Customer Reviews

Czech, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Czech with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Instant Conversation)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Prior to my trip to Prague I bought both the Pimsleur CDs and the Colloquial Czech CDs by James Naughton. I was a true beginner, and the Naughton series completely overwhelmed me - they talk way too fast! This series was fantastic, though. They speak slowly and clearly, start with the basics, and repeat words often as you go through the lessons so you don't forget what you have learned in previous chapters. The conversations focus on topics such as hotels, money, asking where things are, etc. so it is definitely most useful for tourists.

The Pimsleur course are the best introduction I've seen to a foreign language; however, I was sorely disappointed with this course in particular.

I was so impressed with Pimsleur's 'Speak and Read' ten lesson course, that felt I had to get more. Not being able to wait for the 30 lesson Comprehensive course whose that has just recently been released, I bought the 16 lesson Conversational course. I was expecting the first 10 lessons to be those that I had already listened to. I was delighted to find that, though they overlapped in material, they were not the same. I also found the pronunciation much clearer than in the 10 lesson set.

My disappointment arose from the fact that, unlike the earlier ten lesson set, the 'Instant Conversation' course moves excruciatingly slowly. It seemed to spend five or six lessons going over variations of how to ask "would you like to...". I understand that we need repetition to learn a language, but isn't the point of buying the CD's that you can listen to them more than once? Some of the lessons introduced, literally, fewer than 6 words.

I feel that having such a course is essential when you start to learn Czech. If I hadn't already listened to the earlier 10 lesson set, I think I still would have found this course slow, but would have felt it a $48 well spent. As it is though, I found it disappointing, and looking at similar reviews for the Comprehensive Course, I feel fortunate that my impatience saved me from spending the extra $180 for it. Having some exposure to the language and pronunciation, I am now more comfortable learning from a book. I find the book 'Czech' by David Short, from the 'Teach yourself' series to be very useful.

The CD's provided give good basic words for greetings, asking simple questions, and teaching numbers. We went to the Czech Rep in Nov, 30 days after receiving the lessons and were able to do basic communication. In Prague most people have a basic or good understanding of English, but out in the countryside, the little Czech we learned was useful when ordering meals, buying something. The number system and pronunciation were very helpful.

The CD's at times tended to be overly redundant, but they were convenient to use since there were no written lesson plans to follow. I managed to listen to all the CD's at least twice. I recommend this program.

This is the the best. I have purchased other books with audio tapes to try to learn the Czech Language. The Pimsleur CD's I purchased have helped me more than anything. I look forward to purchasing the remaining lessons and my next visit to the Czech Republic to be able to speak and understand my relatives.

A few years ago I ordered a Berlitz German set. It had the transcript so I could read along or just listen to the tapes. I got a lot more out of it and it didn't need to be so repetative as this clearly is.

Having written material would add visual input so you could not only learn to speak better by involving another sensory channel but also READ and spell.

the lessons are straight forward repeating words until they start to sink in.it is not an easy language to learn especially at my age over 50!but it is well worth the effort and is apreciated by the locals.

Pimsleur products are always great, and this one is particularly well-done. The lessons are repetitive, which might be bad for you.

But the upside to all the repetition is how well you retain it and actually learn it! For example, I was watching a TV show (Crossing Jordan, my favorite :-) ), and there was a scene where a character spoke Czech to another. Suprisingly, I understood bit and pieces of what the character was saying, even though she was speaking quite quickly! I caught "Ne vim" and "Mluvim anglitsky." Sorry about the spelling. Pimsleur Coversationals are entirely audio, so I have no clue how to spell it :-) *note that the Pimsleur Basic ones come with reading lessons and a booklet.

One thing to keep in mind is that you really do have to focus to get anything out of these CDs. If you just kinda have them playing in th ebackground, it won't work. You need to take a half hour to sit and listen and repeat.

All in all, worth the money. An excellent choice!!!!

The method and teaching seem to be effective; won't know for sure until my visit to Prague this autumn. The first ten lessons in this package are the same exact recordings as the introductory 10-CD course. It would be considerate of the manufacturer to clarify which specific lesson numbers the CDs contain.

I'm already bilingual and have never used a language CD course. Their choice for the Czech-speaking man is very poor -- he doesn't breathe while speaking so it's very hard to hear what he's saying and it makes distinguishing consonants is very difficult. They should have chosen someone with a voice like the American narrator to do the Czech male voice. The female voice on the other hand, is good. The makers lacked a little imagination because they failed to use a variety of names in the lessons -- for example, they keep repeating the same street name in all conversations, when it would have been much more interesting to hear different names. In general, the amount of repetition of material is overdone in this system, because the whole idea of having it on CDs is that you can play to it over and over. They could have covered twice the amount of material with less repetition.

These programs are a great way to learn any language. They teach you how to speak the language by listening to it and picking it up the same way you did when you were a kid learning to speak english. Very helpful, I learned more from this technique than from most.