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Review of Pimsleur Swedish CompactThis is a review of Pimsleur Swedish Compact, the 10 lesson audio course published by Simon and Schuster. The Pimsleur method is largely consistent from one language course to another, so many of the features of this product are similar to Pimsleur Compact courses for other languages (see the end of the article for a complete list). For a more in-depth look at the Pimsleur method and general review of Pimsleur products, read myThe Pimsleur Swedish Compact course is in the same basic format as all other Pimsleur Compact courses. 10 lessons of one half-hour of audio with a small booklet for some reading exercises. The audio material requires no text or reading, it is purely conversational with instruction in English. The reading exercises are tacked on to the last few minutes of each lesson.The subject matter covered in the Pimsleur Swedish Compact course is similar to the material covered in any introductory language course - basic greetings, saying your name, asking for something to eat or drink, telling time, asking for directions, using numbers etc - all with Pimsleurs unique and excellent conversational method.This is both good news and bad news.
The good news is that Pimsleurs method is excellent. It is effortless to use and it will help you to achieve a better accent and pronunciation than just about any other language method. The conversational approach is great. It gets you hearing and speaking the language right away. This is very important for a language like Swedish.
Its pronunciation needs to be heard and imitated, more so than many other languages.The bad news is that the Compact course just isn't long enough. It is only an introductory course, but Simon and Schuster don't offer any longer courses for Swedish or any of the other Compact Course languages. The Pimsleur method really thrives in a much longer format like its flagship Comprehensive courses. Hearing and speaking Swedish is a little tricky with its tones and unique rhythm and this course just isn't long enough to get a handle on them.Another drawback to this short format is the lack of useful vocabulary. Pimsleurs conversations are scripted or guided.When applied to real life however, what are the odds you will understand a conversation? Ask someone what time it is and the answer will come in one of 3 or 4 different ways.
Ask for directions, and you could get an answer with a great variety of vocabulary. The odds of the native speaker you are talking to using Pimsleurs exact vocabulary is slim.If you found yourself in that situation with a Swede and asked them to repeat themselves, speak slower, or asked what a word meant, he would probably respond in excellent English and the rest of the conversation would be in English. Almost all Scandinavians speak very good English.These limitations make it difficult to recommend Pimsleur Swedish Compact as a standalone language method.Pimsleur Swedish Compact works fairly well as an audio supplment to another method or a more comprehensive method, if the money is not an issue. Unfortunately, there simply aren't many alternatives for learning Swedish.
RosettaStone, Teach Yourself, Transparent Language, Penton Overseas and others make products for learning Swedish, but none of them to the same level as for the more popular languages like Spanish or French.The Pimsleur Swedish Compact course works best as just an introduction to the language - basic structure, vocabulary, the fundamental sounds of the language. For that, it is good, although a little too expensive and not too useful. If this was expanded even to an Instant Conversation course, it would have much more value.
I hope there will be a Pimsleur Swedish Comprehensive course someday. That I would wholeheartedly recommend. This, I cannot unless you can get it cheap or resell it on eBay after you are finished.Other Pimsleur Compact coursesAlbanian, Armenian (East and West), Croatian, Danish, Dutch (a Comprehensive level course is scheduled for release in May of 2007), Swiss German, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Portuguese (Continental), Irish (to be released in February 2007), Swahili, Romanian and Twi.
There are also courses entitled Learn to Speak and Understand that sells for less than Compact. The packaging is different but it is essentially the same course.In some cases, there are Basic courses (also essentially the same 10 lesson course) for languages that now have a Comprehensive level course, but were available only as Compact courses before. Thai, Farsi, Korean, Polish, Vietnamese, Czech and Hindi are all Comprehensive Level 1 courses now.' Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.'
- Sir Humphrey Davy.
Description:Use the Pimsleur Approach to speak a new language in only 10 days! Pimsleur courses took over 40 years to develop and perfect.Just sit back and listen while the audio does the work for you.Each CD has been scientifically sequenced to rapidly lock language material into your brain after just one listen.You'll absorb your new language effortlessly without any reading, writing or computer use.Review:What makes one language learning method better or more effective than another?
Is the high price of a Pimsleur Comprehensive language course justified by its effectiveness or quality? In a word - yes. Pimsleurs language learning method was painstakingly developed to be an easy and effective learning system, and its unique approach puts it way ahead of the competition. I feel that the Pimsleur Comprehensive course is the single best language learning product available, but the brilliant method designed for Pimsleur Comprehensive courses does not work as well for the shorter courses that Simon and Schuster releases under the Pimsleur name. The Quick and Simple, Instant Conversation and Compact courses are good because they use the same method devised by Dr. Pimsleur, but they may not be ideal for everyone or may require additional complementary materials, depending on your learning goals.
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I'll go over the finer points of those courses and I'll show you why I think Pimsleur Comprehensive is the best language learning product available, but first let's take a quick look at the Pimsleur method.Pimsleur produces all-audio language learning courses on cassette and cd. The lessons are one half-hour long, one lesson per day. Each lesson begins with a conversation between two native speakers of the target language and then an instructor begins to prompt the listener to learn and repeat the words and phrases you just heard. You then participate in the scripted conversation you heard at the beginning, playing each role in a variety of situations. Later in the course, the first minutes of each lesson are for review and then new material is introduced and worked with.What makes Pimsleur so good is that it is so engaging. From the first minutes of lesson 1 you are involved in a conversation with native speakers. It may be a guided conversation and initially you are simply repeating the phrases and words as you heard them, but before long you will be prompted to say something in a new way, a way you haven't used or even heard yet.
This is Pimsleurs Principle of Anticipation. You are unconsciously learning the rules of the new language - grammar, word order, verb conjugation etc.and you are expected to try to infer the rule in your response. This creative use of the language is necessary to not only learn it, but become proficient at it. Rather than learn vocabulary and phrases by rote, you use them in context, creatively, the way we use our native language every day.The beauty of Pimsleurs method is in its simplicity.
We learn the new language just as we all learned our native language - by hearing it and imitating what we have heard. Pimsleur shows us how obvious it is that the focus should be on hearing and speaking the language, rather than learning boring grammar rules and verb conjugations, at least at first. Pimsleur shows us how learning a new language in a natural way is not only faster and easier, but the language stays with us for much longer. It is also a more fun and enjoyable experience.Dr. Pimsleur developed a technique he called Graduated Interval Recall. It's a brilliant idea that makes the listener use a new word or phrase at increasingly longer intervals - 10 seconds later, 30 seconds later, 1 minute later, 10 minutes, 1 day, 1 week etc. This more effectively moves the newly learned information from short term memory into long term memory, particularly when its being used in context with material you already know.
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I remember learning a similar technique in a high school study skills class.Another technique Pimsleur products employ is simply to focus on the most important function words in the language. Verbs like to be, to do, to have, to go, and words like but, and, for and also are among the most common words we use on a daily basis, and this holds true for many other languages as well as for English. Pimsleur makes sure that you are familiar with these function words and can use them in a variety of situations. Many language methods waste time and space teaching you how to say 'raspberry', but that's not a very useful word for most people when you're learning a new language. Pimsleur seems to feel, and rightly so in my opinion, that you are better served by learning how the language actually works so you can go and look up that word in a dictionary when you want or need to know it, and by then you'll know what to do with it in the new language.By combining the techniques of the principle of anticipation, graduated interval recall, creative use of the language, focus on function words and phrases and putting them in an easy and enjoyable format, it creates a very simple but remarkably effective system for learning a language. Download Filesonic.comWupload.comare interchangable add 5% recovery,enjoy!