Russian, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian with Pimsleur Language Programs
by admin on November 19, 2009
Review
“Pimsleur programs provide plenty of positive reinforcement that will keep learners on track, and we found that Pimsleur gave us more proficiency and confidence in speaking the new language than any of the other language programs we reviewed.”– AudioFile Magazine”EXTREMELY ACCESSIBLE…each section within the lessons is short enough to hold our attention, and there is enough repetition to teach even those who consider themselves slow learners…Pimsleur [programs] are extremely thorough and easy to use — quite lively!”– Boston Herald”Learn French while commuting, German while jogging, Spanish (or Russian, Italian, and Japanese) while cooking all with NO WRITTEN MATERIALS!”– New York Daily News”Designed for the ear [Read More...]
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Tagged as:
Conversational,
Language,
Learn,
Pimsleur,
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Russian,
Speak,
Understand
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I disagree with the previous negative reviews. Pimsleur’s audiotapes are for those people whose preferred cognitive style is auditory. This is how we learn language as a child–by listening and speaking. I have learned other languages in school–French, Spanish, Hebrew–and the teachers bog the students down with the “rules” of the language. Instead, in these audiotapes, the rules emerge naturally through the repetition of different phrases with shared grammatical patterns. I have learned so much so quickly. Now, if I want to learn more grammar or the alphabet, I already have a basic grasp of the spoken language to refer rather than learning about the rules abstractly. So, if you want to learn how to speak conversational Russian quickly, these tapes are a great place to start!!
Anyone expecting more than a brief introduction to Russian from eight hours of instruction is far more optimistic than they ought to be. The other reviews on this product seem to be written by such optimists.
I, on the other hand, am a pessimist. I expect Russian will take a long time and much work to learn. So far, I have not been disappointed in this expectation. But Pimsleur’s little 8 CD set makes the start of this work pretty fun.
Pimsleurs will seem slow at first (3 or 4 CDs until it picks up speed) because they build from nothing. And the dialogues DO progress quite a ways beyond “Do you speak Russian?” In the end, the set will give you a hundred, two hundred words of vocabulary — something like that. You will have excellent pronunciation and the ability to understand Russians who speak these words at their normal speed. I think this is great for thirty bucks.
I find these Conversational Pimsleurs to be the best introduction to a language. You can use them to leverage yourself into further studies, like Teach Yourself Russian Complete Course (Book + 2CDs), which will get you reading and writing. If there is a better product to make a better start of languages, I haven’t found it.
Note: To see what I think about the larger 16CD Pimsleurs, search Amazon’s So You’d Like To guides for “learn a language for no good reason”. I talk there about when the big ones are good and when other cheaper options are better.
I have to say my weakest area in school was learning other languages. I was always the poorest student in class. At age 47, I found myself needing to learn Russian. I looked at my options. I tried two other programs and they did not work for me.
Now I am learning Russian using Pimsleur. I am not fast at learning it, but I am learning Russian! This course is more an introduction to the full Pimsleur courses. It is a good place to start.
If Pimsleur is teaching me Russian, I assume it will work for most people.
It takes effort, but it is working.
I recommend the full Pimsleur program.