Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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289 of 291 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Here's what you learn, March 16, 2005
A lot of people try to state that they learned a lot or a little, but not what they actaully learned. I just finished this course, here's a quick rundown of the contents:
*Present tense of quite a few verbs, including those for shopping, saying where you are going and staying, eating and drinking, where things are or aren't, what you want and don't want, what you can and can't do, and who you are doing things with. You learn them in present tense, a very simple form of the future tense, and they introduce the past tense in the second to last lesson. Asking questions is emphasised in this course, you do it almost as much as you answer them.
*You learn few nouns other than those needed to use the verbs; it feels like they made a point to not include a lot of nouns. You will learn the words for your immediate family, beer/wine/sake and some other random nouns like "hat". This is the biggest drawback to the program, but it is easily overcome by a good set of vocab lists.
*Also, very few adjectives. Big, small, expensive, fast, far away are among the few. You learn how to say "too" fast/expensive. But you learn how to use them very well, so it would be easy to add more with the aid of a dictionary.
*You spend a lot of time talking about money. How much you have, how much you need, vocab for currency exchanges and shopping. You also learn the numbers 1 to 199. And, weirdly enough, you learn how to ask people for money.
*You learn how to talk about your car, including how to ask for gas and how to give and take directions.
*In the last couple lessons, you learn how to ask what words mean in English and how to say words in Japanese.
*You learn how to talk about time and tell time. How long you've been somewhere and how long you plan on staying, and you do it in days, hours, and weeks. Also, you learn the words for yesterday, today, tomorrow, and morning, night.
*"You learn how to ask why and answer "It's because..."
Overall, the vocabulary is extremely polite, I don't imagine this is the way good friends talk to each other. I have already done the second course in Russian, and they introduce more informal vocab in the second series. (I have done the first series in Russian, German, and Japanese, and the things you learn are the same each lesson in each language.)
Even if the subjects are a little touristy, you are still learning how to use verbs and particles much quicker than with other courses. Once you get the structure of the language down, it's relatively easy to add the vocab for what you want to talk about.
Overall, this is a *huge* amount of information to pack into thirty lessons. I also recommend either pausing so you have time to answer, rewinding so that you can catch something you got wrong and/or listening to the more difficult lessons twice.
I hope this is helpful, this is what I was looking for when I read the reviews, and was surprised no one had done this.
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168 of 173 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This should be the backbone of your Japanese study, August 22, 2005
Preface: I'm going to Japan in Jan. 2006. Unlike most young people, who go there as English teachers, I'm going there as a kaishain (office worker). The company is Japanese. My co-workers will be Japanese with little English skills. My study of Japanese is not a hobby - my career partially depends on it.
Therefore, my review is meant to build upon the 40+ other reviews. They have done a great job detailing both the strong and weak points of the Pimsleur course. Yes, it's repetitive. It teaches formal, stilted Japanese. Neither of the speakers are native Japanese speakers (imitate the man, whose accent is acceptable. The woman has a horrendous Chinese accent. I basically ignore her).
Those who expect Pimsleur to be the perfect self-study course - dream on. I strongly feel it should be the backbone of your studies. But it must, MUST, be used in conjunction with multiple other resources. I've taken the liberty to list them below. I hope it will especially help those who are also studying Japanese as a necessity, not as a hobby.
1. I found "Basic Japanese I," which is a series of videos from the 1980's made by the Japanese Learning Foundation. It's complete with skits and a mini-drama about the adventures of a foreigner in Japan. It magnifies the Pimsleur lessons, as well as teaches you extra material. Not to mention, there are NATIVE speakers who talk at normal speeds and intonations and use "natural" Japanese. These are 30% more detailed and more difficult than Pimsleur ... but without Pimsleur, these would be very frustrating and thus useless. Try to find this oldie-but-goodie (as well as the accompanying text). And be prepared to LAUGH at how very 1980s it is (in a BAD way). I spend 2 days on each lesson (there are 26 total).
2. I use the Genki I textbook. Yes, they are technically for a classroom setting, but I've had no problems. They go into the grammatical points and teach additional vocabulary. It's essential to buy the CD's - the speakers are also native (they sound very much like anime voices, which is amusing), but they speak slowly, more slowly than Pimsleur. That's not a big deal, especially for a beginner like me. It also teaches you a little bit of Kanji, which is great. I highly recommend this series. But be prepared to spend about a week on each chapter (there are 12 total), and to listen to the audio again and again.
