Grading / Ranking of Pimsleur Programs (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Grading / Ranking of Pimsleur Programs
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Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes

31 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4 Next >>

HenryMW
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
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Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French
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Message 17 of 31

03 January 2011 at 4:41am | IP Logged

leosmith wrote:

You went from FSI Spanish to Pimsleur Mandarin, or am I misunderstanding you? Anyway, yes, I think Pimsleur
Mandarin is excellent, as long as one learns pinyin first and works with a transcript, like I did ;)

Haha, I guess I should have explained that better. I had just finished studying Spanish with FSI and began studying Mandarin with Pimsleur. I'm a big fan of FSI.

Edited by HenryMW on 03 January 2011 at 8:36am
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leosmith
Senior Member
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Studies: Tagalog

Message 18 of 31

03 January 2011 at 7:21am | IP Logged

FSI Mandarin had a great section on pronunciation. And my dad learned Spanish with FSI. He says it's the best
program he's ever used. So it doesn't surprise me that you have a high opinion of it.
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HenryMW
Tetraglot
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United States
Joined 4986 days ago
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Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French
Studies: Modern Hebrew

Message 19 of 31

03 January 2011 at 8:47am | IP Logged

I agree. Pimsleur (at least for Mandarin) seems like it would be a good start, but that's it. When I was done with FSI Spanish, I went straight to reading newspapers (with a dictionary but I could still get through them without trouble). I wasn't so confident after Pimsleur.

I know you said you didn't want posts form haters (I don't consider myself a hater, Pimsleur does what it sets out to do), but in my experience, if you want the "whole" language, then Pimsleur just isn't it. If you want a quick go through before heading out on vacation, then it is good for that. At least for Mandarin.
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unzum
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
soyouwanttolearnalan
Joined 6726 days ago
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Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: Mandarin

Message 20 of 31

11 January 2011 at 1:12pm | IP Logged

I went through all 90 lessons of Pimsleur Japanese and I found it very useful for conversation. I had studied a bit of Japanese before in an evening class so I was familiar with the pronunciation and Japanese pronunciation is easy so there wasn't much danger of getting confused. But it would probably be a good idea for absolute beginners to go through all the sounds before starting.

I tried several lessons of Pimsleur Cantonese and enjoyed it, tried out a few phrases on native speakers and they all complimented my pronunciation. However, halfway through the course I started on FSI Cantonese and when I went back to Pimsleur I found it way too slow and boring. I think Pimsleur Cantonese could still have some use for conversational phrases though, so maybe it would be best to do Pimsleur at the very beginning, before starting another course.

I got Pimsleur Mandarin and tried a few lessons but really didn't like it. I'd taken some evening classes by that time and had done a few lessons in FSI and when I was doing Pimsleur I was constantly worrying about the fact that I didn't know what sound they were saying on the tapes (sh or x? ch or q?).
Perhaps I would have done better if I had had a transcript.
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leosmith
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Studies: Tagalog

Message 21 of 31

11 January 2011 at 2:38pm | IP Logged

HenryMW wrote:

When I was done with FSI Spanish, I went straight to reading newspapers (with a dictionary but I
could still get through them without trouble). I wasn't so confident after Pimsleur.

I doubt FSI Mandarin will allow one to read a newspaper.

unzum wrote:

I'd taken some evening classes by that time and had done a few lessons in FSI and when I was
doing Pimsleur I was constantly worrying about the fact that I didn't know what sound they were saying on the tapes
(sh or x? ch or q?). Perhaps I would have done better if I had had a transcript.

I always recommend learning pronunciation first, and working with a transcript during Pimsleur. Failing to do this
can cause problems, especially with Mandarin.
1 person has voted this message useful

slucido
Bilingual Diglot
Senior Member
Spain
https://goo.gl/126Yv
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4 sounds
Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*
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Message 22 of 31

11 January 2011 at 5:24pm | IP Logged

leosmith wrote:

I always recommend learning pronunciation first, and working with a transcript during Pimsleur. Failing to do this
can cause problems, especially with Mandarin.

Don't you think that learning pronuciation first is good before studying any language.
By the way, how do you recommend to study Mandarin pronunciation?

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liddytime
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United States
mainlymagyar.wordpre
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Speaks: English*, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Galician
Studies: Hungarian, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic (Written)

Message 23 of 31

11 January 2011 at 6:59pm | IP Logged

leosmith wrote:

It's about 150-200 words per level, or a total of about 500 words for all 3 levels. Depending
on how one interprets
their advertising, one could say they only claim 2500 words are needed to reach a certain level they talk about,
and
they don't actually claim to teach all the words. But I've actually written to them to complain, and got some very
nasty letters in return claiming that they do teach those 2500 words, and how dare I claim otherwise. It's pretty
easy
to count words in a transcript, so I disagree. People who think they teach more than 500 either never counted
them,
or they count things like different conjugations of the same verb.

Surely someone out there has counted the words ( actual words, not conjugations of verbs) in a full 3 level
Pimsleur course? Anyone?!

My experience is all the courses follow the exact same template. Good for pronunciation and small-talk. Not so
good for reaching fluency!
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Martin M
Newbie
United States
Joined 5067 days ago
20 posts - 26 votes
Studies: Spanish

Message 24 of 31

11 January 2011 at 7:27pm | IP Logged

Thanks for all the input. I've begun Spanish with Pimsleur 1 & 2. Moving on to Pimsleur Spanish 3 & 4 soon.

Am definitely augmenting Pimsleur with some other sources: Assimil, FSI and Teach Yourself to name a few. While I've heard FSI is a grind, I'm prepared. Will also start to read some children's books and comic books and begin listening to Spanish language radio stations.

Yes, Pimsleur is great for pronunciation but grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing are minimal to nonexistent through Pimsleur.

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