Does anyone have an opinion on the Pimsleur Approach for learning a foreign language?

Question

I've seen the advertisements online for this Pimsleur Approach method and I'm interested. I'd like more than just the advertisement's claim and Wikiepedia's explaination.

Answer 1

I used pimsleur it worked great for me. I was learning Spanish and I felt like I learned more in two months than I did two years in spanish in high school. My girlfriend who is fluent in Spanish was surprised by how much I learnt in such a short period of time.


Because you are already familiar with the advertisments and wikipedia I'll skip the definitions

The Pimsleur Method uses four learning principles

The Principle of Anticipation
Graduated Interval Recall
Core Vocabulary
Organic Learning

The idea of Principle of Anticipation, Graduated Interval Recall, and Organic Learning allows you to actually actively learn instead of passive memorization; therefore you make assioscations in your brain causing it to be able to recall on it in the long run instead of short term(forgetful) memorization. (Learning vs Memorizing).

Core Vocabulary
This gives you the everyday words the things you will most likely use in an average daily conversation. Therefor giving you the key essentials of compiling coherent sentences in an everyday setting.


With Graduated Recall sometimes hearing the same word repeated over and over again gets a lil annoying however it helps retain much more words than just trying to force yourself to memorize it.
Like I said above it teaches core vocab so to increase your vocabulary you can supplement it elsewhere for additional words.

Some advice: even though some parts may seem repetitive stick with it and dont skip it will help maximize memorization. Practice daily. Practice as much as you can talking to native speakers.

For getting the basics being able to speak in present, past, and future tense I think Pimsleur is a great way to start. But to truely master your language you need to look somewhere else for more vocab. Also language is living it is always changing/evolving therefore speaking with a native speaker will allow you to keep up with the current language and also get use to different accents in the language.

I also kinda like one feature on Rosetta Stone because if you have a mic for your PC, Rosetta Stone has a voice recognition that can compare your pronunciation of the word to the proper pronunciation.

Answer 2

I think the method itself is pretty good, especially if you're in a hurry. You always come back and practice what you've already learned after adding a new piece. It goes at a very reasonable pace, and you're always amazed at how quickly you can have a simple conversation with whole sentences. I bought (and used whenever I drove, which is a lot) the Hebrew and then the Vietnamese programs. They left some important gaps, but I learned a LOT more than I would have trying to learn from a book, slower audio programs, or waiting for the time (or available opportunity) to enroll in a class. I now own the French and Spanish Pimsleur CDs as well (languages I speak), mostly so my family can review while we're in the car.