Pimsleur Levels 3 - 5

[tsuyoshi]

To be clear, this is rather beneath my level, but it's been essentially a time for me to take a walk and do something meditative. Since returning to the states from France in 2015 and especially since the start of the Pandemic my opportunities to speak with fellow francophones has been diminished to almost zero. In large part I restarted Pimsleur to feel like I was having a conversation again. I recommenced at Level 2 because it was super easy. I wanted a very slow ramp up to where I know I function with a few days of warm-up in Paris.

Pimsleur is a great way to get inexpensive beginner-level speaking practice. But it sounds like you might be too far advanced to get much out of it. You might be better off finding a language exchange partner or a tutor on italki.

[Le Baron]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread JohnPaul because it prompted me to have a look at the Pimsleur app. It might be just what I need for the month until my DELF B1 exam, I don't need new vocab or any new complications but I do need to improve my fluidity in small talk, polite set phrases etc which is Pimsleurs bread and butter. So one a day of these for a month could be a good idea.

I was also taken by this promise about Level 4:

The French Character: Learn to think like a French person, using irony and sarcasm, making huffing sounds, showing nonchalance and disinterest, and expressing nostalgia and fatalism

If you're going to teach me "huffing sounds" - SOLD. The fatalism is just a bonus.

I'm a bit sceptical when I read that. I notice that this is a new(ish) thing the language apps and courses claim to offer, yet they tend to have cobbled together some stereotyped 'being German', 'being Italian' and 'blasé French character' to supposedly offer a blueprint as to how people act. I don't know that these serve any purpose for the student, apart from being able to recognise any cultural traits that might be misconstrued. I'd never adopt one of these roles in reality, the native speakers tend to think you're taking the p*ss.