The Pimsleur Method

I really enjoy the Pimsleur method, listening to an audio lesson once a day for 30 minutes. The hardest part here is finding that 30 minutes each day to really pay attention to the lesson, and resisting the urge to do more than one lesson at a time when you do find the time so that the Pimsleur “method” can really apply.

I find that through the Pimsleur method I retain information the best. Where I still might have to think to recall a word I learned in another method, anything that I learned through Pimsleur comes instantly to mind. Its not my favorite method of learning, but its the one that works the best for me so far.

 

Dual Language Reading

Dual Language E-Books From Frendees are the best way to improve reading comprehension in your target language. I tried using a dictionary to look up words I didn’t know, as well as tried buying the same book in two languages, but both of those methods were tiresome and bulky. Frendees solves the problem by letting you change between two different translations as you read. Check it out if reading is your preferred learning method, they come in spanish, german, and french so far.

 

Rosetta

I’ve tried Rosetta Stone a few times, and I find it to be pretty difficult to work with.

It moves at a slower pace than I would like subject wise, but the software itself is very slow.  You spend a lot more time waiting on it to load and say the next word than you do actually learning.

My second gripe with Rosetta is that it is not broken up into manageable chunks.  It has units, but they last an arbitrary amount of time.  Should you do 30 minutes a day?  An hour a day? Two hours a day?  I never know when I should quit, or if I should quit.  Since the lessons build within the unit, the last section is 4 times as long as the first one.

I can say that I did actually retain knowledge gained with Rosetta Stone, but I think my time would have been better spent with another program.

 

Life Abroad and Learning

Mostly, I like to study languages because I am a traveler.  While you can get by in many foreign countries without speaking the native tongue, knowing a little bit can get you a long way.  My goal is to be able to speak a little in different languages even if I don’t master any of them.  Some things in my blog will probably help ESL studies as well as I’m sure my methods will work for learning English also.  I’m going to be talking about French a lot because its first on my list.

 

First post

This is my first blog post, It’s a test sort of, but It’s best to get the first post out of the way early.