Learn Spanish Travel Spanish Blog

      

When we first decided to learn some Spanish, we went to a resource that we had used before — Pimsleur.  I had used several of Pimsleur’s language programs for our other travels, to learn a little German or French or Italian, with various degrees of success.  Obviously, I think very highly of the Pimsleur method.  You’re not going to become fluent in any language, including Spanish, if you only use Pimsleur, but the lessons are very good for accomplishing several things.  

     First, if you want to be a polite tourist (a goal every traveler should share), then Pimsleur is very good for learning basic phrases in the chosen language.  (Since this is a Spanish blog, I’m just going to say Spanish instead of “chosen language”, but remember that Pimsleur has a LOT of language programs.)  You’ll immediately start learning Please and Thank You, Where Is.. and the like.    

     Second, you’ll be training your ear to hear Spanish.  This is really, really important, and you should do more than just use Pimsleur to train your ear.  Listen to Spanish music, radio, television, whatever you can to get your brain used to hearing Spanish.  It helps.  A lot.  I have read that a month or so before you begin language lessons you should start listening to Spanish in the background as much as possible.  Then, when you start your lessons, they’ll be easier.  I don’t know if there is scientific proof to back that up, but it makes sense to me, and I believe it.  

     Third, Pimsleur helps with pronunciation.   Since the program is largely “listen and repeat”, you are hearing and saying words over and over.  Even as you move forward in the lessons, the new words are being integrated with words that you have previously learned.  When I went to Argentina for my first immersion school, my pronunciation was better than almost everyone in my classes, and I thank Pimsleur for that.  Of course, I had also been doing the Spanish in the background thing, but still… I think Pimsleur helped a lot.  

     Fourth, you’ll be building your confidence at the same time that you’re building a small vocabulary, so if you decide to go further and take formal classes, you won’t have all of those doubts about whether or not you can do it, because you’ll already be able to speak “a little” Spanish.  There is even a point in the first cd that has you say, “Yes, I speak a little Spanish”, and the speaker says, “And it’s true. Now you do speak a little Spanish”.  Don’t underestimate what a little confidence can do.  

     And fifth, it’s just a good way to ease into lessons.   If I hadn’t done the Pimsleur lessons before going to the Argentina school, I would have been totally lost in the immersion system.  It was still difficult, but I wasn’t the dumbest kid in the class (at least not in every class).  And I was in classes with people who had studied Spanish in either high school or college (or both).  

     Obviously I like Pimsleur.  It does have some negative, though.  One is that there are only 3 levels for a total of about 90 lessons.  There need to be far far more if you want to advance using ONLY the Pimsleur method.  Another negative is the price.  They’re expensive, if you want to do their whole program.  Here’s a link: http://www.simonsays.com/content/ene/search.cfm?tab=13&N=20665&Ns=P_FORMATSORTGROUP%7c0%7c%7cCP_PUBDATEGAP%7c0&Nr=AND(Subsite:Pimsleur)

Or just do a search for Pimsleur.   I’ve been fortunate that I’ve found them used on Ebay at yard sales, etc.  Keep searching, they’re out there.  

   You won’t become fluent using only Pimsleur.  And they’re expensive.  But they’re good, and you can use them on those long drives, while you’re gardening, taking a walk, etc.   I like them a lot.  Give it a try.   Here’s a link to the Wikipedia site about the Pimsleur method:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimsleur_language_learning_system

Tags:   Learn Spanish · Learning Spanish · Pimsleur · Spanish1 Comment