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What Is the best way to use Pimsleur? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5364 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 17 of 32 01 February 2012 at 1:16pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Well Leosmith, I think we have argued this before and we will have to disagree. To do a
Pimsleur lesson 7 times is what I image hell to be like. The pause the first time round works for me and allows me to get through the 80% mark second time round - so it is as effective as your method (at least for me). Still I agree that a transcript is perfectly good, probably better, alternative - if I could only get my hands on one, especially for German...... Edited by Elexi on 01 February 2012 at 1:17pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6349 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 18 of 32 01 February 2012 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I don't pass my self until I get 80% of the questions 100% correct, including pronunciation.
Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you probably won't be able to produce the sentence as quickly.
If nobody pm's you on this, I recommend you ask in a few places, always requesting a pm to avoid controversy. Edited by leosmith on 01 February 2012 at 2:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5364 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 19 of 32 02 February 2012 at 1:12am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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No - I can usually produce the sentences second time round in the gap provided (not that that is my goal)
because I have either grasped the point and can produce the language or, to an equal or lesser extent, because thinking it through means I have memorized the answer. But that is a problem - because memorizing an answer is often not the same thing as grasping the underlying rule and thus learning the language. But then if I go through something 3 or 4 times I will have memorized the answer anyway, so it's horses for courses. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| speightashley Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4477 days ago 17 posts - 19 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 20 of 32 06 February 2012 at 1:16am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I used pimsleur before for Spanish and my method was to blast through the lessons as quickly as possible before moving onto a more advanced program. Pimsleur is a great foundation for getting your ear tuned into the language but it doesn't teach you half as much vocab as it should. There is also zero grammar explainations, you are just supposed to grasp the concept as you go along.
Best thing you could do is to go and get BYKI and smash the flash cards in to give you extra vocab. This will help initially and you can interchange the vocab given with the sentences that are presented with pimsleur. A good read of a grammar book will clear a lot of muddy areas up too. As I say, pimsleur is a great foundation for tuning in but that is about all it is good for. Try and get it finished as soon as possible and if you can retain about 80% of what is being said you are onto a winner :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4623 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 21 of 32 11 February 2012 at 5:29pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I'm also using Pimsleur for mandarin and am currently doing lesson 23. I haven't been as regular as I should have since I've been dabbling with chinese more than learning intensely, but usually I do one lesson a few times before I move on (sometimes, I will do a lesson only once and it's fine). It's completely normal to stumble around, to realize the words just don't come out right or at all many times in a new lesson (even the second time), but I don't care and I don't think you should worry about it either. I expect my first try to be disastrous every time so when it's not I'm pleasantly surprised. I also speak very loudly... And I do lessons while cleaning my bathroom, doing the dishes, folding laundry, at the gym, etc., especially when I'm just reviewing old lessons, because I think you should also do that once in a while. I'm been using the website memrise to learn a few characters and it's fun (I don't work with Anki so...) and I just bought three books from the Sinolingua Step by Step collection to have something different to work with (haven't received them yet). But generally I feel like you, it's just important to try and embrace the clumsiness, it'll go away eventually. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| JayR9 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4499 days ago 155 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English* | Message 22 of 32 11 February 2012 at 5:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Thanks for all your messages everyone. Some good and helpfull advice.
Thank you as its always nice to hear how others are getting on aswel. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| wv girl Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5038 days ago 174 posts - 330 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 23 of 32 15 February 2012 at 1:38am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I just started Pimsleur Italian and am on lesson 4, I think. It's my first try with it ... it was the only thing available at
the library. With a French/Spanish base, it's not hard so far. I do it while doing chores around the house, dishes, laundry, etc. I'm usually able to answer things the first time through, but I feel that's because of its similarities to my other languages. I don't know how I'd do with Greek, for example, something that I have no reference for. But I was looking for something not so challenging, as time is limited and I'm just trying to satisfy a curiosity. I won't even say that I'm STUDYING Italian, just dabbling a bit for a diversion. Improving my comprehension of spoken Spanish is my real goal at the moment. Wonder if Pimsleur has an upper-level program for it? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5133 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 24 of 32 15 February 2012 at 9:41am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I think I generally listen to each lesson 3-4 times before I feel comfortable moving on. Some lessons feel so easy that I only need to do it once, one particular lesson I listened to 30-40 times without getting the content (not because of the content in itself,but because I was rushing back and forth between hospitals with dying relatives, and I used the Russian lessons more to keep me from going clinically insane, than as learning material). And yes, listening to the same lesson over and over again did feel like hell.
I suppose it also depends what you are doing when you are listening. I couldn't help but laugh, when I started on Pimsleur Russian III, and they repeated the mantra of sitting down quietly somewhere undisturbed, and set aside the half hour. Yes, because that it so likely to happen in the next 10 years. My dentist says I am the only patient he has who falls asleep in the dentist's chair, and I retort that it is the only rest I get. Pimsleur for me is something which I do while driving, doing household chores, morning routine or taking the train back and forth to work. My philosphy is, that if I have time to sit down, then writing exercises or reading takes priority, as even I cannot write Russian grammar exercises and cook dinner at the same time. I have however developed a cunning set of strategies for finding time where there is none "You go and read the newspaper dear, I'll clear the kitchen" (Yes, 20 minutes of Pimsleur). "Just going down to the basement to fold some clothes, my pets" (Yes, and another 20 minutes of Michel Thomas, plus some writing exercises when I manage to sneak my books down with me). I think the advise you got about just pushing forwards for a few lessons, and then go back is fairly sound. I have done that some times, and it worked. Sometimes you just get so hung up on particular words, that you get stuck, and then it does help to push forward and come back to it later. And it is a nice feeling when you realize, that it actually a piece of cake :-) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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