Repetitive stress injury, July 14, 2002

Having just completed listening to Italian Level Three in the Pimsleur learning system (following completion of Levels 1 and 2), I feel compelled to complain. For [money] (for the CD edition), I think we're all entitled to a few concessions from the publisher. Accordingly, while I have no doubt that I continue to learn the Italian language and improve my grammar, vocabulary, and accent using this approach, here are my issues:

The CD version has just two tracks on each disc. In the frequent event that you don't quite catch something the first time through, you have no choice but to listen to the whole 30 minute track over again (at least on my car's CD player.) Advice: get tapes instead so you can rewind as necessary.

Take my word for it, it's boring. The Pimsleur teaching method of graduated repetition with frequent questions in English is a terrific system for learning a foreign language. But in Levels 2 and 3 there is no foreplay whatsoever. You just dive into repetition with nothing other than your own motivation to sustain you. Yes, there is much satisfaction to be gained when you correctly nail a sentence in Italian that the moderator asks you to come up with in English. But I found myself screaming imprecations in my car on those occasions when I got totally bored, especially during repeat listening. At least they could teach you to swear in Italian to relieve the frustration.

Why are they asking me to say, "Yes, thank you" in Lesson 26? Of all the things you could be learning in what should be considered at minimum an advanced beginner course, how can they waste my time by asking me to remember how to say "yes, thank you " and repeat it at this late point in the program? Is it poor quality control? Do they think I forgot? Sometimes it seems the editors went out for a cappuccino in the middle of producing this series and lost track of where they were.

Besides past and future tenses, this Level introduces a lot of language targeted at business, including an inexplicable 50-100 required repetitions of the phrase "corso di formazione professionel" (a course in professional development-don't pay any attention to my spelling, they only make a token attempt to teach reading or spelling in Pimsleur).

The explanations in English of grammatical fine points are almost random and not frequent enough. There is no rhyme or reason as to when the instructor will suddenly interject a helpful English language explanation of a grammatical concept or construct. These tools are used sparingly and as such confusion frequently results until you listen multiple times and puzzle it through. This leads to my biggest problem:

Despite what they say, there is no way you can complete Level 3 without supplementing it with non-Pimsleur reading materials. Maybe everyone else who listens to this program is a more cunning linguist than I, but I'm telling you, there is stuff in here you will never fully grasp without looking it up elsewhere. The most glaring examples could be possessive pronouns, rules for gender agreement, and the appropriate use of prepositions. It wouldn't kill them to explain some of this in English to avoid the confusion that will inevitably follow.

I think my gripes are legitimate, and you should weigh them against the staggering cost of [money] for a new set of Pimsleur Level 3. But when I measure my progress, I have to admit I can speak and understand an amazing amount of Italian for someone who spends almost all of his practice time deep in conversation with his car.

Pimsleur III- the Finale!, August 12, 2001

Pimsleur III is the last of the Pimsleur comprehensive levels. This level stretches your Italian well beyond that of Level II. Although you will not be speaking fluent Italian after having spent up to $1000 on the three levels, you will be well on your way to mastery of Italian- certainly you will have achieved an Intermediate level which is more than most "advanced" programs will provide you with.

As with all the Pimsleur comprehensive levels, this one contains 30 lessons, approximately 30 minutes in length, plus a reading exercise CD. The lessons are both entertaining and substantitive. You will not memorize but AQUIRE Italian- just as you aquired English, or your own mother tongue. This program is truly fantastic! Your learning will seem almost magical as you assimilate Italian into your THINKING! This is the key that other programs don't offer!

I found that repeating these lessons, sometimes up to 3-4 times each, helped me really grasp the information and aquire the language well. I also discovered throughout the 3 levels that listening to a lesson, and repeating it the NEXT day often helped my comprehension greatly. There are times when you will want to repeat the lessons immediately- the key to this, I found, is to do the lessons, and repeat them, when you are relaxed.

Here is an example of what you might expect to be able to say (English equivalent) after having completed Pimsler's level 3 - keep in mind this is a sample 2 minute conversation and you can expect to say (and understand) quite a bit more than this:

"Good morning, John! We would like to invite you and your wife to come to our hotel tonight for some coffee. Our colleauge from the United States is arriving tonight. He also speaks Italian- you can talk with him. He's arriving at about 10 after 6 this evening. He's staying here in Rome for about 3 days. Then he and his wife are going to Paris for a vacation with their 3 kids, who are already in Paris. His oldest daughter is studying medicine at the University there, and his other two children are in high-school. We don't know them well, but they seem very nice. He told me that most people in Paris are on vacation at this time of year and that it is easier to drive in the city than it usually is! So tell me, John, what have you been doing in Rome? Have you seen the beautiful gardens, or gone to the Vatican? My wife and I went to Via Veneto last week and bought some beautiful art for the house! The weather was very nice all week and we saw most people walking outside throughout the days. The restauraunts were great-the best wine lists in the world! I think we'll be back in Rome next year! We are thinking of buying a house near San Prato street, next to the old church near the city center. Anyway.. we'll see you and your wife tonight!"

