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Grammar in Pimsleur | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5501 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes  Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 22 31 August 2010 at 1:24am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm just wondering, how much grammar is covered by Pimsleur?
I am doing all 4 levels of Pimsleur Spanish because my library has them available to me. I have completed 14/30 lessons in level one and I have to say, I've only learned a few regualar verbs and 2 irregular (ser and estar. I think are the only ones...) and only the present tense. I'm taking Spanish classes in university and use workbooks, self teaching books and other audio programs on occasion, Pimsleur is very helpful to me, but hardly my primary learning source. Its my main audio program though, when I'm done (or as I go, if Pimsleur wears me down) I'll be supplementing with Living Language and Teach Your Self. I'm hoping to spring for the Learn Spanish Like Crazy Series, Nivel 1, 2 and the conversational course that I just found out about, when I get the chance and I've heard that Pimsleur is good preparation for this series, also Pimsleur is said to have a few strengths of its own, and God knows I need all the help I can get with Spanish. In this economy and as a student I'd be lying if I didn't say that the freer that help is, the better. Still, I'm a little worried, especially because I came very close to buying Pimsleur a couple years ago. Now... I'm almost 1/2 way through the first level. I've covered words like... Gender Nouns/Adjectives Greetings Numbers Time (a little) Beer, beer, beer, 2 beers, I like beer, cold beer, I only like cold beer. I like it VERY much beer... sandwich and water here and there soy De.... Please, tell me that the other half of this level (or atleast the other 3/4 of this series) does more than just that... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| michaelmichael Senior Member Canada Joined 5055 days ago 167 posts - 202 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 2 of 22 31 August 2010 at 4:19am | IP Logged | |||||
I just finished pimsleur unit 2. I don't plan on doing unit 4 since it got bad reviews, and i don't have it. No, pimsleur never really gets too advance. Michel thomas has more advance sentences and of course grammar books have more advance sentences than both. Pimsleur is great because of how convenient it is. Go outside, go to the park while listening to pimsleur. In the car, it can make those traffic jams fun, waiting in line is fun, not a single moment wasted. It will help your pronunciation, it will increase your oral confidence, and it will decrease your response time. In short, i don't think pimsleur should be used for devoted studying time, it should be squeezed in. edit: In french, unit 2 had a lot of modal auxiliary + infinitive with the direct/indirect object pronouns. So it had more to it than beer. Edited by michaelmichael on 31 August 2010 at 4:24am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jezrul Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5030 days ago 27 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 22 31 August 2010 at 5:40am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm a little behind you in Pimsleur. I'm going to start on Lesson 11 tonight and do a few
more. I'm thinking about making Pimsleur my main tool in learning Spanish for the time being. I believe I've read that Pimsleur only teaches somewhere around 500 words in all, but I personally feel that's a good starting foundation. Pimsleur doesn't teach too much, I suppose, but it teaches a lot that can be used early on. I make my lessons into a game for myself - I try to write down the answer on paper before the speaker beats me to it. My mind doesn't wander this way, and I feel more involved, not to mention my retention doubles. I know this doesn't really answer your question, but I thought it might help you to hear how someone at your level was feeling about the program. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Desacrator48 Groupie United States Joined 5106 days ago 93 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 4 of 22 31 August 2010 at 7:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In my opinion, if you really do have a lot of other Spanish materials from which to learn, including university classes and other workbooks, I would use Pimsleur precisely as a speaking tool more than a teaching tool of new material, if in fact you don't get enough of speaking from your other materials.
