You can learn English!
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You really can learn everything
you need to speak English fluently in only
10
hours! Numerous studies have revealed that in every country,
native-speakers use only about 2,500 distinct words
and phrases on a daily basis. Dr. Pimsleur spent his lifetime
studying these language building blocks. With the Pimsleur
approach, it's not how many words you know, but rather, which
words you can use. By aiming each lesson at teaching you to
use those 2500 words, the Pimsleur approach teaches you to
speak the most English in the least amount of time.
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Dr. Pimsleur
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Dr. Pimsleur was a language educator for over 20 years.
He noticed that children have an amazing ability to learn
new languages--quickly. That's why there are so many bilingual
5-year olds. Dr. Pimsleur spent his life developing this course
to let you, as an adult, learn English as easily
as a child would. You might not realize it, but you've
already learned one language using the Pimsleur approach.
Your first language!
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Children love cookies
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How old were you when you ate your
first cookie? Try not to laugh! Did you know what a cookie
was before your first bite? Mommy or Daddy didn't force you
to memorize the ingredients before your first taste. But you
sure knew how to ask for seconds! The Pimsleur approach makes
learning and speaking English just that easy.
You just have to listen and participate with your Pimsleur
course.
By age four, a child has acquired the building blocks of a
"first" language at a rate of about one every five hours of
waking time exposed to the language in use. With this course,
YOU will learn English at the rate of almost one
item for every minute of Pimsleur training.
You learned your first language in between 10,000 and 30,000
hours but you were unconscious much of the time. With the
Pimsleur approach, you can now learn each of your next languages
in only
10 hours.
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The Purpose, of Course
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The entire Pimsleur approach is what language learning should be: quick, fun, and easy! Many foreign language students have difficulty learning. Their textbooks teach monotonous drills, grammar rules, and random lists of words. But textbooks alone can never bring it all together.
Your only real goal in taking any English course is to speak English naturally with others.
Dr. Pimsleur designed each lesson as
the foundation for the next. In other words, you'll keep building
on what you've previously learned. Best of all, the Pimsleur
English course does not waste your time
by cramming grammar down your throat. You learn to recognize
what sounds right through practice. The Pimsleur approach's
subtle grammar lessons won't seem like grammar lessons at
all.
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The Pimsleur approach is Scientific
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The Pimsleur approach is so effective
because it traces how people developed language. Before written
history, we had oral history. Most people, even kings, couldn't
write or read in ancient times. Some people can't even read
today. Most language learning systems fail to acknowledge
that writing only exists to represent the words we speak.
So you should ask yourself, "Why should I learn to read
English if I can't even speak it?"
The Pimsleur English course immediately
immerses you in an English conversation to help you
grasp the syntax or structure of the English language.
Amazingly, once you understand the syntax, that chaotic,
"foreign" sound so common to language learning
disappears instantly. You'll start to recognize words and
phrases. The Pimsleur approach will help to change your
perception within your first 30 minutes!
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Aren't CD-ROM courses supposed to be the best value?
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Every year, new and ineffective
CD-ROM products flood the marketplace billed as the wave of
the future for all language learners. Do not be fooled by
the colorful packaging! The Pimsleur approach is unique: it
was produced by Dr. Pimsleur, a language teacher with over
20 years of experience, to help you achieve language proficiency
that can be measured. The Pimsleur approach is even superior
to college language instruction. You do want to speak English, don't you?
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The best guarantee of its kind
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Maybe you've already tried to learn
a language but realized it was all in vain. Don't give up.
It's time to change your approach! Within thirty days of receiving your Pimsleur Approach course, you'll
learn to speak English (for Rus or we'll refund your money.
You don't have anything to lose... You can start to speak English (for Rus now!
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What the critics think about the Pimsleur approach
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"EXTREMELY ACCESSIBLE…the
speakers have pleasant voices, each section within the lessons
is short enough to hold our attention, and there is enough
repetition to teach even those who consider themselves slow
learners…Pimsleur tapes are extremely thorough
and easy to use-quite lively!"
 -Boston
Herald
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"I would have bet that I'd collect
the money-back guarantee, until I played Lesson One…
I WAS HOOKED!"
-Los Angeles
Times
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"Learn French while commuting,
German while jogging, Spanish while cooking (or Russian,
Italian, and Japanese) all with NO WRITTEN MATERIALS! "
-New York Daily News
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"Designed for the ear and not
the eye…the lessons provide PERFECT 30-minute bites of
work."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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"This is the easiest and simplest
language method… OUTSTANDING!"
-New Hampshire
Union Leader
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"IDEAL for commuters."
-Publishers
Weekly
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"There's a tutorial on tape
to suit every need…using a UNIQUE system [the] segments will
have you carrying on simple conversations at the end of just
four hours."
-Bookpage
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"THE MARKET LEADER in self-instructional
foreign language tapes."
