Pimsleur Discussion Thread

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David27
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Re: Pimsleur Discussion Thread

Postby David27 » Sat Aug 17, 2019 9:58 pm

My favorite questionable pimsleur conversation was in the Japanese one, and it went something like: you are an American man visiting Miss Tanaka, you greet her, you ask if her husband is home, no he’s at the office, you give her flowers, she invites you inside... lol
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IronMike
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Re: Pimsleur Discussion Thread

Postby IronMike » Sat Aug 17, 2019 10:01 pm

IronMike wrote:
Speakeasy wrote:Perhaps the quickest and surest way of tracking down the elusive index, should one exist, would be to submit the question to the editorial staff of Pimsleur.

Submitted. I'll inform everyone of any response I get. Thanks for the recommendation.

As promised, I'm informing everyone that all I got from Pimsleur was a form email which explained to me what I'll learn in each level.
The Pimsleur Level 1 program will take a learner from zero spoken proficiency to Intermediate–Low level in thirty lessons.

The Pimsleur level 2 program will take a learner who has completed the Levels I and II (sixty lessons) to the Intermediate–Mid level.

...and so on. No help at all.
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SCMT
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Re: Pimsleur Discussion Thread

Postby SCMT » Sat Aug 17, 2019 11:04 pm

IronMike wrote:
IronMike wrote:
Speakeasy wrote:Perhaps the quickest and surest way of tracking down the elusive index, should one exist, would be to submit the question to the editorial staff of Pimsleur.

Submitted. I'll inform everyone of any response I get. Thanks for the recommendation.

As promised, I'm informing everyone that all I got from Pimsleur was a form email which explained to me what I'll learn in each level.
The Pimsleur Level 1 program will take a learner from zero spoken proficiency to Intermediate–Low level in thirty lessons.

The Pimsleur level 2 program will take a learner who has completed the Levels I and II (sixty lessons) to the Intermediate–Mid level.

...and so on. No help at all.


Not surprising, but a noble effort on your part. I have given thought of going back through IV and V, and I might some day, but a "table of contents" that allowed me to go straight to the grammar points would be awesome.
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Re: Pimsleur Discussion Thread

Postby Speakeasy » Sat Aug 17, 2019 11:06 pm

IronMike wrote: As promised, I'm informing everyone that all I got from Pimsleur was a form email which explained to me what I'll learn in each level ... No help at all.
Thank you very much, IronMike! Still, I am absolutely stunned by Simon & Schuster's gross overstatement of the linguistic skills that are achievable with the Pimsleur programs.
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IronMike
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Re: Pimsleur Discussion Thread

Postby IronMike » Sun Aug 18, 2019 12:39 am

Speakeasy wrote:
IronMike wrote: As promised, I'm informing everyone that all I got from Pimsleur was a form email which explained to me what I'll learn in each level ... No help at all.
Thank you very much, IronMike! Still, I am absolutely stunned by Simon & Schuster's gross overstatement of the linguistic skills that are achievable with the Pimsleur programs.

No crap!
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Re: Pimsleur Discussion Thread

Postby lavengro » Sun Aug 18, 2019 4:17 pm

IronMike wrote:OK, I'm asking this here because my Google search mojo is failing. I've searched for this on the forums as well as on Google. All I get as results are either sites where they illegally load the audio files (no!) or User Guides for Pimsleur. That's not what I'm looking for.

What I'm looking for is an index to Pimsleur. Basically, I want to know which level and which lesson I can start listening to if I want to cover a particular topic. Specifically, now I want to work on giving and understanding directions. I've bopped around my Russian Pimsleur I, II, and III, and I got tired of trying to find it.

My (limited) experience with Pimsleur (Russian and Italian and I think maybe another language years ago) tells me that every language's level I lesson 6, for example, covers the same topic, just in a different language. So I think an index probably exists. But where?

