Learning with Pimsleur

[Ar_Yue]

I have used this like for about 2 months and it's kindof useful. But the downside to this is... does this have a book? My friend gave me a copy of the audio but I wondered if there's anything like reading material that comes along with it...

I have a notebook that I write down but there are some points that really does stop me from learning further. When they break down the words, I have to rewind and replay several times to get the right word. Then look it up on dictorary which to me it's slightly frustrating and then I end up giving myself a break and step out of my learning routine. Most dictoraries don't even have the word and checking up the kanji is like confusing me.

For example :

18 dollars is alot.
１８ドールたくさんです <---- is that suppose to be 沢山 or たくさん
juu-hachi do-ru takusan desu

is it too much?
おすぎますか？ <------ clueless.
osugimasu ka?

Tell me that I'm slightly there? or even correct me. I'm seem to be losing my mind on the way that I'm learning. There's got to be a book with this.

[Psy]

Pimsleur is tedius.

Let me write that again.

Pimsleur is tedius.

While it is a good way to get your ear primed and ready for further study into a language, it is extremely slow-going and uninformative. The sentences used are cookie-cutter (all conversations and vocabulary are essentially the same throughout all Pimsleur courses), and in my years of studying Japanese I've never heard a conversation like the ones it uses. One of my principle complaints is that there are places where a making a tiny clarification, explaining a grammatical nuance, or mentioning a word derivation would make a huge difference in one's study, yet they still neglect to add it in favor of rote repetition and graded recall. Your example of "is it too much" is a prime example. I'll break it down:

おおすぎますか？
Comes from おおい (many) and すぎる (to exceed). You put them together and you get おおすぎる (to be too much), which in polite form is おおすぎます. A small explanation there would have taught you two words and two conjugations with minimal effort, enabling you to take advantage of it with other words: Take たかい (expensive)... what do you think たかすぎます would mean? How about from あつい, あつすぎます?

沢山/たくさん
These two are the same word, though generally it appears in kana instead of kanji. The book that comes with Pimsleur explains aspects of Japanese culture in lieu of an introduction to the writing system, which I guess they think is just too hard for anyone to grasp.

At any rate, before this turns into too much of a hatchet job, there are benefits to using Pimsleur-- some of the words you are taught you will never forget, and this is a huge advantage if you ever find yourself in a pinch. This will also help you get into more technical methods of study without being totally overwhelmed by having to learn basic vocabulary.

[Ar_Yue]

Thanks Psy. I knew could help me out. That's great help on the explaining. There are times that it seems slightly pointless learning from Pimsleur sometimes. Especially that I'm only using my ears and looking through dictionaries. It's a relief

With Pimsleur. It's true that Pimsleur is pretty much the slowest form of learning and tedious but it's pretty much in my Ipod at the moment and haven't like updated the podcast on to it. Even though, I actually should be updating it on my ipod but been tight on time to do anything productive on the learning side. I guess the uniformed sentences may be abit boring, but really would be useful to a certain extent, I guess... again.

It has helped me on the listening and minor vocabularies that uses mostly in everyday conversation. Well... everyday conversation is abit of an understatement, but watching my Japanese dramas I do catch a few words that I recognize. Which is good... just frustrating, really that most of it is rehearsed lines with little information with grammar.

Again Thank you, I might ask for your help in near future.

[ero_sennin4181]

I too found Pimsleur to be very boring. Tedious, even, as was stated earlier. To be honest, I lost interest in the course after a few lessons, simply because they were all delivered in the same uncaring monotone. I find Peter and his friends here at J-pod101 to be much more entertaining and listenable. I'll keep Pimsleur around, as they do drill certain phrases into your head, but it's pretty much a rote learning tool.

[untmdsprt]

Great, I didn't think I was the only one who thought this series was extremely boring!! I was given all three sets, but never made it to the 3rd set. Couldn't do it!! Haven't brought myself to deleting them off my iPod though. I keep thinking I'll get back to them. It's been about 2 years now.