How’s your Spanish?
No doubt you have heard about the Pimsleur Spanish course.
The Pimsleur Method (developed by Dr. Paul Pimsleur) is popular among travelers, expats and business people – and is my favorite way to learn Spanish.
When we first moved to Ecuador I was really struggling with . Some friends told us about the , and I’m so happy they did!
I study the language in a : workbooks, computer programs, vocab study… and while they all help me progress with the language, I’ve experienced the most benefit from the Pimsleur Spanish audio course.
In this review, I’ll cover the following:
I really like the Pimsleur Spanish learning method because it starts off with basic conversations that are needed when learning a foreign language.
For example, greetings and basic conversation like:
Pimsleur gave me what I needed to actually start talking to people. I found that courses which teach vocab like “apple” and “house” are only good for building vocab.
That might sound like an obvious observation, but when we were getting started with language learning we felt so overwhelmed! We didn’t know where to start.
We tried so many ! So, when I didn’t know how to string those vocab words/verb conjugations together into a sentence, I couldn’t really apply what I was learning to having conversations. And because they didn’t really have any context, they were hard to remember.
When I started with the Pimsleur method, it did the trick because what I wanted most was to get started talking to people. The vocab/verb conjugations included in the Pimsleur course are all presented in context within conversations, making it much easier to remember. I’ve found that a bit of vocab learning and Pimsleur practice is best, but when my time is really limited I choose Pimsleur for conversation learning.
(If you need help getting up the nerve to start communicating in a foreign language, you might want to read our review of .)
The method has also been very helpful because the instructions are spoken in English, so I’m not confused about the conversations or what it is that I’m supposed to be learning.
We purchased which has made it super easy to multitask. At the end of the post, I explain how to save big on Pimsleurs with Audible – more than 76% less than the cd package.
I often listen to the courses on my ipod or tablet while washing dishes or doing house cleaning. That may not sound like a big deal, but when you have a busy schedule (working part-time, volunteering, homeschooling, raising a family…) and are living in a foreign country immersed in the language – it is!
I also really like that the course uses native speakers. I’m confident that I’m learning the correct pronunciation.
Dr. Pimsleur did extensive research on language learning and retention.
The conversations in the course use a lot of repetition. After you hear a word you repeat it, then eventually you start repeating sentences and responding to questions. As the course goes along the vocab you learn is spoken again in future conversations ensuring that you remember it.
It’s recommended in the course that you only do one lesson per day. The lessons are 30 minutes each. This method works because it does not overwhelm you with too much information, it’s presented at a rate you can process and retain.
There are two primary ways to purchase this course. There is the traditional way and then there is the better, cheaper way.
Which way is best? We and I’m so glad that we did. Not only did it cost much less, it is much more convenient. We have all used this tool and Bryan and I continue to study with it.
UPDATE (April 8 2014): After writing this post we received an email from the people at Pimsleur explaining how they have improved the course. The email was as follows:
Hi Dena & Bryan, Thank you so much for the wonderful article on Pimsleur! I just wanted to mention two little details. If you purchase , the MP3 course comes with a free app that runs on smartphones, tablets, and desktops. The app keeps track of your progress, displays the reading exercises, etc. If you purchase a 30-lesson course, you get a free eBook copy of Dr. Pimsleur’s celebrated book How to Learn a Foreign Language (a $10.99 value). Lastly, the Spanish series is also available in interactive software format. This is our newest and greatest incarnation of the Pimsleur Spanish series. Same audio content, but it comes with visual tools to help you review the course content and enhance your learning. I hope this helps and thanks again for taking the time to review our course! Best, Kelly
These look like really good improvements! Have you tried this yet? If so please tell us about it by adding to the comments below.
Have you tried the Pimsleur method? What did you think of it? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.