How Many Levels Does Pimsleur Have
Ronna Bordelon
But how much vocabulary do you need to be fluent? Not a lot! In most languages, the 100 most common words make up 50% of all terms used regularly in that language. With the top 3,000 words, you understand 90% of what is said. 3,000 words actually correspond to the B2 level. With 10,000 words, you understand 99%:
Arabic is a hard case given the diglossia and the large number of dialects: on Al Jazeera you can hear all the Arabic varieties (MSA in news reports, dialects in interviews, and a mix MSA and dialects or "educated spoken Arabic" in talk shows) so it makes it even harder. It's still impressive that you can understand most of it!
There's so much you can do with 3000 words but tbh, I'm 5000 words in with Arabic, and still struggle to understand Al Jazeera unless I have a dictionary handy. However, for every day life I'm good. I'm technically almost done with B2 and will be C1 soon.
I don't think I could get there were it not for preply and doing an intense 4 hours a week of conversation IRL for a year. Pricy but worth it, although 2 hours a week is the recommended. Check out preply.
Because of its rich culture, I decided 4 months ago to learn Russian. My goal: to be fluent by the end of the year! Here\u2019s my method, even though it may not work. [Update 6 months later: it worked pretty well]
First, what does \u2018fluent\u2019 mean? For some, it means \u201Cnative-level proficient,\u201D including the accent. I don\u2019t see it this way. If you can attend university in a foreign language, you\u2019re fluent. And universities do not require native proficiency. Most universities require a B2 level. \u201CB2\u201D means \u201CVantage or upper intermediate\u201D in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Elite universities such as Stanford or Cambridge require C1, but they\u2019re the exception. So fluent means CEFR B2.
To reach this level, I started with Pimsleur. In this method, you listen to native speakers and repeat what they say. No grammar. No reading. No word lists. It may feel stupid, but it works amazingly well because it mimics the way kids learn a language. Kids repeat what their parents say, even though they may not understand, and then naturally form simple sentences! This Reddit post explains why Pimsleur is awesome. In particular, because it\u2019s entirely audio, you get a perfect pronunciation. Whereas if you learn words in their written form, you may pronounce letters as you would in your native language, which gives you a foreign accent. Pimsleur is so good that I\u2019m told I don\u2019t have a French accent in Russian, whereas I have one in English\u2014even after 20 years of study. That\u2019s why I love Pimsleur.
Pimsleur is available in 50 languages, from Haitian to French and Swahili. It\u2019s the only method I know with Egyptian, Levantine, and Cantonese courses. 1 to 5 levels are available for each language. Each level has 30 lessons of 30 minutes each. Pimsleur used to be expensive but is now available for $14.95/month (only for languages with at least 2 levels). Pimsleur recommends doing 1 lesson per day, so 5 levels take 5 months and cost $75. Pimsleur claims that Level 3 is equivalent to B1. I\u2019m surprised by this claim because the vocabulary taught is limited. I think Level 5 is B1, in listening and speaking only.
I added Assimil to my learning program. When Assimil was founded in 1929, it was just a book. Even though it now has CDs and apps, it\u2019s still mostly a written method, focusing on grammar and culture. So Assimil and Pimsleur are complementary. Assimil claims that its 100 lessons bring you to a B2 level. Based on my experience with Chinese, I would say B1. Anyway, it\u2019s an excellent method, with clear and detailed explanations. Assimil also offers a 70-lesson advanced course to reach the C1 level. Both Russian courses are only available in French, but other languages are available in English. Assimil recommends one lesson per day, taking about 6 months to complete the course. I study 30 minutes of Assimil per day as well.
I also downloaded Duolingo. It\u2019s impossible to learn a language with Duolingo, but it\u2019s nice to learn new words and refresh your vocabulary. Duolingo gamified language learning and the app is addictive. I use it when I\u2019m walking or waiting in a queue. Or in my favorite language learning location: the bathroom \uD83D\uDE05. I tried Duolingo Events: it\u2019s fun, but you don\u2019t learn anything.
