I've been using Pimsleur the last week so far. Since the speed appears to be a native pace, that's good. Since it's spaced repetition, that's good. So far, like others, I just go through a lesson a day. If I miss way to much on the first pronunciation, I'll just repeat that lesson soon afterwards that day. I cannot see any reason to sit through the entire course more than once, nor take a year to do it.

Seriously, I think it's best to use on the move. Walk around town listening to it and doing the lesson. Be distracted. If you can reply correctly while walking into a McDonalds, you're mind is getting a better workout. Besides, isn't that how you normally talk, when doing something else at the same time?

My justification is getting a grasp of basics so that I can make out a bit more of the Japanese audio rips I'm doing (Marimoe podcast, Tiger and Dragon, Prince of Tennis, Full Metal Alchemist, Some movies, etc.) Granted, I get the benefit of immersion by being in Japan. However, as many here know, it's very easy to stay English only in Japan (and many other countries) so I do have to force the issue even here.

PS: yes, don't buy it. WAY too expensive

http://repose.ath.cx/notes.pdf

It's from an older version of Pimsleur, so not all the dialogs match. But it seems to be better than anything else floating around on the internet.

Last edited by resolve (2007 October 08, 4:24 am)

i found it extremly helpfull, right now im at lesson 85 and the good part is i could lissen to pimslaur audio-tapes while working, a production line does not require much brainpower so i have repeated each lesson 2 or 3 times.
before using the tapes i would call myself a moderate beginner knowing only about 100-200 words i had picked up from watching anime for years and the roughly 1300 kanji i picked up with the heisig method.

the truth is, i felt such a gap between mine kanji-knowlegde  and mine vocalubary that i stopped learning the kanji midway and switched to the pimsleur audio-tapes.
this tapes roughly trippled mine voculubary and im very poor at learning grammer rules from a book, but with those tapes it was very easy.

stopping with the hesig method in favor for the pimsleaur tapes was probbaly wrong in retrospect, but that does not make the tapes bad.

I just finished Pimsleur!

By and large, I thought it was easy, but at the same time helpful, since speaking is my huge weak point.  I would definitely recommend it to someone starting their Japanese studies, with the caution that it is very polite Japanese and there are huge gaps in what it covers.

For example, why does it teach どうぞおかけください　but it does't cover 座る?

in addition to the Japanese, a few English phrase are stuck in my head from the courses too.... "Now let's have a conversation..."   "Now it's another day..."   "Notice the slight stop in...."  (^_^)

Danieru wrote:

By the way, the above link posted by Resolve to an online PDF doc of the sentences used in Pimsleur 1 is no longer available.

I'm pretty sure Pimsleur has been going through a major effort to shut down as many transcripts as possible, essentially threatening legal action. So it doesn't surprise me this is no longer available.

I used Pimsleur myself, and think it's awesome. The weirdest piece of grammar I remember is: 飲みたがっているんですが = (he) wants to drink. This was actually covered in my text (JFE), but only as a side note. I've never heard this grammar used elsewhere. Anyone else?

I'm slowly working my way through Pimsleur II as we speak, and I think it's great. My original study plan was actually just a grammar text and pimsleur, but I had so much fun with Remembering the Kana that I had to buy RTK1, and here I am. ^^

I work in an outside sales position and I spend many, many hours in my vehicle. The drives are very repetitive and take zero brain power, so Pimsleur is perfect for me. I utilize the pause button whenever I need to, and feel no guilt about doing so. As the info sticks into my head, I need pauses less and less. I find Pimsleur II a lot more difficult than the first one. That's probably not a bad thing. I average two lessons a week at this point. I could probably go faster if I needed to, but the pace is just right to allow me enough time to work through RTK1 and my Japanese For Busy People kana text. Throw in a toddler, a 40-50 hour a week job, and a wife, and my life is fairly busy. But, I set my own pace, and it works for me. Unfortunately for me, I can take my time, as I don't see myself going to Japan any time soon. I'm not in a race, just enjoying the time I'm spending acquiring a new life skill. ^^

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/signs.html has a pretty good explanation of 〜がる I think

I just came across a phrase in Intermediate unit 7.  Sounds like もしよければ　or もしをけでば or something.  It means "If it is all right with you".  Anyone know how this is really spelled and/or the kanji?  It helps me to remember what I am saying if I can visualize it but I can`t find it in my dictionary...
Also any transcripts on the web for the intermediate and advanced?

"もし " is separate from "よければ". I don't know what grammar you've studied so far, but one of the conditional structures is "ba". Yokereba is the "ba" form of "ii" (good). "Moshi" is added sometimes with the conditional structure, but it isn't required. So, this could mean "if it is alright with you" or "if it is good" or "if you don't mind", etc.

For those that want to input Pimleur sound clips into Anki, here's a good method.

Get Audacity (free audio splitting program)
Load Pimsleur lesson
Analyze for silence (-25db, 2 sec split, .3 seconds before audio)

What'll happen is it'll tag the silent spots 0.3 seconds from each sound portion. You can then highlight and save the selected portion. Save the question and answers as something like: Pimleur I-01 Q01, Pimsleur III-03 A13 which you then can enter in the hiragana answer on a spread sheet to keep track.

Now, load up Anki, insert Question and Answer clips and copy the hiragana over for a nifty SRS that takes into account what you get wrong and right.

Note: This also works if you have a native speaker reading a list of your Japanese answers. Run that audio through audacity to split it up, then have the program save the files automatically (much faster time).  I tried this with the audio that someone made from Japanese For Everyone sentence list. Listening to the sentence then trying to write it out in Kanji is MUCH different than reading the Kana and then writing the Kanji sentences.

Shibo wrote:

I'm doing Pimsleur 51 right now and they're trying to teach "does not work", as in, my car doesn't start.. I can't understand the word they're using though, maybe you guys can help me out. "Kuruma ga ...rugokanai, wugokanai n desu? I can usually understand pretty well but this one just isn't clear.. Thanks in advance for the help.

たぶん、「車が動かない【くるまがうごかない】」と言っています。

行かなくてはいけません
行かなくてはなりません
行かければなりません
行かないとだめ（です）

If I don't go, (it can't go/it won't become/ it'll be no good).

Basically, if you don't do it, the result will be unfavorable. (If I don't go, it'll be bad.)

In casual, the last part can be left off without losing the meaning.
行かなくては
行かないと

Also -> 行かなくちゃ　（ちゃー＞ては）
and　　　 行かなきゃ　　（きゃー＞ければ）
(Might be best to avoid using these, but you should know the meaning when you see them...)

/more info than you wanted...

Last edited by PrettyKitty (2008 June 19, 3:51 pm)