Customer Reviews

Romanian

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recommend this program for anyone who wishes to learn a beginner's amount of Romanian. This is by no means a comprehensive language-learning program. If you want to actually learn Romanian (as in, speak it fluently), this is not the program for you. But if you are going to Romania for a month or two and just want to be able to communicate, I would definitely recommend Pimsleur. Other programs will teach you words and grammar that are not very useful to a traveller (I prefer to know how to say "I don't understand." [Pimsleur] before learning, "The boy is under the airplane." [other programs]) This program is the way to go if you want to learn enough useful Romanian to get around and communicate, but not so much that you are overwhelmed with vocabulary and grammar. Do native Romanians really expect a visiting foreigner to know all the grammatical rules of their language anyway?

This program is easy to use (just listen to the cd and repeat what they say or answer questions in Romanian), and makes it easy to learn and remember. This program is especially good for people like me, who want to learn how to speak the language...not just read or understand it. Many people learned to understand some Spanish (German, French, whatever) during highschool, but couldn't put two words together in speech. You will not have that problem with this program, because Pimsleur focuses on speech instead of vocabulary and writing.

This version of the Pimsleur program (Romanian compact) comes with cds and a tiny reading booklet. I really don't know what the difference is between this Pimsleur Romanian and the other one (which both come with the same number of cds)...except that this one is newer and cheaper.

I didn't purchase this course but found it at the library and decided to try it out...It's a good start that helps you with proper pronunciataion but it's a little slow and repetitive and only a few new words are added with each new unit lesson.

But aside from that....It's a fun way to learn....I did it in my car...it's very easy and quick and the method does work well...it's easy to remember! And it also gives you a lot of time to respond so you don't have to stop the disc or pause...which is very nice...you don't feel like you're rushed...

I completed the Pimsleur course prior to taking a one-week trip to Romania. In addition to the Pimsleur course, I also used the "Colloquial Romanian" course by Gonczol-Davies and Deletant. I found this combination to work very well. While I didn't learn as much grammar or vocab from the Pimsleur course, it reinforced the grammar structures I had studied in the Colloquial course and helped me to use them with confidence. Moreover, it helped my pronunciation greatly - I even received a few compliments on my pronunciation from Romanians. This was my first experience using a Pimsleur course, and overall I was very pleased. Given the dearth of Romanian study materials, I consider this to be a useful resource. I don't know if I would feel comfortable learning a language exclusively through Pimsleur's audio method, but I think it makes a good supplement to more traditional language study. My only complaint is that this is an abridged course; a full-length course would be ideal.

Este foarte bine! Listen, I bought about 8 or 9 other products with little to no results. Then, I got Pimsleur and learned everything it taught, in the way it taught, in the time it taught. When I arrived in Romania, people were very encouraging and surprised that I spoke so well/correctly.

Now, of course, the fact is that this Pimsleur edition is only a beginner course. It will get you started in conversations and help you get around Romania with the basics. It is the BEST way to get started.

I wish Pimsleur had additional courses for intermediate, advanced and just a vocabulary builder, since their methodology does work well. However, now that I mastered Pimsleur and gotten one trip under my belt, I am now using Teach Yourself Romanian to further enhance my skills before my next trip to Romania.

This course uses a repetitive memorization method to help you fairly easily learn a few stock phrases, and pronounce them quite well. However, as other reviewers have mentioned, the total vocabulary learned is small, and there's no way you would be able to really communicate with someone in Romania, based on this course alone.

I think it is also unsuitable as an introductory basis for further study, because it is unsystematic- no concepts of verb conjugation or language structure is really demonstrated- only "When would you like to eat something" and "Would you like something to drink". Perhaps if Pimsleur also had a more advanced series of lessons available, this could be more useful. As is, I think it isn't worth the high cost. It does have a use for helping pronunciation, especially if you don't have access to a native speaker. Perhaps, for a more thorough course, consider Deletant's Colloquial Romanian.

None of the other reviews posted before this one are actually for this product.

This course, which has the MSRP of $345.00 and has 30 full-length lessons, was only released in July of 2008. Look at the dates on the others; for some reason Amazon has taken the reviews for the short course (which only has 10 lessons) and they've appended them onto this program.

Having taken the short program, I can tell you that it was considerably less than sufficient for even the shortest visit. It gave you just barely enough comprehension grasp some idea what the subject was in the conversation you didn't understand if you were lucky. It in NO WAY prepared me for speaking with excited locals.

I've just begun this, the extended course, and although there has been a lot of overlap in the initial lessons (of course) I can already see the improvements they've made in the content, voice actors & pacing. I'll update this when I finish it.

I look forward to finishing this course and (hint hint, Simon & Schuster) any further lessons they might offer.

The Pimsleur method really works. The type of repetition it usese is timed in such a way that the phrases really do stay with you and learning becomes so much easier than book learning.

The Romanian course is rather short (only 10 classes). It would be great if they were longer and more in depth like some of the other languages that Pimsleur courses offer.

Good basic language tutor for the tourist,
however, I have completed mastering lesson 6 of 10 and still have not learned the word for Bathroom. I hope it shows up soon or I should expect to be uncomfortable during my trip.

To its credit, the Romanian tapes contained in this volume were an excellent way to practice proper Romanian pronunciataion. And, they were a valuable resource for learning the Romanian language.

The tapes started simply and gradually increased in complexity as they progressed. Unfortunately, the transition between tapes was too gradual. When progressing through the tapes, as few as three or four words were added in a single 1/2 hour tape.

In my opinion, Pimleur (sp?) missed the primary advantage of the tape format -- the ability to replay them until they are mastered. By missing this point, they only placed 2 hours of material on 5 hours of tape.

I've become a big fan of the Pimsleur Method. Of four language important language skills, (1) Listening, (2) Speaking, (3) Reading, and (4) Writing, the Pimsleur Method's conversational approach concentrates almost exclusively on Listening and Speaking. This is perfect for me as I hope to beginning communicating right away with native speakers, and take up reading and writing later on.

I mainly listen to the CDs as I'm driving. I've tried some other popular methods which require a computer. I prefer Pimsleur as I'm trying to spend less time staring at my computer screen.