A search on Pimsleur gave little results, so I'd like to ask if anyone has used the Pimsleur language learning system in their Polish language studies. How did it work for you, and if you'd recommend it's use to others. It can be rather costly beyond the first 8 lessons, so an honest opinion would be greatly appreciated.
Daffy, Thank you for your comments. I would hope that the Pimsleur system was aimed towards all slow folks, American or otherwise. I must confess I don't have a photographic memory, so learning Polish is a slow process for me. AND I am American, which must make me an exception and not the rule!
Then again, maybe I missed something on this American thing? The part of the format I did appreciate was the forward and backward pronunciation in a slow and clear manner. This is unlike the IVONA human speech synthesizer, which gives a much faster word pronunciation and was the subject of a previous post of mine.
Did you proceed beyond lesson 1 with your studies? Did you find the additional lessons as good as the first? The reason for my asking this is that the Pimsleur website does offer a free lesson 1, which is a good sales tactic to get you to buy the whole set. Did you find that the additional lessons were as good as the first, or were they lacking in any way? Thanks
I've been using pimsleur style audio lessons and found them to be useful in training my ear to polish. However,i find it slow and in some cases limited.
Each lesson is about 28 minutes long. In that time an english phrase is spoken then repeated again in english, with small pause between to give you chance to translate the english phrase for your self. Each lesson contains around 10 phrase that are based around a simple dialouge. Those phases are repeated in and out of context. Every lesson introduces a few new words and maybe a phrase.
From my understanding the main focus is on vocab and sentance structure. Detailed grammer is often over looked.
Each lessons builds on the previous lesson so you can progress quickly through the lessons without having to repeat each one more than once. But like i said, it's slow as new material is introduced gradually and each lesson contains alot of old material.
That said, i've found them useful but i wouldn't rely soley on them, try using the pimsleur lessons in conjuction with other learning material.
BYKI.com! It's great! I did the Pimsler and that was good for speaking simple phrases but to learn to read and write try byki.com. It's free dowload to start and it's at your own pace so if your fast or slow, you can control it.
I just bought the Pimsleur Polish Comprehensive CD set... 30 lessons. I borrowed the first ten lessons from the library and it seems to be working for me. I did the "torrent" thing, but there is a problems with that! Not only is it, well, stealing, but we vote with our dollars, and I'd like to see the publisher issue the second and third sets (for a total of 90 lessons). I think they will only do that if the first thirty lessons sell well. If we all download the stuff, it might hurt our chances of seeing more advanced sets.
My Polish boyfriend laughs at me when I practice with him because he says that the formality of the phrases on the programme arent used that much any more....not really the result i was hoping for :D
Apparently "pan/pani" and the other more formal ways of addressing people arent going to be that useful to me when we go and stay with his family and meet his friends back in Poland.
Plus I am English and because I didnt look into the programme properly i didnt reallise it is aimed towards Americans but of course aint a problem :)
Other than that it's a really good programme and the memory techniques are amazing....the stuff just sticks in your mind if you give it your full attention. Definately one to buy...(mine fell off the back of a website too!) ;)
