Entirely Overrated
I should probably start out by saying that I've been an avid language learner for about fifteen years now. I know my faults, my high points, and what the best method FOR ME is when it comes to studying a language. I bought the Pimsleur Lithuanian program mostly to improve my pronunciation, but also to learn a few key phrases as I go along. (Anybody brave enough to start learning Lithuanian will notice almost immediately that there aren't very many materials on the market as of yet- but it seems to be slowly improving.) The Pimsleur programs are quite possibly the most boring, repetetive audio programs on the market. I'm on unit 7 as I write this, and after seven units, roughly 25 minutes long apiece, I have learned only about a dozen phrases and words total. Even as an absolute beginner in learning Lithuanian, I can hardly get through one lesson without losing my mind from the repetition. I can honestly picture myself sitting in a padded room someday mumbling "Is your pronunciation like the speaker's?- Listen again..." over and over again. After you finish the first lesson, at least half of each following lesson is review, which they throw in even when they're teaching you a new word or phrase, so in the end, you end up learning practically nothing new. For the 35 bucks I paid for this program, I don't feel like being able to say "Hi, how are you? Would you like to eat something?" after SEVEN lessons is worth my money or even my time. Anybody interested in learning Lithuanian at a faster pace should try www.slic.org.au-Language-LLL_index.swf where one can not only hear but also SEE what they're learning, and the lessons (24 in all- where you'll learn about eighty times the amount you would with Pimsleur) are informative and entertaining.
On the plus side, though, I used Pimsleur Russian to learn some Russian about four years ago, and I can still remember most of it. Then again, I repeated it SO MANY TIMES while listening to the program...
2006-08-22
