A Review of Pimsleur

Learning a foreign language is challenging and helpful experience. Most of us have already had contact with another language in school, when they were abroad and from living in an ethnically diverse neighborhood.

However, if you want to speak fluently any foreign language, then you will have to put some considerable efforts into studying it. It's much easier to study a foreign language in a formal classroom setting but unfortunately not all of us have the time and money to go back to school in order to learn a language. For these people who cannot afford to take classes many self-study language programs are available. You can also find highly regarded Pimsleur series.

You should know that this series is based on the Pimsleur method of language instruction and conversation is the centre of attention. What is different about this series is that there are no textbooks, workbooks or flashcards. You only study from audio lessons of conversations; in the beginning the conversations are simple and they present grammar and vocabulary, later they become more and more complex.

The conversations are usually what a tourist may have with a native speaker. Each audio lesson is about 30 minutes long and it combines just the right amount of new and old information. After the lesson is over, you will have learnt many new things and you'll have practiced the old ones.

What is really important when studying a foreign language with the help of Pimsleur series is that you should regularly go back and listen to the same lessons over again so that you are sure that you haven't forgotten the vocabulary or the grammar.

There is only one big disadvantage of this series and this is their price. Each course costs several hundred dollars and generally there are three successive courses for each language in the Pimsleur system. Most people would be startled if they were to pay a few hundred dollars for a couple of language CDs. However, there are some ways to avoid paying the retail price for the Pimsleur series.

The first thing you can do is check out websites offering discounts on the Pimsleur series. However, you should be very careful because you might buy illegal copies of the CDs, not the authorized products.

A second way to avoid paying the retail price is to buy the series from a mega store website such as Amazon.com. You can find there the newest Pimsleur available and you will even get 30% off the retail price.

The last thing you can do is check out websites such as eBay.com where people offer new and used versions for different prices. Of course, you will have to make sure that the seller is not offering illegal copies. There are many ways to learn a language but purchasing the Pimsleur series is one of the best. Even though the series are quite expensive, by shopping around you can find discounts and pay less money for the authorized products.