Pimsleur, Assimil, and Duolingo all teach about 2,000 words: not enough to be fluent. But because they don\u2019t teach the same set of words, you probably reach 2,500 words if you combine them. Still not enough. Frequency dictionaries bridge this gap: they list the most common words so that you can learn frequent words you ignore. You can find free lists for various languages on Wiktionary or Memrise. [Edit: Max Schumacher suggested the flashcard app Anki. You can create your own deck or download existing ones. Anki is the best way to learn the vocabulary you need to become fluent.]
UPDATE: For a much more comprehensive audio course alternative to the Pimsleur series (and more affordable), I recommend the Rocket Language series. The dialogues and pronunciation are higher quality, a wider range of content and topics are covered in detail and all the audio is 100% downloadable (see my review here).
Just listening to Pimsleur Korean, Russian, Egyptian and Eastern Arabic, I noticed the excessively formal and polite language used in the dialogues (for example polite verb forms in Korean and plural вы pronoun in Russian).
The difference between Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur though is that Rosetta Stone makes the absurd mistake of having older people address younger people and people who are friends and family addressing each other using polite forms (which is almost always not the case in reality speaking from experience living in these places).
Each language series only introduces a few hundred new words in total. The exact amount depends on how many levels there are since some languages have only one level and others have three, four or five.
Effective communication in any language depends on mastery of a relatively limited number of words and structures. Trying to learn too much at once substantially slows the process, and many people quickly become discouraged.
One of the biggest selling points of Pimsleur is that you only need 30 minutes a day to become proficient in a language. As someone who has learned many languages (and failed some), I can attest that this definitely not true.
After 1 month of learning Pimsleur Level 1, I visited Hannover in Niedersachsen and amazed some of the locals with my pronunciation and vocabulary. they thought I had been learning for at least a year lol. I was even able to read signs and menus etc thanks to spending an additional 30 mins a day challenging myself with the flashcards and word association challenges.
To this day I can remember the uru amd seimhu from hearing the Pimsleur audio: Tuigim, An dtuigeann, Ni thuigim. Like the reviewer, I am a strong visual/spatial person, but this was exactly what I needed to stimulate my audio center and link it to the rest of my brain.
Pimsleur is my favorite method because it is not the standard memorization and dissection of sentences. That has never worked for me. I like to get a good feel for how a language works and learn some vocabulary along the way in context. That works for me.
I also find that 30 minutes a day is sufficient for the beginner. Down the road, you may want to pursue other methods or resources to expand your knowledge and acquire more words. However, this audio only method that engages you to constantly respond from day one is probably the best way to start off (in my opinion). It gets you past the hump of being able to have simple conversations, which I believe is when you are able to learn and retain new words, concepts and expressions in context.
I know this because I bought Spanish I & 2 Latin America in 2012. Last year, I decided to pull them out and finally go through the lessons. I wanted to download the reading booklets and tried to get them on the website, but the web sight for pimsleurapproach.com was now automatically redirected to pimsleaur.com. After searching that site, I called and I was told that the company licensed to sell the product as pimsleurapproach.com was no longer in business and the booklets for Pimsleur Approach Gold Edition were no longer available.
Great article. You should note however that Pimsluer now offers a monthly fee access at $15/mo. It gives me access to the app and Spanish courses 1 through 5 at that price. I had never tried it before because it was so cost prohibitive. As someone who uses duolingo and rosetta stone I must say im making mich better progress with pronunciation with Pimsluer. My daughter in law is a native spanish speaker and she agrees.
Now, i know this is not an easy answer, but i need to know this because, the main reason im gonna study french is to apply for a visa in montreal, and one the requeriments its to take a french test, now i dont remember what level is minimun requirement, but i guess it would be B2-C1.
I want to learn Castilian Spanish and had Pimsleur recommended to me. Your review suggests Rocket Spanish but they only do Latin American. Pimsleur is $230 so not the crazy $1000. With those factors in mind, which do you think would suit my goals best?
I love Pimsleur Language Programs! I think they are the best to start learning a language, at least the speaking and listening parts. For writing and reading you need to find a different program. But, the hardest part of learning a language is speaking, and Pimsleur is awesome. I currently live in the USA where they have really good public libraries. When I have the money I invest in some reduced price Pimsleur programs or I just get them from the library. I have tried French, Italian, Portuguese, and Japanese.
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