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I saw this video earlier today (The most important part is from 8.00 to 9.00), explaining what the "Pimsleur approach" is. It got me interested, because they claim it's the fastest method of learning the basics of a new language. Has there ever been research trying to find the best method of learning a language? Is this approach comparable to the "best method"?

To place it in context, I want to learn Finnish, and I'm first looking for a good learning method.

Simon Verbeke
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  • Simon, welcome to Linguistics. :) We don't give advice for learning languages but I think we might be able to fix your question. First of all, the question about having experience is a survey, and the other questions you asked are quite subjective, they could be both answered like this: it depends. – Alenanno Jun 04 '12 at 16:44
  • @Alenanno: I changed the question so it can be answered with facts. Is it better now? – Simon Verbeke Jun 04 '12 at 16:47
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    Considering how this video makes many wildly exaggerated and guaranteed-to-be-wrong claims during the first minute (like "learn a new language in 10 days, 30 minutes a day", and "speak accentless French"), I would put zero faith in whatever this woman is trying to get you to buy. I have heard of the Pimsleur method, but it doesn't sound very new or revolutionary at all from what I read, though it may work fine (just as most other methods). – Cerberus Jun 04 '12 at 17:14
  • @Cerberus: That's the reason I'm here to ask about it :) If it weren't for the exaggerations I might have bought it right away. Pimsleur Was working on this method in the sixties which might explain why it doesn't sound revolutionary. – Simon Verbeke Jun 04 '12 at 17:42
  • They are very good. They use a quite different approach to other methods, even a little counter intuitive at first. But in fact it's very intuitive because they get the pace just right and focus on syllable sounds and they make it easy to mimic and remember. I wish they offered a Georgian course. I would love to know if their approach has been studied by linguistics, if there is any way even for linguistics to analyse second language acquisition techniques such as this. – hippietrail Jun 04 '12 at 17:47
  • @SimonVerbeke: All right, I see. Hippietrail appears to have more experience with this. But I wonder, if this method is really superior, then why don't all language teachers use it by now? As to learning some basics, like key words and phrases, in ten days, that doesn't sound different from what any accepted method can accomplish. Another thing I wonder about is whether this will impair your early reading skills: most people need to be able to read signs, menus, etc. in a foreign country. Oh, and I think learning speech and writing together can save some time if you have to learn both anyway. – Cerberus Jun 04 '12 at 17:52
  • @Cerberus: Interesting points. Why teachers don't use it? My experience with secondary school teachers is that they are quite conservative. Another issue might be that it is designed to learn a person the basics of a language. About the reading skills: i think it's easier to switch from hearing/speaking to reading/writing then the other way around. But to get a decent grasp of the language, I agree that you have to learn how to read and write it. – Simon Verbeke Jun 04 '12 at 18:03
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    Why don't all teachers use it? One reason is because everybody learns language differently, especially second languages. It's really, really clear from trying to learn languages after childhood (and watching others do so) that different people use different methods. And succeed. Or fail. Eventually one comes to the conclusion that there can be no single good technique, usable by every teacher, with every student, in every class, for every language situation. – jlawler Jun 04 '12 at 18:34
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    As @Alenanno noticed, "best" is always subjective. Personally, I have used Pimsleur's lessons to get entry levels of Thai and Mandarin Chinese, and I sincerely recommended it to my friends. But of course, it mostly depend on student's way of thinking. It is not recommended blindly to everyone, but may work for many. "Accentless" and "in 10 days" are contradictory, of course. :) – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine Jun 04 '12 at 23:00
  • If you are trying to learn Finnish from scratch, then Pimsleur is the best language for that purpose that I have ever come across. –  Jun 12 '12 at 14:30

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There is almost no research about this subject as far as I know, but there is one article called A Second Language Acquisition Model Using Example Generalization and Concept Categories by Rappoport and Sheinman, which defines a basic computational model for learning a new language, and evaluates Pimsleur Japanese I on it.

As mentioned in the article, there are really no methods right now of evaluating SLA methods formally, so it's hard to tell what is the "best method".

Although it has nothing to do with linguistics, may I also recommend Benny Lewis' review of the Pimsleur method, and an explanation why the choice of method is secondary when learning a language.

Daniel Hershcovich
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I found Pimsleur by accident - as I was waiting in the line in the library, I saw an audiobook "Hindi for beginners".

So I borrowed it and started learning Hindi. And here's what I like:

Every word is broken into syllables and syllables into sounds, making learning pronunciation really easy.

Also, it keeps quizzing you on words an phrases learned before.

Maybe it's just me, but I found Pimsleur really effective.

Marjeta
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