Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Using Pimsleur

  Tags: Pimsleur
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
14 messages over 2 pages: 1
kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4701 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 9 of 14
14 June 2013 at 5:14am | IP Logged 
I'll add my voice to the majority: Pimsleur works for me when I'm in motion: driving,
walking, biking, doing laundry, etc.

I also think it helps to ignore the pause button, and to re-do the lesson if needed.
This was frustrating for me in the beginning, but I found that I became too dependent on
pausing, and that the pressure to respond helped me a lot once I got used to it.

Final thought: I wouldn't necessarily do Pimsleur > Assimil in order. They hit very
different aspects of language learning, and if you have time I'd overlap them.
4 persons have voted this message useful



ljones29
Triglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 4609 days ago

35 posts - 59 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Arabic (Written), Greek

 
 Message 10 of 14
15 June 2013 at 10:13pm | IP Logged 
kanewai wrote:
I'll add my voice to the majority: Pimsleur works for me when I'm in
motion: driving,
walking, biking, doing laundry, etc.

I also think it helps to ignore the pause button, and to re-do the lesson if needed.
This was frustrating for me in the beginning, but I found that I became too dependent
on
pausing, and that the pressure to respond helped me a lot once I got used to it.

Final thought: I wouldn't necessarily do Pimsleur > Assimil in order. They hit very
different aspects of language learning, and if you have time I'd overlap them.


Good idea. I use Pimsleur as well as other things too. I'm probably mid-intermediate
in Spanish at this point, but I'm still only on Pimsleur III. I just find that using
Pimsleur helps me develop automaticity. Also, I kinda like the little storylines they
have. :)
1 person has voted this message useful



YnEoS
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4066 days ago

472 posts - 893 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 11 of 14
20 June 2013 at 5:54am | IP Logged 
Does anyone else use Audacity to remove the silences from Pimsleur courses, and then shadow the target language speech rather than repeating them after they're spoken?

I've found it much more effective for me as it halves the time, and makes it easier for me to focus (my mind drifts during the pauses). The first time I do a lesson like this I'm usually unable to do active parts of the lessons at first, since there's no time to think before the native speaker gives the answer. But I've found being able to do courses in half the time more than makes up for this loss. And when I'm reviewing courses, nothing sticks the words in my brain like trying to summon them up before the English speaker finishes his instructions.
1 person has voted this message useful



Halfdan
Newbie
Canada
Joined 3996 days ago

13 posts - 21 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Danish, Mandarin, French

 
 Message 12 of 14
20 June 2013 at 9:24am | IP Logged 
YnEoS wrote:
Does anyone else use Audacity to remove the silences from Pimsleur
courses, and then shadow the target language speech rather than repeating them after
they're spoken?


No, but I've been wanting to try it for quite some time. I, too, find my mind wandering
during the pauses.
1 person has voted this message useful



jerrypettit
Groupie
United States
Joined 5838 days ago

79 posts - 103 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 13 of 14
26 June 2013 at 3:35am | IP Logged 
I use a program like (free) Audacity (although in my case I use Sound Forge) to chop out
the phrases I don't know and I import them into my Spaced Repetion System (I use
Supermemo, but Anki would work). That way I only listen to each lesson once, but the
phrases several times per the SRS.
1 person has voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4721 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 14 of 14
30 June 2013 at 2:39pm | IP Logged 
ragnar1230 wrote:
Pimsleur fluctuates from super easy to really difficult from one minute to the next. One moment, I'm letting my mind wander, answering the questions easily, then it pops out some long construction and I think, “Wait, what was that?” and before I can hit the “Pause” button, much less rewind it, it's given me the answer. How can I stay focused? (I know some people do a repetitive manual task while listening, but if I do that, I won't be able to get to the “Pause” button when I need to.)


I have finished Pimsleur French II, and I often found the same problem: you're going along and everything seems fine, then you hit a much more difficult phrase. Over the course of the year I've been using Pimsleur, I've begun to work on a Pimsleur lesson in sections rather than as a whole. I work on each section (5 or 10 minutes) twice before moving on to the next section. When I finish the whole lesson by segments, I then do that lesson the whole way through, sometimes 2 or 3 more times. Also, if I still come across something that really throws me, I usually rewind a minute or two so I can have another try at it.

I know it's rather boring to work on the same lesson 3-5 times in this way, but it makes Pimsleur more effective for me. I use several things to learn French. The purpose of Pimsleur in my learning arsenal is to gain fluency: the ability to have certain phrases just roll off my tongue easily. So if I end a lesson still struggling to come up with or pronounce some of the phrases, it suits my purposes better to repeat that lesson before moving on.

By the way, I usually use Pimsleur in my car, and I say the responses out loud, usually louder than normal conversation. I find my mind wanders a lot less with Pimsleur than it does with an audiobook or Assimil audio.

Finally, I second Kanewai's suggestion: use Pimsleur and Assimil at the same time (or alternate them somehow). They do work on different aspects of the language, and it's helpful when something you learn on one comes up in the other soon after.

Edited by Jeffers on 30 June 2013 at 2:43pm



1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 14 messages over 2 pages: << Prev 1

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3440 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.