Pimsleur Caveats

[sycamore]

I would very much agree with everything @slerched has said.

@slerched

I personally use Pimsleur. It’s easy (easy in that easy for me to use and find time for it). Do I agree with some of the word choices? Not always but that’s not the point for me. Practice is the point and Pimsleur gets me practicing.

This is very much me too. I can do pimsleur when I go out for a walk each day and as I pretty much always do that it’s easy to make it a habit. If you are taking in enough stuff from other sources I think a few weird vocab choices isn’t too big of a deal and I definitely think that (while I’m still def not good) my speaking confidence would be a lot lower without using it pretty much daily. Sometimes it just does come down to what you will realistically find time for.

[sunrizen]

@sycamore that is exactly how I use Pimsleur too, and that’s why I like it. Two birds with one stone.

@slerched yep, on the same page with you.

Still also passive listening to Teppei, for shorter 5-10 min breaks. Different tools for different situations.

I listened to some sample clips from Listening Let’s Speak, noticed they use casual form. For me, use of the polite form is a benefit of Pimsleur. I would like to be able to easily speak in 丁寧語, should the need arise. I will still look into budgeting for Listening Let’s Speak, b/c if I find that it’s a game changer and fits my schedule the way Pimsleur does, then I’m all for it.

Thank you to the folks who’ve actually used Pimsleur and took the time to thoughtfully share their experience and tips.

Didn’t mean to turn this into a for/against Pimsleur thread, or a discussion about the usage of a particular vocab.

I merely wanted to know if anyone’s heard of an article/chart etc. that lists considerations for certain phrases or units in Pimsleur, or whether the pitch/inflections are accurate etc., just because it would be nice to know. A heads up on other similar audio shadowing programs that you like is great too. If not, no worries!