3. Learn the kana's: hiragana and katakana. You won't believe how useful this has been to me. Don't even look at any romanji...if you can read the kana's, your pronunciation will be much much better. Kana Pict-O-Graphix (a little booklet with mneumonic devices to help you remember how each kana looks) is ESSENTIAL. And, it's only about $7. Also, buy some workbooks, such as "Let's Learn Hiragana." You need to learn the stroke order, and practice writing. While I'm quite good at writing, reading is more challenging. But hey, at least I can!
4. WATCH JAPANESE TV SHOWS AND MOVIES! LISTEN TO JAPANESE MUSIC! There are resources to find Japanese DVD's with English subtitles. I have those shows in .avi form, and then I extract the audio, and listen to it on my iPod. I don't understand a lot of it, but because I've watched the show a couple of times, I get the basic gist. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I feel like I'm starting to understand some words and grammar, simply by watching and listening. But, many foreigners claim to have learned English by watching movies and listening to music -why couldn't it work the other way?
5. I'm lucky that I have a Japanese roommate, whose first language is Japanese (although her English is pretty decent). She's a good resource, but almost just a supplement. I don't think a language partner is too important, because it's not a natural situation. Living abroad in Japan will be my best lesson.
6. It uses mneumonic devices, as well as a native speaker pronouncing every word, to help you with some basic vocab.
I hope this review hasn't been overly off topic. In about a month, maybe a little less, I feel I'm progressing quite nicely. If I were put on the spot, I'd probably draw a blank and not be able to use any of the Japanese I've learned so far, but that's only natural. So, in closing...it's important to have realistic expectations. Pimsleur, while important, is just a part of really learning Japanese.
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86 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential...if you know how to use it., October 8, 2006
This is actually a review for more than one product (Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone)
If you are willing to spend 1-2 years learning a foreign language but have limited time (weekly), lack the ability to immerse yourself in that culture for 1 year (the best way to learn the language), can't attend classes, can expend some budget, and want the process to be challenging yet fun, here's how to do it:
1. Buy a good English-Foreign Language Dictionary.
2. Get the Pimsleur Course for that language. (Check Ebay for used copies)
3. Buy the Rosetta Stone Program for that language. (Costly. Try the online monthly subscription option if your budget is tight.)
4. Get a Basic Grammar Language Book (Barron's highly recommended)
Putting it all together.
1. Listen to the Pimsleur Program during your daily commute-1 lesson per day. (Take the weekend off) DO NOT go to the next lesson until you have a 80% recall of the material. THERE IS NO NEED TO BE AT 100% RECALL before going to the next lesson. (Trust me on this on-avoid my pain)
Using this method, you can get through ALL Pimsleur lessons (Levels I-III)in 12-18 months. THE FOCUS OF PIMSLEUR IS SPEAKING SKILLS.
2. At the same time, use the Rosetta Stone lessons on the weekend, with one 60-90 minute session. Go through the guided exercise followed by the test. THERE IS NO NEED TO GO THROUGH EVERY LESSON (TYPE) for each program. After you buy the product, you'll know what I'm talking about. THE FOCUS OF ROSETTA STONE IS LISTENING SKILLS.
3. Review the basic grammar of the language as you go through the 2 above.
4. Contrary to what Pimsleur says, look up any words for spelling, and likewise, for Rosetta Stone, look up any words for definition you don't understand.
Bottomline: Despite what they advertise, these are not stand-alone programs. Also the secret to recall is anticipation, meaning an 80% success rate for Pimsleur is ok and 70% success rate for Rosetta Stone is okay before moving to the next lesson.
You don't get any extra points for making 100% and this effort can be counter-productive (burn out, boredom, and frustration before finishing the lessons.)
Your goal should be to get through all of the programs and lessons and the experience should be challenging and fun. Afterwards, you can take your trip to that country for the total immersion experience, and after the first 2 weeks, you'll see how well spent your time was with the programs.
After you complete the above, and you are learning one of the romantic languages (German, French, Spanish, Italian) I HIGHLY RECOMMEND using the Michel Thomas programs-which are essentially Verb Conjugation 101 lessons-it is the glue that ties everything together you learned with Pimsleur/Rosetta Stone.
Note: I've used the Japanese, German, and Korean Pimsleur Courses, and Rosetta Stone German and Japanese Programs. I've also spent extensive time in all 3 of those countries. Learn from my mistakes.
Good luck and have fun.
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by Pimsleur
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