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Has anyone tried Sybervision's Pimsleur Language Programs? It looks promising, but pricey. I noticed that they have a great deal of languages available, and I've always wanted to learn French, Spanish, German, Itallian, Danish and Japanese. Well, not always, but for at least the last five or ten minutes. 
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Do a net search -- you can usually find a better price on new or used sets...I think you are better off buying a complete set from Simon and Schuster (3 levels, 30 cassettes each level) than one of the abbreviated courses. I think the place I got my French set was LanguageLovers.com. Pimsleur is an outstanding INTRODUCTION to a new language. The key here is some people expect more from them than they will actually deliver. Depends on what you're looking for. In my case, even after completing the full three-level course, I didn't have near the competency in French I needed for my job. Publius
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Kaiden-- You might want to check out the website www.tranparent.com it has a computer CD called 101 languages of the world. It is about 30$. It teaches 101 languages complete w/ sound files, record/playback, individual vocab list. and more. [This message has been edited by jonah (edited December 18, 2002).]
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What about the language programs at http://www.rosettastone.com/ ? Anyone tried them out? I'm looking at Spanish . . . [This message has been edited by quidscribis (edited December 18, 2002).]
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The Rosetta Stone language programs are great (from what I've heard), as are the others listed. The disadvantage is that they are so huge and try do to so much. I think that is the really cool part about the Easy Learn languages is that they can get you up and running really quickly with the basics. You can then tackle the larger programs without being overwhelmed. Tracey!
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People are always looking for easy ways to learn languages. Having learnt several to a high degree I can honestly say that there isn't one! You have to work at it and work hard! Make no mistake about that. You can learn a language reasonably cheaply from a good language set that includes tapes and a dialogue based text book such as those Living Language produce. Look on Amazon for prices and availablilty - they cost around 55 bucks per 8 tape set. And yes, you DO have to work at it and learn it! Sure you can put the same information (or less of it)and put it on CD rom and charge a fortune. But that's just a gimmick! It's like the "Learn a language the way you did as a child" thing! Forget it! To be fair, Pimsleur is the least gimmicky stuff I've seen, but for what you get it's WAY overpriced! Yes, you get lots of cassettes, but remmeber that the material is recycled over and over again, so you're not really getting that much for your hard-earned. If you're rich then use them alongside your "real" langauge course, but don't expect to be super-fluent! And as for Easy Learn...sorry but they're crap! There's hardly anything in them for all that money you pay, there's hardly any grammar as such - but there are plenty of weird psycadelic stories about fancy-dress balls etc. Just what you need when you're out and about and lost in Dresden! And sorry Pete but using something that Winston Churchill said about languages to advertise the courses is laughable. I can't be bothered going back to look for the quote directly, but it was something on the lines of Winston Churchill said that you only need 500 words of a language. Churchill was never renouned as a linguist! You might just as well have said Michael Jackson once said that....
And anyway, I've only ever heard people who are really bad at languages make such sweeping statements about them as that one.
People! There are no easy ways to learn languages. Just buy a good, modern, academic course with tapes and make a concerted effort!
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I have gone through the three levels of pimsleur japanese (I'll sell them to anybody interested). When I did the first level, I listened to the tapes as I was driving around in my car, and I was also taking japanese at a local JC. Not to brag, but I was far and away the best student in the class. The homework was easy, and the instructor on several occasions told me to speak slower while responding orally to questions in japanese so the class could understand me. I also used Kevin Trudeu's "Mega Memory" techniques to make memorizing vocabulary easier. I highly recommend both methods for learning languages. George
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I don't know about the language coarse, but I DO know about Mega Memory!
Mega Memory is Kevin Trudeau's rehash and plagarization of Harry Lorrain's stuff. Trudeau claims that he invented it all, but he lies. You can usually find Mr. Lorrain's Memory Book, etc. in libraries.
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quote:
Originally posted by Arthur:
I don't know about the language coarse, but I DO know about Mega Memory!
Mega Memory is Kevin Trudeau's rehash and plagarization of Harry Lorrain's stuff. Trudeau claims that he invented it all, but he lies. You can usually find Mr. Lorrain's Memory Book, etc. in libraries.
Yeah, that true (found that out after I bought the course) but still, all the techniques you'll need are in one package.
Memory Optimizer is a better choice b/c Mrs. Birkenbihl gives extra advice.
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Just wanted to say thanks for the advice. Really, I am looking for something "Audio Only" so that I can turn my car into the "University on Wheels" that Zig Ziggler talks about. I did find Pimsleur German at Waldonbooks for $50. I decided to get a French dictionary and a phrase book instead, as I was pretty much there to use a gift certificate. I'm going to keep my options both open and in accord with my purpose. Purpose one is to be able to transend linguistic-based thought-molds. Purpose two is to be able to impress my girlfriend. I really don't need to be able to ask for directions, but I would utterly fail at purpose two if I wasn't able to do so if needed. I chose French because of it's difficult spelling. Almost always use capitolization, punctuation and even bold or itallics in online chat because I type how I talk... and talk as if I'm typing. If any language can break me into a non-linguistic state, it would be French. On a whim, I decided to see what was available from the local library. While I had searched specifically for the Pimsleur course, I didn't find it the first time out. Searching for the subject "French" and limiting the material type, I found the French I course right smack-dab in the middle. [This message has been edited by Kaiden (edited December 29, 2002).]
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