Pimsleur Transcripts?

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Tutescrew
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Pimsleur Transcripts?

Postby Tutescrew » Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:21 pm

In another thread about laddering, I mentioned that I was starting with Pimsleur Spanish (fortunately I have access to library copies, at least for the first two or three levels). I have now completed the first level on my daily commutes, 16 lessons in about 21 days....the first ten or so lessons twice a day, the latter six more like two days each. I did manage to listen to at least one lesson on Saturdays and Sundays. I believe that I am at Pimsleur's 80% target, may be a bit higher, so I plan to move on to Spanish II when the CDs arrive.

Speakeasy had mentioned that there are some transcripts available, at least for the first level. Since these are "unofficial", how might they be used? I do plan to start a different course in the near future (maybe 1/1/2018), probably a 1960s Linguaphone and/or a "bird's eye grammar overview" text. However, I have to admit that more than a few times I have had the urge to visualize the spoken words in the Pimsleur course...

As an aside, my two recurring weaknesses are 1) Quickly recalling the correct verb before infinitives (can, go, do), and 2) using tienes instead of tengo about half the time (probably because I identify with the male speaker?)

Thank you,

Tutescrew
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: 30 / 30 Pimsleur French I
: 16 / 30 Pimsleur French II
: 3 / 10 FSI French Phonology

Speakeasy
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Re: Pimsleur Transcripts?

Postby Speakeasy » Fri Nov 10, 2017 10:52 pm

Hello, Tutescrew. I’m sorry, but there has been a slight misunderstanding here, for which I bear the entire responsibility.

Simon & Schuster, the current holders of the copyrights to the Pimsleur method, does not supply “transcripts” of its programs. Furthermore, the publisher considers the publication of such materials to be a violation of its copyright and is prepared to take legal action against anyone circulating said transcripts. The publisher does, indeed, monitor the Internet, including this language forum. Finally, my understanding of the Forum Rules is that the open discussion, in this forum, of the unauthorized copying or exchanging of copyrighted materials could be viewed by the Monitors as contravening said rules.

Coming back to the Pimsleur program and the subject of transcripts, some years ago, I prepared a full transcript of Pimsleur German I, II, III for my own personal use. I had no intention of sharing it with anyone and I have never done so; ultimately, I destroyed all copies of it. Nevertheless, preparing the transcript did teach me something about the usefulness of such materials. I have copied/pasted the text below from one of my posts in this forum of May, 2016.

1. The time it me took to listen to the audio tracks (listening, stopping, typing, restarting, stopping, back-tracking, typing, and so on) was truly enormous and absolutely out of proportion to any value that I could have gained from actually using the transcripts for review purposes.

2. Owing to the repetitive manner in which the audio lesson materials are presented, the resulting transcripts (that is, the full English and German texts) made for excruciating reading, so much so that I concluded that the exercise of preparing them had been a serious waste of my time. Eventually, I edited these files down to, essentially, very simple glossaries ... which I rarely reviewed.

3. To my surprise and dismay, the time that I devoted to listening and typing the audio tracks did not help me in learning or retaining the materials. That is, my mind seems to have been absorbed mostly by the mere technical task of creating a written record as opposed to absorbing the materials.

4. I came to the conclusion that the most useful support that one might wish to prepare for subsequent review would be no more than a simple Glossary including, perhaps, a few example phrases drawn from the lessons. Furthermore, I was rather surprised how little time I actually spent reviewing even these limited notes!


Honestly, I don't know whether or not Simon & Schuster would view the sharing of a "glossary" as an infringement of their copyright. Nevertheless, as the legal cost of fending off such a claim would ruin most of us, I would refrain from openly discussing the sharing of such documents.

Kind regards,
Speakeasy

EDITED:
Additional comment: glossary
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reineke
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Re: Pimsleur Transcripts?

Postby reineke » Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:13 am

You could read through them a few times after you've done the course. It shouldn't take long.
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Speakeasy
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Re: Pimsleur Transcripts?

Postby Speakeasy » Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:35 am

Having posted a hastily-composed response to the question of "Pimsleur Transcripts", I would like to add a few additional comments.

First, in response to "I have to admit that more than a few times I have had the urge to visualize the spoken words in the Pimsleur course..." I would point out that the previous holder of the copyrights to the Pimsleur method (which may have been Dr. Pimsleur's Estate), authorised the publication of a new series of these courses under the series title "Reader's Digest At Home With ..." Here is the LINK to the discussion thread:

Reader's Digest Language Courses: Variants
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3558

While the above series did not include a complete word-for-word transcript, the accompany course manual did include a transcription of the initial dialogues of each of the lessons and a glossary. It took several decades (in my view) for Simon & Schuster to "catch up" to these versions through the creation of their "Unlimited" version of the Pimsleur courses.

Second, and we're going a little off-topic here, in response to the comment "...my two recurring weaknesses are 1) Quickly recalling the correct verb before infinitives (can, go, do), and 2) using tienes instead of tengo about half the time (probably because I identify with the male speaker?)", I would merely suggest that a REVIEW of the materials would help reinforce the basic structures, including the verb conjugations. Nevertheless, given the very nature of the lessons, conducting a REVIEW is not as simple as it might seem! Rather than repeating each-and-every 30-minute-long lesson, with a view to saving some time, my recommendation would be to review the first eight-to-ten minutes of every lesson. This portion of the Pimsleur lessons contains (a) the opening dialogue, which is a brief summary of selected portions of the previous lessons, and (b) a brief review of the previous lesson. Another approach would be to review every third lesson, completely.

Third, I view the Pimsleur program as the "wading pool" of independent language learning. The user, surrounded by supportive surrogates to his parents, is slowly "immersed" in the very basics of the language. Having conquered his fear of the new environment, he should move quickly to the "shallow end" of the swimming pool and begin applying what he has learned and start learning the "crawl" so that he can survive participating a "water polo" match with strangers. It is for this reason that I often recommend that one should use only Pimsleur Levels I and II and then move on to something more substantial, such as FSI/DLI, Linguaphone, or Assimil and thereafter native materials. Obviously, this is nothing but personal opinion ... please pass the salt-shaker.

EDITED:
Typos. Slow down, Speakeasy! Breathe in slowly, exhale. Breathe in slowly, exhale. Type. Review. Edit. Post. There's no race here!
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Balltongue
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Re: Pimsleur Transcripts?

Postby Balltongue » Fri Aug 31, 2018 6:17 am

If you're not capable of write them on your own, you don't deserve them.

That's one thing I learned.
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dampingwire
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Re: Pimsleur Transcripts?

Postby dampingwire » Sat Sep 01, 2018 5:54 pm

Back in the days of HTLAL I asked about transcripts for Pimsleur Japanese and someone helpfully supplied some (via PM). In retrospect, they didn't help much at all.

If you really want them perhaps you could look into the Google Cloud Speech-to-Text or try Speech-to-Text within Google Docs. I've never tried either of these with language learning materials but it might at least produce something that's close enough to save you some time over typing them up yourself.
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Ruiseñor
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Re: Pimsleur Transcripts?

Postby Ruiseñor » Sat Jan 29, 2022 5:03 pm

It's funny, but the online and android version does show the texts, there are games... flashcards, etc...
what is "contrary" to the system itself... and that delegitimizes it

my impression is that the system is "a hoax"

"learn english in 1 week" etc...
With the prices it has, they are absurd bordering on idiocy, 1 course (which is supposed to last a month) €150 but 1 month on android is €20. the numbers don't add up...
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