I don't imagine you do much speaking in a class of 30 or so at university since languages tend to be taught from a blackboard. But speaking is really at the crux of any language learning. Anyone can take 30 seconds to fill out a workbook or right a sentence down on an exam, but you don't have that luxury when speaking to a person. I know you only do one sentence at a time in Pimsleur, and they can be short, but if you are indeed a beginner (which this course is meant for, including "false" beginners), I would take Michael's advice and utilize this FREE tool in your case as a tension reliever from your usual workbooks and college homework which probably require more rigorous work. I was first attracted to Pimsleur French as my first learning tool precisely because it was audio only. I went the 4-year class route for Spanish and I didn't want to repeat that. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| michaelmichael Senior Member Canada Joined 5055 days ago 167 posts - 202 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 5 of 22 31 August 2010 at 11:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's an excellent quote. I don't understand how people could like starting out with pimsleur. I am convinced that you probably won't be able to answer without pausing if this is your first exposure. I read a review of someone who only used pimsleur, and he had to repeat each lesson 3 times just to get comfortable with it. took him a year, but he said it was enough french to get by in France. After doing regular workbooks/classes, this is great to practice speaking. Pimsleur is great for its convenience, and oral practice, but as a starter...meh. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6348 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 6 of 22 01 September 2010 at 2:32am | IP Logged | |||||
heh heh - Are you a goat? Ridiculous advertising and high prices aside, I love Pimsleur. If Pimsleur exists for my target language, that's how I start. It gets me speaking the language right away, with great focus on pronunciation. I always work with a transcript, and put all the vocab into Anki immediately after encountering it in a lesson. I never hit the pause button. If a lesson is hard for me, I'll do it twice in one day. I never spend more than 2 days on a lesson. That being said, even though Pimsleur is my prime, I start to listen to easy podcasts from day 1 too. And I make sure I can understand and type the script before messing around with Anki - I avoid romanization if at all possible. Pimsleur takes up to 6 months to finish (90 lessons), so I start doing other things concurrently after the first 30 lessons, sometimes sooner. For example, Michel Thomas, language partner, learn-in-your-car, etc. Pimsleur remains my prime until I finish it, although I do start to take vocab from language partners before then. But I am under no illusions - it only teaches 500 words, and thus is only a beginner program. After Pimsleur, I use a real grammar as my prime, and go through it all the way. By the time I'm finished with the grammar, I should be speaking the language fairly well with my language partners, and I make a trip to the target country, start reading novels and watching movies. I hope this brief illustration of how Pimsleur can fit into a complete language learning plan will help someone. Before criticizing this, or any language product for that matter, one should know how it integrates with the big picture. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| michaelmichael Senior Member Canada Joined 5055 days ago 167 posts - 202 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 7 of 22 01 September 2010 at 2:55am | IP Logged | |||||
I always thought goats say bah. I must say, you have met some interesting goats. I didn't criticize pimsleur in general, I criticized it as a starter. There was a thread recently where someone was learning Spanish, and they couldn't keep up with the program. I think she was even made fun of on the thread, someone made a snarky remark about if you're the type of person who needs to read the instructions before using the microwave, pimsleur is not for you. On amazon I have also read stories of people who started with pimsleur, and were only using pimsleur, and how they had trouble... and I believe it. Now I am not trashing pimsleur, I am using it, I have finished 60 lessons, and I love it,,, it's just not a great starter. Now you may love to start with it, but you are not using it the way it was prescribed, you have modified it quite a bit. Pimsleur doesn't provide transcripts, in fact, they are pretty active in trying to prevent you from having a transcript. Since they don't want you to have the transcript, they probably don't approve of anki. If you are using pimsleur as your first program, and you are a true beginner, you cannot make the transcript yourself. You have to find it on the net, and apparently simon an schuster threaten sites that post it!! (i found some nevertheless) I think michel thomas before pimsleur is much better than the other way around if you want to go an audio route (speak right away). Of course, I have no stocks ,unfortunately, in either product... so meh. edit: wait, sheep say bah, i have no clue what goats say. Edited by michaelmichael on 01 September 2010 at 3:01am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6348 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 8 of 22 01 September 2010 at 3:19am | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, sheep and goats aside, I believe I illustrated a perfectly legitimate way to use Pimsleur as a starter. I don't
think using a transcript invalidates my illustration. The course is excellent - give's one good pronunciation and a solid foundation in speaking. I see nothing wrong with doing Michel Thomas first either, but I personally prefer starting with a program that is designed to limit the time to respond. To each his own. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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