Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

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Zenman
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Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby Zenman » Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:34 pm

In my local Library we have good up to date of both Michel Thomas and Pimsleur programs. I haven't had any experience with either so I wanted to know if I was to borrow one of these which one is best worth my time. I'm learning Korean and German at the moment I think this information might be of importance.
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby rdearman » Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:51 pm

I would be inclined to pick Pimsleur if it was me. I've had a good experience with the Pimsluer Mandarin, and not so much with the MT stuff for Mandarin.
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby WalkingAlone13 » Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:56 pm

Can you not take out both? I cannot speak for Korean, but as regards German I started with Pimsleur German 1, then by the time I finished those thirty lessons I started using Michael Thomas and Pimsleur German 2 concurrently to very good effect. Of course it can be very draining to do so much listening in a day, but I really do give both these resources a lot of credit for the progress I made at the start of my German journey.
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby leosmith » Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:59 pm

I haven't done German, but I hear they're both pretty good, so I'd do both.

The latest version of Pimsleur Korean isn't bad, but the older versions aren't great. The only available Michel Thomas for Korean is a very short introductory course. It's a good course, but it just won't take you too far.
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Zenman
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby Zenman » Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:05 am

WalkingAlone13 wrote:Can you not take out both? I cannot speak for Korean, but as regards German I started with Pimsleur German 1, then by the time I finished those thirty lessons I started using Michael Thomas and Pimsleur German 2 concurrently to very good effect. Of course it can be very draining to do so much listening in a day, but I really do give both these resources a lot of credit for the progress I made at the start of my German journey.

Yes actually I could there is a limit of 4 one of these audio programs and they allow you to take it out for 14 days which is awesome so I would need to split up how I use these systems. I'll probably get the Pimsleur one first and see how I like it. Thanks for your input I appreciate it.
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Zenman
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby Zenman » Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:07 am

rdearman wrote:I would be inclined to pick Pimsleur if it was me. I've had a good experience with the Pimsluer Mandarin, and not so much with the MT stuff for Mandarin.

Okay sounds good that was I was thinking I just don't have any experience so I cannot thank you enough for your input.
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Zenman
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby Zenman » Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:08 am

leosmith wrote:I haven't done German, but I hear they're both pretty good, so I'd do both.

The latest version of Pimsleur Korean isn't bad, but the older versions aren't great. The only available Michel Thomas for Korean is a very short introductory course. It's a good course, but it just won't take you too far.

Thanks yeah I want to get the Pimsleur Korean one it sounds pretty good from what I hear.
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby tomgosse » Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:24 am

I've used Pimsleur French and was very happy with it. I tried Michel Thomas but gave up on it quite early.

All the best,
Tom
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby rdearman » Tue Jun 27, 2017 9:00 am

tomgosse wrote:I've used Pimsleur French and was very happy with it. I tried Michel Thomas but gave up on it quite early.

All the best,
Tom

The Michael Thomas vocabulary builder is really good but MT isn't doing it, is some lady and two native speakers.
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Re: Michel Thomas vs. Pimsleur

Postby PeterMollenburg » Tue Jun 27, 2017 11:15 am

I've used all 5 levels of Pimsleur French and all the levels of MT for French as well. I've also completed both series in Dutch, although there's much much less available in terms of levels in Dutch.

For me Pimsleur is excellent for shadowing to improve pronunciation. It also helps activate the language, but so does MT. MT is better at getting your head around the various verb tenses by constructing sentences with varied tenses. Therefore I'd recommend both. Complete them both because they both have their advantages and if pronunciation is something you don't feel solid confidence with yet, then begin with Level 1 of Pimsleur, where you go from there is up to you (well it all is but you know what I mean).
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