So, I recently acquired, without paying a cent, the Pimsleur courses in just about every language imaginable.

I don't know if anyone's familiar with these things, but they're basically audio lessons in various foreign languages. I'm not sure what to make of them. Supposedly they're much better than those Rosetta Stone programs, but I don't know enough about either to make that kind of judgement.

I've always been good at doing things by ear, on account of growing up bilingual and being a musician and whatnot, so I seem to be doing alright at getting the accents down.

I'm trying out the Russian one "for the lulz". I can ask people if they understand English, but that's it so far. Seems like a useless skill to have, being as I might as well ask the question in English anyway.

I wonder if anyone cares to offer their thoughts and experiences regarding the efficacy of these programs? I don't imagine that I'll get particularly good at reading. They've got one little worksheet PDF for Russian, but I haven't looked at it yet. It doesn't appear to be very substantial, so I guess it's more of a speaking intensive course.

Am I wasting my time, TOTSE? I'll keep you posted on my experiences, if anyone is considering this course. I hope its worthwhile, but you get what you pay for, right?

you are wasting my time ..

учи албанский

you are wasting my time ..

:( .

Why have you forsaken me?

They're fucking amazing if you want to learn to speak a language and only want to know how to hold a conversation in them.

If you find yoursef with downtime, use them, why not better yourself?

A half hour a day...audio only...I fucking love them.

True, you might not be learning huge laundry lists of vocab words, but within a couple of weeks, you have a surprising amount of the new language burned into your memory. If you have the full volumes I, II and III, take 90 days and listen to them; it's totally worth it.

THEN you can start picking up the additional words on your own. Hopefully you have a native Russian speaker who you can practice with, before what you learned starts drifting away from non-use.

They seem to be useful for those tourists who plan on traveling to a country for awhile.

The courses don't give you much of vocab but the pronunciation is dead on native-like.

Interesting...

Thanks, everyone.

The programs won't take you to any level of fluency, but you can expect great pronuncation, "survival" skills, and if you go through all 3 levels, the ability to confidentally converse about a limited range of topics.

I find that Pimsleur works best as an introduction to a language, particularly languages that seem difficult and inaccessible (Russian, Polish, Greek). So, work through as much as you can, and then you'll find yourself much better off when you start using another beginner course.

The only disclaimer I can offer is that it won't take you to fluency (beyond navigation of the scripts you've been trained with), and that you'll still be a beginner even if you do all 3 levels. It's great for what it offers, but you should understand its limits. I'll also say that the stuff you learn tends to stay with you to an impressive extent, even if you don't touch the CD for months.

If you want a single program that will give you more, I would recommend Rosetta Stone Version 3. It operates with essentially the same piece-by-piece method that Pimsleur uses, but it has much more vocabulary (I'd say somewhere around 2000 words, covering a VERY wide spectrum of topics), and is arguably more fun. RS Version 2 had a lot of problems that made it little more than an ineffective vocab tool, but RS V.3 is effective and fun.

The programs won't take you to any level of fluency, but you can expect great pronuncation, "survival" skills, and if you go through all 3 levels, the ability to confidentally converse about a limited range of topics.

I find that Pimsleur works best as an introduction to a language, particularly languages that seem difficult and inaccessible (Russian, Polish, Greek). So, work through as much as you can, and then you'll find yourself much better off when you start using another beginner course.

The only disclaimer I can offer is that it won't take you to fluency (beyond navigation of the scripts you've been trained with), and that you'll still be a beginner even if you do all 3 levels. It's great for what it offers, but you should understand its limits. I'll also say that the stuff you learn tends to stay with you to an impressive extent, even if you don't touch the CD for months.

If you want a single program that will give you more, I would recommend Rosetta Stone Version 3. It operates with essentially the same piece-by-piece method that Pimsleur uses, but it has much more vocabulary (I'd say somewhere around 2000 words, covering a VERY wide spectrum of topics), and is arguably more fun. RS Version 2 had a lot of problems that made it little more than an ineffective vocab tool, but RS V.3 is effective and fun.

I definitely get that feeling, like I'll only have a cursory understanding of the language, but I'm getting a good toehold in the pronunciation at least. I'd say that's pretty good for a guy "doing it for the lulz".

You would recommend the Rosetta Stone for more in-depth (albeit still sitting on my ass) learning? I've read that Russian scholars had a lot of issues with their Russian package, but maybe that was the old version.

If you are studying Russian might I Suggest the "Princeton Russian" course, it's basically the Princeton's university Russian course that was discontinued just recently.

It's getting rave reviews on the http://how-to-learn-any-language.com forums and teaches the writing system, proper pronunciation and a bit of grammar.

You can get it from http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/language/russian/princeton-russian-course-51 , since the maker of the course made it available freely on the Internet.

If you are studying Russian might I Suggest the "Princeton Russian" course, it's basically the Princeton's university Russian course that was discontinued just recently.

It's getting rave reviews on the http://how-to-learn-any-language.com forums and teaches the writing system, proper pronunciation and a bit of grammar.

You can get it from http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/language/russian/princeton-russian-course-51 , since the maker of the course made it available freely on the Internet.

I second this. It's by far the best Russian course available.

Pimsleur puts me to sleep. I can't get past the robotic voice. Also, it's designed to be repetition based, not actively using all the skills that go into learning a language. 1 half-hour lesson a day, 30 lessons per unit, so in 1 month if you follow the plan you'll learn jack shit.