Swahili [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0671047183 | ISBN-13: 978-0671047184 | Publication Date: February 1, 2002 | Edition: Abridged

Compact Swahili, a stand-alone 10-lesson (5 hours) program, teaches beginning language strategies for essential communication and traveling needs, plus language Notes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and was one of the world's leading experts in applied linguistics. After obtaining his Ph.D. in French from Columbia University, he taught French Phonetics and Phonemics, and supervised the language laboratory at UCLA. He went on to become Professor of Romance Languages and Language Education, and Director of The Listening Center 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. 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 that is based on two key principles: the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory that he called Graduated Interval Recall. This program incorporates both of these principles to provide you with the most simple and effective learning method possible.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Pimsleur; Abridged edition (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671047183
• ISBN-13: 978-0671047184
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,594,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Books on Cassette > Languages > African > Swahili

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars unfortunately the worst Pimsleur product I have used, May 24, 2010

By 

H. Abadzi "habadzi" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Swahili (Audio Cassette)

This is an abridged Pimsleur method, of 5 CDs I believe. It's hard to teach Bantu languages at the elementary level because plurals and pronouns change according to word classes. This method does not warn anyone (e.g. in the insert) that this is an issue, so the learner believes that s/he is learning permanent words. There should have been more practice with 2-3 categories at least, and explanations. It's a pity because several lessons are wasted in eternal orders of food and beer. Overall very few new words are introduced, and not even all the numbers from 1 to 10 are taught.
I use Pimsleur a lot, but this product is disappointing. The company should either do Bantu languages reasonably or not do them at all.
What to get instead? Skip the 'teach yourself swahili' for later, the current book is completely unrealistic and done for geniuses. Go to the free download site for the old Foreign Service Institute methods and get the entire 150 lesson Swahili with audio files. Those old methods may be boring, but that product is extremely detailed, gives endless drills on the noun classes, and it works!

Should one buy Rosetta stone? This unusually expensive method has been criticized a lot, and since they are litigious, I will not discuss further.