to when I am working. They have repetitive dialog and repeating advertisements. This has helped my ears to catch french words spoken at speed. I have also been watching French movies -- about one a week. At first I could understand almost none of it and relied on English subtitles. Now I am understanding maybe 1/3 of the dialog. Soon I expect to switch the subtitles over to French. I am exposing myself to around 2 hours of french a day. Now that I have finished the Pimsleur course I need to expand my vocabulary. Between Pimsleur, French in action, and words learned as a result of my weekly French tutor meeting and my pen-pals I probably know around 1500 French words. I think that by adding just an extra 1000 words will make a huge difference. I am also now going to invest more in some french basics. The Pimsleur method seems to have worked well in that I can now have simple conversations within my vocabulary -- but I make verb conjugation mistakes and I think that at this point, it would be quicker and easier if I actually spent some time practicing making sentences in different tenses etc. All of my new French pen pals want me to call them 'tu'. I found that Pimsleur focused too much on 'vous' and as a result using 'tu' feels unnatural to me. Having kept rigidly to the Pimsleur philosophy for 100 days I think that focusing a little on verb conjugation will help me dramatically improve my French. I have found that reading French is also very helpful. I occasionally read Le Monde online, I have been working through the reading the book 'Easy French Reader' -- which I highly recommend -- and recently I began reading 'L'Etranger' by Albert Camus. Although I am very busy with my work, I have managed to incorporate 2 hours of French/day at almost no cost to my schedule. Apart from watching one movie a week in French (I would have otherwise watched an English movie anyway), most of my listening is done in the car. I have replaced listening to NPR in the car with listening to French lessons. I have replaced listening to classical music while I work with French online radio. The reading I do has replaced some time spent web browsing while waiting for things. The upshot of it is that NO additional time is required from my schedule -- just reallocation of previously wasted time. I am now able to understand a lot of French. I can speak an increasingly large amount of French and I am able to write French emails and chat online in French using IM. For 100 days I think it is a successful point to have reached. I am now listening to old lessons played 'randomly' from my iPod (in the car). Randomly seems to work well having completed all lessons. It allows me to improve my mastery of prior lessons without 'memorizing' them. I have a goal of being able to converse naturally in French in two years. I am planning trips to France and expect to spend the next two years trying to elevate my level of expertise to a functional level. Pimsleur, for me, has gotten me off to a good start.
5 persons have voted this message useful

newyorkeric
Diglot
Moderator
Singapore
Joined 6321 days ago
1598 posts - 2174 votes

Speaks: English*, Italian
Studies: Mandarin, Malay
Personal Language Map

Message 37 of 43

21 April 2011 at 4:51pm | IP Logged

Cammela wrote:

I think begin with Pimsleur is a bad idea. After 30 assimil lessons I finished all the 100 lessons of Pimsleur without effort in 3 days.

You did 50 hours of Pimsleur in 3 days? What the heck for? Did you mean 3 weeks?
1 person has voted this message useful

newyorkeric
Diglot
Moderator
Singapore
Joined 6321 days ago
1598 posts - 2174 votes

Speaks: English*, Italian
Studies: Mandarin, Malay
Personal Language Map

Message 38 of 43

21 April 2011 at 4:52pm | IP Logged

Dr Paul, you might have something interesting to say but it's nearly impossible to wade through your post.
1 person has voted this message useful

DrPaulRobertson
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 4908 days ago
5 posts - 10 votes
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: French

Message 39 of 43

21 April 2011 at 6:37pm | IP Logged

newyorkeric wrote:

Dr Paul, you might have something interesting to say but it's nearly impossible to wade through your post.

Maybe I should try English as my next language then.

1 person has voted this message useful

DrPaulRobertson
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 4908 days ago
5 posts - 10 votes
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: French

Message 40 of 43

21 April 2011 at 11:06pm | IP Logged

newyorkeric wrote:

Dr Paul, you might have something interesting to say but it's nearly impossible to wade through your post.

Well of course it is a pity if no one is able to read it. There are a lot of people here talking about the difficulty that they are having learning a new language. I feel myself to be doing quite well after less than four months. I thought that there may be people interested in comparing the strategy used by someone who seems to be succeeding and someone who seems not to be.

There are of course many reasons why one person may succeed while another fails. Probably it will not be possible to divine what makes my experience different from someone else who is struggling. This forum might however be a good forum to discuss what the factors may be.

I had a slight advantage in that I have already achieved a level of fluency in another language (Japanese) and so I have a feel of what it takes and how to measure my progress. I made a lot of mistakes when learning Japanese that I am being careful to avoid this time with French. Since this site caters to people who wish to learn by themselves it seems valuable to share our experiences and insights.

I am happy to discuss my experiences with anyone who may be interested.

2 persons have voted this message useful

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