Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.
The high school I attended during the late 90s only had one language class, which was a requirement for graduation. French was the only language class offered. Honestly, I doubt if anyone at the school would ever be taking a trip to France to actually use French. I struggled through the class, as I thought it was a complete waste of time. This is modern time, all schools should be teaching kids to speak Spanish, Chinese and of course English.
Colleges do have many language classes, but most require you to have a basic understand of the language before you take the class. If you do take a class, the majority of students won't remember the language. The problem is that you are studying from a text book. Teachers have lesson plans and they don't want to stay on a lesson for more than one class, meaning you'll have to learn the words in one session, which is almost impossible to achieve.
I do regret not remembering anything I learned from my high school French class. Now as an adult, I have been wanting to learn other languages, especially Spanish. Luckily, I got a chance to review the Pimsleur Spanish Level 1 Gold Edition.
The Pimsleur method was originally developed in 1963 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, who completely changed the way languages are learned. Since then, over 25 million people have used the Pimsleur method, which uses two principles - the Principle of Graduated Interval Recall and the Principle of Anticipation. The program has been featured on PBS and has been used by the FBI.
Unlike Rosetta Stone & Fluenz, the Pimsleur method isn't a software program, but instead it is an audio-only approach. The program is meant for your brain to memorize the words in one lesson. Level 1 features 16 hours of audio lessons on 16 CDs. Each lesson is only 30-minutes long. The program requires you to complete one lesson a day. If you feel you haven't grasped a specific lesson, feel free to repeat the lesson the following day or days until you feel you have mastered it.
Pimsleur Spanish Level 1 is meant to give you a basic understanding of everyday, face-to-face conversations. By the end of the course you'll be able to hold a conversation in Spanish. If you prefer not to listen to the program on your CD player or computer, you can easily download the lessons to a mp3 player.
The program retails at $345, but it is typically sold online between $115 and $150. It may seem like a lot of money at first, but taking a college class will probably cost more, especially after you purchase text books.
I've only listened to a few lessons, but I am enjoying the Pimsleur Spanish Level 1 Gold Edition, which contains 30 lessons. Though I probably won't ever visit Mexico or Spain, there are many Mexican immigrants in my home state and it would be nice to learn how to have conversation with them. I would at least like to know how to introduce myself properly. Overall, I having a blast learning Spanish with the program. It is so much easier to sit at home, listen to the instructor, repeat the Spanish words and memorize them, than it is to try to learn from a text book.
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