The closest I have seen to what you may be looking for is the following, in relation to the Pimsleur app:

"The Learn tab lets you work through your audio lessons, one per day, and Reading Lessons for those lessons that contain them, and work on content with fun practice elements once you’ve completed that day’s lesson:

Digital Flash Cards (forward and reverse),

Quick Match quiz,

Speak Easy conversation practice,

Skills categories let you see a list of each lesson’s new sentences by topic, so you can look them up after you complete an audio lesson,

Speed Round lets you really challenge yourself on the vocabulary you’ve learned."


The bolded line suggests that you can search for a list of new sentences by topic, though it appears to be retrospective rather than prospective so it may not be of use for your purpose. I have never worked with the app - one of the local libraries has Pimsleur CDs for circulation, including up to Level 5 for some languages.

Incidentally, the line item above the bolded item ("Speak Easy conversation practice") is unnecessary for forum members, as we are fortunate in already having our own Speakeasy, with whom we can engage in conversation.
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Re: Pimsleur Discussion Thread

Postby Speakeasy » Sun Aug 18, 2019 5:24 pm

An "Index" of the Pimsleur Programs
While I do not have the cellphone app version of the Pimsleur courses, I do have the Unlimited version for a small selection of languages. While the former might have features which the latter does not, in my view, Simon & Schuster has merely recycled/repackaged their audio lessons to include minor, low-value onscreen features which could have just as easily been delivered as a downloadable PDF file. Harrumph!

In response to lavengro’s much-appreciated comments, I doubt the “Flash Card” and “Quick Match” features could serve as a reliable source for producing the type of Index that IronMike is looking for. The reason is that, no matter which individual Lesson the user chooses to review, these features select items of vocabulary or full sentences randomly from the entire Pimsleur program that one is working on. Not only did I observe this while actively reviewing the Pimsleur German programme but, having noticed some “matching errors” and wishing to draw them to the publisher’s attention, and wishing to submit a complete file (OCD), I created a spreadsheet and began typing every single matched phrase along with the programmed response. To my dismay, I discovered that the matched phrases appeared entirely randomly no matter which lesson I was working on. Given the amount of time it would have taken to encounter every matched phrase, I abandoned my little project (at times, a few sufferers of OCD know when they are defeated and they retire, reluctantly, from the field of battle).

Similarly, and wincing at lavrengo’s play on my Username, which I deeply regret ever having chosen, I doubt that the “Speak Easy” feature would serve as a good source for constructing IronMike’s elusive Index. This feature is no more than a line-by-line repetition (audio and text) of the opening dialogue of a particular lesson. Putting aside the first few lessons, each new opening dialogue is a very incomplete recapitulation of portions of the vocabulary and language structure which were introduced in the previous two or three lessons. While these dialogues might serve as an indicator of sorts, their contents would be insufficient to determining in which preceding lesson a particular feature of the L2’s structure was first introduced and practiced in depth.

Not So Simple!
Finally, returning to IronMike’s desire for an Index, I am not so sure that constructing one would be as easy as some members think. Yes, one can fairly easily identify the lesson in which particular items of vocabulary were first introduced. In fact, I created lesson glossaries for almost all of the Pimsleur courses that I have in my collection. However, identifying in which lesson a given point of the L2’s structure was introduced (and reinforced) would be somewhat trickier. The reason is that, in my experience, features of the language’s structure appear -- and reappear with nuances of case, gender, number, verb tense, person, mood, etc. -- throughout the programme in an almost (I hate using the term) holistic fashion. Pimsleur's introduction to the basic structure of a foreign language is actually quite subtle! … so many eels, only one hovercraft!

EDITED:
Tinkering (OCD).
More tinkering (OCD, how you possess me!)
Last edited by Speakeasy on Mon Aug 26, 2019 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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IronMike
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Posts: 2554
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Languages: Studying: Esperanto
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Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
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Re: Pimsleur Discussion Thread

Postby IronMike » Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:09 pm

Thank you all for your efforts and advice, and esp. thanks to my friend Speakeasy for recognizing the difficulties of putting so many eels into one hovercraft!

Now, I'm done with work for the day and will go downtown to find the speakeasy I've heard so much about...
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You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
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My reading life.


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