Pimsleur Levels 3 - 5

[Herschel]

I am wondering if the higher levels of pimsleur are worth investing time in.

As I am sure most are already aware, most pimsleur courses can be accessed practically for free using an audible account. However, there are usually only three early levels 1 - 3 available.

I am learning Italian and am enjoying it tremendously. I am about to finish pimsleur 2. I can understand the use of pimsleur, as it gets you speaking the language early on. Sadly, it feels like a chore to me, ofc not denying the value of pimsleur.

My plan is to stop with pimsleur after level 2 and continue with assimil, podcast italiano and a grammar book (la lingua italiana per stranieri, an excellent resource BTW).

Could somebody with experience completing the higher levels of pimsleur please weigh in? Other tips on how best to learn Italian are also much appreciated.

Thank you very much and best wishes!

Herschel

[Araminta]

Hi Herschel. I checked out Pimsleur 5 in Spanish from my local library a few years ago. Perhaps they have a higher level of Pimsleur Italian in yours if you're curious? Spanish Pimsleur 5 featured more advanced phrases (subjunctive, for instance) spoken at a faster rate. It didn't get more exciting, unfortunately. If you have limited time, I think you'd probably get more out of other methods. Good luck!

[Deinonysus]

I have completed all five levels of Pimsleur in French and German and I feel comfortably conversational in both. It is no longer prohibitively expensive to finish the course, since they have a reasonably priced subscription service and you could probably finish the last two levels in 3-4 months.

IMO Assimil is very good for training your passive skills and I wouldn't skip it, but it will not get your basic spoken skills anywhere near as good as Pimsleur would get them. FSI would probably be a decent replacement for Pimsleur because it also has tons of spoken drills, but it's even drier with very old audio and it doesn't have built-in spaced repetition so you would have to dedicate extra time to memorizing the material.

I usually do Pimsleur during my commute. Due to recent events I have been without a commute for long stretches of time so instead I do Pimsleur while doing chores. I'm not sure I would be able to sit down in a chair doing just Pimsleur without doing anything else.

[IronMike]

I am wondering if the higher levels of pimsleur are worth investing time in.

As I am sure most are already aware, most pimsleur courses can be accessed practically for free using an audible account.

I'm interested in how you're getting Pimsleur "practically for free" with Audible? I've got Audible, and I still have to pay or use a credit to get a mere five lessons.

[Le Baron]

I'll second Araminta in saying the conversational phrases in 3-5 are more complicated and faster than in 1-2 (I'm basing this upon Pimsleur German). There's still the odd moment where you're asking people to dinner and drinks, but it's more sophisticated than in 1-2.

I can't see why it wouldn't be beneficial to carry on through to the end whilst adding-in other sources. I'll just add that I have Corso Preparatorio di lingua Italiana per stranieri (1964). So only the preparatory course leading to the main course, and I don't think I could jump into it on a basis of Pimsleur 1-2. However, that's just me.

[Herschel]

Thank you for your help!

I am a little bit surprised about the feedback. I thought the general consensus would be that pimsleur starts to fall off later. As I looked through older threads this has been the case. A common recommendation was to leave pimsleur after level 2.

I will give the higher courses a chance then...

@ iron Mike : you can buy 5 chapters and swap them for the next chapters after having finished them Works just fine, I finished pimsleur in other languages that way. Also, as I have just discovered, pimsleur courses are available via Google podcast, for Italian levels 1 - 3 are free.

Thanks again and best wishes!

Herschel