Pimsleur levels I - III are the best way to aquire and master an advanced Intermediate level of the language! Just as you learned your native language first by hearing, and then MUCH later by practicing grammer, so Pimsleur operates on this principle. If you're serious about Italian- don't waste your money on cheap $50 imitations, go for the Pimsleur! If you'd like more information about levels I and II, please read my reviews on them. Good learning!

bravissimo, March 5, 2004
Reviewer: A reader
Well, I give Pimsleur Italian (I, II, III) five stars because, for what it does, there is nothing else out there even close. The major pluses of the Pimsleur system: you can rather painlessly learn to speak and understand basic Italian with an absolute minimum of grammatical explanation and without ever so much as opening a book. Furthermore, you'll learn to speak with a good accent. (I actually had a native speaker compliment me on my accent; in fact, he expressed amazement at how good my accent and intonation were. Certainly gratifying to me, but Pimsleur deserves all the credit.) That is remarkable enough in itself, considering you're dealing with a set of tapes (or CD's), where you don't get to see the Italian speaker's lips move, ask questions about pronunciation (or anything else), or get coaching if you mispronounce. Of course, the series has its faults. Other reviewers have mentioned many of them. I would add the following. The pace can sometimes be erratic; some lessons tediously grind away with incessant repetition on the same topic, same words, same phrases, while others bombard you with a bunch of new words and expressions without a lot of practice. Overall, introduction of new grammar is too slow, especially for verbs. And then, of course, the essential contradiction of the entire method: you are always being given a phrase or sentence in English and asked to render it into Italian. What you really want to strive for is to be thinking (as well as speaking) in Italian, not translating English. You need to get the English out of your head and just have Italian in there. The part of each tape I enjoyed the most was all too brief: the introductory conversation in Italian at a brisk pace. These should be longer and more frequent in each lesson. I wanted to hear more Italian! Should the tapes be supplemented with books? It is not at all necessary in my view (here I disagree with other reviewers) but it can be helpful. I myself used Berlitz's "Essential Italian" which is packed with good stuff. Finally, don't think that you will be happily chattering away in Italian when you first set foot in Italy after having gone through the Pimsleur tapes. It will take you a while to get to that level. However, the Italians I encountered were remarkably polite and helpful with my rather tentative Italian (once I got them to stop trying to practice their English on me). And if you get outside the big cities and into the countryside and hamlets (as my wife and I did), you'll find in many cases your Italian is essential for getting along. (You'll be thanking Paul Pimsleur heartily after being in situations where non si parla affatto inglese). Secondly, although you won't be fluent, you WILL be able to make your way well enough, especially if you're trying to sign up for un corso di formazione professionale or need to ask what your Italian friend's nephew wants to do with his life now that he's finished his studies in Art History at the university. Seriously, though, the tapes do a very fine job in equipping you with the basics and indeed with a firm foundation. It's up to you to advance from there. Five stars.

Incomparable, March 3, 2004
Reviewer: A reader
I have tried lots of other resources including other audio programs, and nothing comes close. The program is virtually effortless and amazingly effective. I wish there were more programs in the series. As for the cost, here is my timeshare salesman pitch: calculate the difference in the cost per hour between this program and some cheaper alternative and compare it to the hidden cost of wasting an hour of your time on a less effective program.

Caro, Ma Fantastico! (Expensive But Great!), November 1, 2003
Reviewer: A reader
First, let's talk money. These are the most expensive home-learning language courses on the planet. But you can find them at greatly reduced prices if you shop around on the internet or buy them used. And even at full price, they're worth it. The lessons are ingeniously designed. There's no reading, no writing. You learn by listening and speaking. It's not so much a rote process as an installation. The language slowly but surely gets installed into you, so you start thinking in it, and listening to it without having to translate it into English to understand. I recently started Level III and am greatly satisfied. But I did find that I felt a need for some extra help with verbs, so I bought Italian Verb Drills, which is superb. Rather than blowing a lot of money and time traveling back and forth to an Italian language school to get to an intermediate level, I strongly recommend Pimsleur Levels I to III, Italian Verb Drills, a dictionary, and either 500 Italian Verbs or Teach Yourself Italian Verbs. I don't what I'll do after finishing Pimsleur III, but spero la fare en Italia.

This is a great system., October 9, 2003
Reviewer: A reader
My fianc?and I started using this system a few months ago and are just getting to the last CD. We have both thoroughly enjoyed the process. The set could be gone through more quickly I suppose, but we enjoyed going at our own pace. Typically we both liked to listen to each session at least twice before moving on to the next CD. The method of learing is very intuitive, and really does help you memorize without feeling overly repetative. When we started the system, we had taken about 15 weeks of Italian class -- once a week. We had gotten to the point of learning multiple verb tenses and were building a fairly good vocabulary. The Pimsleur set has really taken us to a new level. We just started a new class with the same teacher and many of the same students. Many of them have not studied since the previous class. Meanwhile we have learned so much, and can converse much more than when we ended our last class. The CDs are so easy to listen to. We have both listened to them in our cars. It's so much easier to fit in than reading or studying a book. And the sessions are just under 30 minutes -- the perfect length for challenging you while still holding your attention. I would recommend this set to anyone who has a basic understanding of the Italian language and is really looking to boost their conversation skills to a useful level.