Lithuanian, Compact: Learn to Speak and Understand Lithuanian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0743550641 | ISBN-13: 978-0743550642 | Publication Date: April 24, 2006 | Edition: 10 Lessons + Reading

Lithuanian is spoken by some 3 million native speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. There are two main dialects: Aukštaiciu (Highland Lithuanian) and Žemaiciu/Žemaitiu (Lowland Lithuanian). Pimsleur's Lithuanian teaches the standard dialect, based on West High Lithuanian.

This Compact course provides an introduction to Lithuanian with ten thirty-minute lessons of spoken language practice. With this product you start from zero, learning first survival phrases and vocabulary, then progressing to speaking and understanding at a functional level. Every lesson contains an introductory conversation, and isolated vocabulary and structures, as well as full practice for all vocabulary introduced.  Emphasis on pronunciation and comprehension.  At the completion of this course, you’ll have a basic vocabulary and speak with a near-native accent. This course provides you with a solid foundation upon which to expand your language skills. These units also include Reading Lessons to provide you with an introduction to reading Lithuanian. Reading Lessons are designed to teach you to sound out words with correct pronunciation and accent. A Reading Booklet to be used with the audio lessons is also included in PDF format.

 

Pimsleur® equals success. Just one 30-minute lesson a day gets you speaking and understanding like no other program.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed The Pimsleur Method based on two key principles:  the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.”  This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; 10 Lessons + Reading edition (April 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743550641
• ISBN-13: 978-0743550642
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.9 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #435,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur (b. 1926, d. 1976) devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world's leading experts in applied linguistics. He was fluent in French, good in German, and had a working knowledge of Italian, Russian, Modern Greek, and Mandarin Chinese. After obtaining his Ph.D. in French and a Masters in Psychology from Columbia University, he taught French Phonetics and Linguistics at UCLA. He later became Professor of Romance Languages and Language Education, and Director of The Listening Center (a state-wide language lab) at Ohio State University; Professor of Education and Romance Languages at the State University of New York at Albany; and a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. He did research on the psychology of language learning and in 1969 was Section Head of Psychology of Second Language Learning at the International Congress of Applied Linguistics.

Dr. Pimsleur was a member of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and a founding member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

His many books and articles revolutionized theories of language learning and teaching. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed a new method (The Pimsleur Method) that is based on two key principles: the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called "Graduated Interval Recall." This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the "Pimsleur Programs."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Entirely Overrated, August 22, 2006

By 

Elizabeth Hodgdon (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lithuanian, Compact: Learn to Speak and Understand Lithuanian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur) (Audio CD)

I should probably start out by saying that I've been an avid language learner for about fifteen years now. I know my faults, my high points, and what the best method FOR ME is when it comes to studying a language. I bought the Pimsleur Lithuanian program mostly to improve my pronunciation, but also to learn a few key phrases as I go along. (Anybody brave enough to start learning Lithuanian will notice almost immediately that there aren't very many materials on the market as of yet- but it seems to be slowly improving.) The Pimsleur programs are quite possibly the most boring, repetetive audio programs on the market. I'm on unit 7 as I write this, and after seven units, roughly 25 minutes long apiece, I have learned only about a dozen phrases and words total. Even as an absolute beginner in learning Lithuanian, I can hardly get through one lesson without losing my mind from the repetition. I can honestly picture myself sitting in a padded room someday mumbling "Is your pronunciation like the speaker's?- Listen again..." over and over again. After you finish the first lesson, at least half of each following lesson is review, which they throw in even when they're teaching you a new word or phrase, so in the end, you end up learning practically nothing new. For the 35 bucks I paid for this program, I don't feel like being able to say "Hi, how are you? Would you like to eat something?" after SEVEN lessons is worth my money or even my time. Anybody interested in learning Lithuanian at a faster pace should try www.slic.org.au-Language-LLL_index.swf where one can not only hear but also SEE what they're learning, and the lessons (24 in all- where you'll learn about eighty times the amount you would with Pimsleur) are informative and entertaining.
On the plus side, though, I used Pimsleur Russian to learn some Russian about four years ago, and I can still remember most of it. Then again, I repeated it SO MANY TIMES while listening to the program...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic! Follow the discs and do as you are told and you will learn a TON., July 28, 2010

By 

DanceTango - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lithuanian, Compact: Learn to Speak and Understand Lithuanian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur) (Audio CD)

More More More!

This was an excellent product. I just went to Lithuania with my girlfriend and they were very impressed with how much I learned with only 5 discs. In fact they then started teaching me more and more Lithuanian and were very happy with the progress. The way Pimsleur spreads out the repetitions over gradually more time is a great technique.

My only regret about the product is that there is not follow on! I hope I will see #2 soon. There is no Rosettastone for Lithuanian, but Pimsleur takes it on!

This language is as old as Sanskrit and is studied by Linguistic scholars. It is older that Latin! And the country has awesome food- like France or Italy!

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful, October 14, 2011

By 

T. Burke "Music Man" (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lithuanian, Compact: Learn to Speak and Understand Lithuanian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur) (Audio CD)

This little program is very limited in scope. However, if you want something inexpensive to get you started, which will enable you to start speaking and pronouncing, and which will give you the confidence to continue your study of the language with another program afterwards, then I would highly recommend Pimsleur.

The CDs are paced very well, allowing you to really learn one part before proceeding to the next. They tell you to continue to the next lesson if you feel you've mastered 80% of the current lesson. However, I would definitely recommend doing each lesson at least twice, to really get the words into long-term memory.

The booklet goes over some Lithuanian spelling. But I wish the booklet would give you the words from the lessons as well. However, Google Translate comes in handy there. Lithuanian spelling is pretty much phonetic, which does make things simpler.

One criticism - our Lithuanian exchange student finds the accents on the CDs to be rather amusing. She says some Lithuanians spend time in America and then come home speaking Lithuanian in an American accent, in a poser-ish kind of way. She reckons the CD speakers have that kind of accent. She finds the man's accent superior to the woman's. I imagine Pimsleur employed native Lithuanians living in the United States and that their accent has indeed become slightly Americanized.

This is a fun, well-made, useful little program, but if you want to really learn the language, you'll very quickly have to find something else to move on to.