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Pimsleur’s target market - men | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5072 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 9 of 31 09 December 2012 at 3:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I traveled to Brazil, I had no business meetings whatsoever. I did not have to prepare any reports, arrange any meetings or take notes. I didn't need to know any vocabulary relating to dry-cleaning.
Pimsleur's focus, as a US based company, is toward the professional American traveling businessman. In the past, this was the group of customers who would pay or, whose employers would pay, for the program. Times have changed. Businesswomen are just as likely to need a language. Leisure travelers are a large part of the market now as well as people who just want to learn a language for reasons that may not include travel or business. I would like to see them change their focus away from businessmen and more towards the casual travelers and people who just want to learn the language. This needs to include a revamp of the course. I don't think they need to move toward computer-based RS type programs. I like the audio course format and would like to see more audio courses. I think this would be a wise business move on their part. In my opinion, the method is very good at what it does well- pronunciation, spurring "automaticity" in speaking the language and providing a very, very basic foundation upon which the language can be built. You may find Benny's Review of the Pimsleur method informative. Edited by iguanamon on 09 December 2012 at 3:46pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5576 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 10 of 31 09 December 2012 at 5:29pm | IP Logged | ||
Not all do, but the Thai one ... at lesson eight or so I was so annoyed by the many 'Imagine you're an American man sitting in a bus in Thailand and want to talk to the Thai woman next to you' scenarios that I quit. The Thai course does seem to aim at people who want to find a Thai wife or prostitute until that point. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| anamsc2 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4369 days ago 85 posts - 186 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan, German Studies: French | Message 11 of 31 09 December 2012 at 6:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I seem to remember the Eastern Arabic being a lot better about that. I haven't done it in a long time, but I remember thinking "how nice, I get to be the woman!" But I definitely had to quit doing Pimsleur French because I was tired of always being the man (not to mention the instructions on how to be creepy).
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6407 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 12 of 31 09 December 2012 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yikes. Seems like not many feminists use Pimsleur to learn languages or they would be protesting.
The Romanian one definitely wasn't THAT bad though. Edited by Serpent on 09 December 2012 at 6:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4719 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 13 of 31 09 December 2012 at 8:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's not really instruction about how to pick women up, it's more about how to get
rejected (since the answers are usually excuses to blow the invitation off). In fact, there was a discussion about this somewhere on these forums. There are some interesting passages in the French course, like when the man asks the woman if she came alone, and she says she came with her husband. So he says (in a clearly huffy tone) that he is leaving alone, and she replies in a definitely breathy tone, that they can leave together. A lesson or two later, the man knocks on the woman's hotel room door and she invites him in. When her husband shows up, you almost expect her to shout "zut!", but then she introduces them. Maybe it was planned after all (what's French for "Ménage à trois"?) When I started French 2, I was wondering where this sort of carry on had gone, but then the woman invited the man back to her place for coffee after the concert. From memory, I think it was, "Si on aller chez moi apres le concert. Nous pouvons prendre un cafe." 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7031 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 14 of 31 09 December 2012 at 11:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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I remember going up to lesson 13 for French over eight years ago. One thing that I vaguely remember in the audio was being rejected by the woman. The man asked her what she wanted to eat, then her reply was she did not want to eat. The man asked her what she wanted to drink, then her reply was she did not want to drink. The man asked what is it you want, so the woman stated "You do not understand sir, I don't want to eat or drink anything with you." I do not remember the order or all the details, but it made me think wow, even rejection in a cd course hurts. (lol) Maybe it is conditioning for the real thing? 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5576 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 15 of 31 10 December 2012 at 1:45am | IP Logged | ||
Targeted at a male clientele. Many of the dialogues are not made in a way that you get to speak first one role, then the other. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| thecatat Newbie Thailand Joined 5761 days ago 26 posts - 40 votes Speaks: English* | Message 16 of 31 10 December 2012 at 2:42am | IP Logged | ||
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iguanamon - "In my opinion, the method is very good at what it does well- pronunciation, spurring "automaticity" in speaking the language and providing a very, very basic foundation upon which the language can be built."
I agree. I quit Pimsleur's Thai years back out of frustration (the "American man sits next to a Thai women…" theme was irritating). I'm more of a reader of Thai than a conversationalist, but after I put aside my prejudices to write this review, I became impressed at how the method demands active participation (which apparently is an excellent learning style for natural hermits like myself). Pity there isn't a more advanced Pimsleur course for Thai. I'm enjoying the method (even if slogging through beginner's Thai is dull). So after I write the review I'll play around with Gradint using the advanced materials I have here. Note: I'm more into learning about methods than learning languages. Odd, I know, but it's just how my language adventure turned out. Jeffers - "It's not really instruction about how to pick women up, it's more about how to get rejected (since the answers are usually excuses to blow the invitation off). In fact, there was a discussion about this somewhere on these forums." Before posting I spend a fair bit of time here reading opinions about the Pimsleur method but didn't find that one. Do you remember where the discussion is? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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