I’ve decided–at least for the next 20 minutes–to attain fluency in Russian or at least a reasonable simulacrum. I had a semester of independent study of Russian back waywayback in high school and occasionally leaf through my Berlitz book or a Russian-English dictionary so I can read a little bit at about the Dick & Jane level and can phonetically speak a few phrases but I can’t really understand it in dialogue, much less converse in it. My goal is to be able to watch a Russian film with the subtitles off and perhaps manage to stumble through some of my favorites in Russian literature sans abridgement and translation.
Pursuant to that goal, I’ve been looking around at various systems. (I don’t have time nor ready availability to attend college courses, nor am I really interested in the strict grammatical approach to language generally used therein.) The Pimsleur system seems to be highly recommended by some, but criticized by others, and is quite expensive (albeit, not as much as the 4-week Berlitz intensive tutoring I was looking at.) Does anyone here have experience with it, particularly in combination with independent written material?
I think it’s okay, but I dont have a lot of experience with other language programs, so I don’t know what good my opinion does.
I’ve finished Spanish I. I still can’t order in Spansh at a Mexican restaurant, but Spanish doesn’t seem as fast anymore when spoken by others. I can follow along Mexican Soap Operas, but with their overacting I think anyone can follow along.
The only other experience I have is with Rosetta stone, but they take a drastically different approach. Where as Pimsluer is conversation based, Rosetta is vocab based. I don’t really like it, but I can see how using it in conjunction with Pimsluer would help.
This summer I’ve listened to the first set (first 10 lessons) of Pimsleur Vietnamese, French, and Italian. I’ve also listened to the Hebrew, but just to evaluate it, since I already knew the Hebrew being presented. I found Pimsleur to be a good match for my needs at the intro level: I don’t have a lot of time to sit with a CD or tape and book right now; I wanted basic social pleasantries and traveler’s needs; I wanted to get some phrases memorized in order to get a good pronunciation base, which then helps me learn much more quickly when I do sit down to look at a book.
I should say that although I can pick up a tune fairly easily, auditory learning is my worst and least-preferred modality. I have been very happy with the Pimsleur even given that they use only the audio mode, which I find difficult in other contexts.
I had a number of other language books and audio programs around the house for Vietnamese, French, and Italian but have primarily used the Pimsleur because I can listen in the car or while I’m walking (since I put the lessons on my iPod). You don’t learn a wide range of material in 5 hours, but what you learn really sticks if you practice out loud.
I took a Vietnamese course at the community college at the same time as I listened to the Pimsleur; I learned more words in the class, but I couldn’t tell you what they were because there was so little practice in the class. On the other hand, even after interrupting my Vietnamese study for 8 weeks to brush up my basic French and learn basic Italian for a vacation, I still was able to pop the 5th Vietnamese CD in and immediately generate the requested sentences.
If my work takes me back to Vietnam after my visit next month, I will buy more Pimsleur CDs, even though I am going to the South and they use Northern pronunciation. I seem to be intelligible, and in a tonal language, that’s saying a lot.
I would wonder if any read-and-repeat or read-and-respond set can make you fluent in another language.
I did the Pimsleur comprehensive Spanish (sets I through III), and found it to be helpful to a point. It was also pretty convenient - my commute was thirty minutes, so I could do a lesson driving to and from work. If I had a problem with the lesson, I would repeat it until I was comfortable.
However, I was certainly nowhere near “fluent”. I could pick up more language, but getting conversation on the fly was still daunting. It wasn’t until I went to Costa Rica for intensive Spanish that my skills solidified into anything resembling conversational Spanish.
So, IMHO, use it to get basic vocabulary and grammar, but then do an immersion course. And use the language regularly afterwards.
BTW, I sold my Pimsleur CD sets for about 2/3 of the initial cost on Ebay. You might be able to pick them up used …
I did the first two sets of Pimsleur Russian a couple of years ago, and I thought they were really great. (I think it was about 7 years ago.) I would definitely recommend it. I was just interesting in conversation (not reading).
My library has the Russian Intro Pimsleur language course via the web. (You may want to check that option).
I lasted 10 minutes, it’s a very odd way of learning words & sounds. (Rosetta Stone was also awful in an entirely different way. My library also offers that via the web. I didn’t find that out until after shelling out the money, so you really may want to check.) Instead, I just started taking a class, it’s working much better for me than either of those two options.
Update: Pimsleur served me well in Vietnam, even though it’s the Northern pronunciation and I was in the South. I’ll probably get the Comprehensive I set now (30 lessons).
My daughter has been using Pimsleur as part of her project of learning Japanese. She finished the first course, and is now on the second course. She reads manga and watches anime, and she’s able to follow the stories in Japanese. Occasionally I ask her how to say something in Japanese, and she’s able to quickly say it, or tell me she doesn’t know how to say it, as appropriate. She’s been pretty happy with the courses, but she also studies from other resources.
Okay, the Pimsleur Vietnamese Comprehensive I is ordered. Let’s hope it’s good, because there isn’t a level II or III for Vietnamese!
I poked around on the web a little and found sites that will sell you Pimsleur at a discount and then buy it back from you. I ordered from http://ultimatelanguagestore.com/ .