Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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137 of 140 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the best!, May 5, 2003
I have done Pimsleur French (I -III), Spanish(I-III), and am now working on Italian II. I am looking forward to doing German, and more in the future. Yes, I'm a Pimsleur addict. And I'm someone who took two years of French in college and never learned how to say anything. I'm also someone who got my lowest grade in college in foreign language! And that's after lots of work then.But, Pimsleur really, really, does teach you how to converse, if you are willing and able to pay the money, and put in the time.You won't know lots of vocabulary (but that's easy to learn later) but you will know how to construct all the basic sentences you need to. You'll be able to converse with people at the train station when your train is delayed, at the store when you buy something, etc. This is converse not just ask directions! and people will tell you your accent is pretty good. If you are very serious about being fluent, or knowing how to read, you will need other info later - but if you really, really want to be able to manage like a cosmopolitan tourist or business person, not like the typical English only American, these are the best courses. I recommend allowing a minimum of a month for each I, II, and III. More is better. I really 'get' it if I work through and then put them away for a few months, and then go back. Doing the first one only will not really prepare you to converse, but you will be able to order at restaurants and stores, and be polite. The second will allow simple conversation, and the third more complex conversation - especially if you work on your own on your own vocabulary for your sitaution.
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101 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Non si puo sbagliare! (You can't go wrong!), August 22, 2003
Fugeddabout it! The best way to learn to speak Italian. Took these cassettes to Italy with me when I was about a third of the way through them. I had no problem getting around and communicating, even in towns where little or no Inglese was spoken. I couldn't hold a deep conversation, or a lengthy one, but to be able to survive in a foreign language when still completing level I was really gratifying. And recently I bought Ultimate Italian as a supplement. It's good, but nowhere near Pimsleur. Pimsleur is brilliantly designed to lock the learning into your memory. You find yourself thinking in Italian, not translating back and forth in your head. There are, of course, less expensive vendors of Pimsleur to be found on the internet, e.g., languagelovers.com. But the course is worth every Euro. I can't wait to start Level II. If you can afford it, and your interest is chiefly speaking Italian rather than reading and writing it, this is tops. If, on the other hand, you want to read and write in Italian, you should look for a different course or supplement this one.
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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Program, July 30, 2005
Before reading the rest of the review please keep in mind the following facts about my background so that you can take the comments from that perspective. I have been studying foreign languages on and off for about 20 years. I enjoy studying the minutia of grammar. I have studied French in depth from books and from watching French TV. I have studied some Italian from books. Enough about me.
I have just finished Italian I and I will go through it one more time before ordering Italian II.
I am not easily impressed, but I am very impressed with the Pimsleur method. I have bought many learning tools including software and books to try to help learn foreign languages. This Pimsleur course is by far the best in my opinion.
The method I have used to learn French focused on first learning the grammar in detail, then watching French TV with a dictionary in my hand. The result is that after doing this for years I can understand French pefectly. The problem is that I can't speak it.
The Pimsleur method actually forces you to learn to speak the language. It works very well. You learn the grammar indirectly. Like others I wish there were more grammar explanations, but for me it didn't matter since I have some background in Italian Grammar.
I would recommend getting one of the Italian grammar basics books. It would help you to understand some things better.
For proper pronounciation, the pimsleur method is awesome.
The Pimsleur method says not to use books. They say that the reason is because you will anglicize the pronounciation. This means that you will pronounce it using English phoenetics. I found this to be very true. These cd's corrected a ton of pronounciation errors I was making.
The fact that the method forces you to speak is a very important component. While you can understand a language it takes a lot of practice to speak it. Pimsleur is the only method that I know of that will help you to accomplish this.
At the same time you learn to understand the language because Italian is being spoken on the cd's.
Keep in mind that these courses will not make you fluent, but they will help you to be able to be functional in the language. The lessons have been contructed very well to do this.
To take your abilities to the next level you will have to learn more verbs and more vocabulary. You will also have to watch Italian tv regularly to really get your ear tuned. This will take some time. It will also help to talk to some Italian people.
The other thing I wanted to tell you is that all the time you spend learning will not go to waste. You will retain most of what you learned for years without having to study much at all. For some reason the brain's language centers allow this. I haven't studied French for 8 years, yet I can still understand every word of it. So keep in mind your hard work will stick with you.
I go about learning languages in a very detailed and technical way, and I want to tell you how happy and impressed I am with the Pimsleur method. To me it has most all of the necessary components to facilitate your learning a language in the most efficient way.
I will post a review of Italian II when I get through with it.
Good Luck.
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