-Business
Life
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"A WELCOME CHANGE from some
of the more formal, highly structured language tapes."
-Audio-Visual
Guide
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"Learn to habla espanol or parlez
français before your next trip aboard…The interactive LESSONS
CHALLENGE STUDENTS to use new words in conversation instead
of memorize them."
-American
Way, American Airlines in-flight magazine
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"An excellent set of tapes…simply
play these on the tapedeck of your car each day for a few
weeks and in no time at all, YOU'LL BE SPEAKING LIKE A NATIVE."
-Sun Country,
Sun Country Airlines in-flight magazine
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What Pimsleur students say about
our courses
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"WOW, IT REALLY WORKS! Yes, it really works…If the first tape gives me this fluency/confidence; it goes without saying that the rest will do the same. I started speaking in German with my friends. Buy it, listen to it and find yourself speaking in German."
-Ik Soo Lim, Lausanne, Switzerland
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"I found Pimsleur Portuguese VERY EASY TO USE. I have other self-taught programs, but this was by far was the best. The speakers enunciated well and allowed you enough time to repeat the phrases without rushing. There is no writing or reading to be done. Using my walkman, I found it convenient to carry with me and listen. The key to this program is the repetition. I enjoy using it."
-John H., Burtonsville, MD
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"Excellent! WELL WORTH THE MONEY. These tapes are tremendous for learning to speak the language. They train you to actually think in German - you are not just regurgitating set phrases, but learning to use the language in many different ways. I am saving my money for the second set - if the first set is this good, I can only imagine how much I could learn from all three sets!"
-Wendi Dunlap, Seattle, WA
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"THE PIMSLEUR APPROACH IS THE
BEST EVER! This is the best program available to learn Korean
on the market today. I know because I have audited a dozen
of them. It is very simple. Just play a side per day."
-D. M. Rothschild, Ph.D.
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"It's great! This audiobook made me and my little sister learn the basics of the French language. It's really effective. Well, Dr. Pimsleur's approach works for both the young and the old. Now, I YEARN TO LEARN MORE."
-Leah Nillas, Quezon City, Philippines
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"Top-quality teach-yourself Japanese, no reading involved. LEARNING LANGUAGES WAS NEVER THIS MUCH FUN…I would recommend this to all who would like to begin their study of the Japanese language… the Pimsleur approach is very easy to learn from, hear and repeat."
-Christopher Muro, Pittsburgh, PA
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"Very quick start to German. These tapes allow you to learn as quickly or slowly as you like. Also, the way that it is presented allowed me to retain the skills much longer than I was able to using book or book-and-tape methods. Perhaps most importantly, by learning aurally and practicing orally I DEVELOPED VERY GOOD PRONUNCIATION."
-Damien Del Russo, Dusseldorf, Germany
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The best guarantee of its kind
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Maybe you've already tried to learn
a language but realized it was all in vain. Don't give up.
It's time to change your approach! Within thirty days of receiving your Pimsleur Approach course, you'll
learn to speak English (for Rus or we'll refund your money.
You don't have anything to lose... You can start to speak English (for Rus now!
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An objective opinion by a renowned language expert
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DEREK BICKERTON: LANGUAGE EXPERT
Derek Bickerton, PhD
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How is language naturally acquired?
Languages are naturally acquired by people listening to language.
The human brain is built to analyze it. You know, there are
a lot of places in the world-not in America-but in supposedly
"backwards" places like West Africa, New Guinea, where it
is commonplace to find people who speak half a dozen languages.
How do they do that? There are no language schools. So, they
do it because it's part of their lives. They go down to the
market, they find people talking in 4 or 5 languages and if
they're going to do any trade-or buy anything-they have to
know just enough of the other language to get by. So, this
is how languages are learned, whether by adults or by children-by
listening and interacting with real people in real-life situations.
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How does the Pimsleur approach mirror this?
The way language is naturally acquired-in real-life second
language learning situations-is by listening to the language
itself. And analyzing it yourself. The people who learn second
languages most successfully, are not those who go to language
schools. If you go to a language school, you tend to go somewhere
where they have a special theory about how language should
be learned, and they impose that theory upon you. But actually,
the human mind is constructed to learn language. That's one
of the basic things. Just as a spider spins its web, so too
do people acquire language. It's just as natural as that.
If you try to constrain that process by imposing some regime
that you've thought, theoretically, that ought to work, it
really doesn't help. The Pimsleur approach's success lies
in its ability to mimic natural language acquisition insofar
as any teaching method can.
What is they key to language learning?
You have to ask yourself, why is it that so many people try
to learn foreign languages and fail abysmally. I think there's
2 reasons why they fail: they're not motivated enough and
they don't have sufficient exposure to the real thing. The
key to language learning is a combination of these two things.
As regards motivation, a lot of that's got to come from the
learner. But given the learner has a reasonable amount of
motivation, then the burden lies upon the course to hold the
learner's attention and continually present them with material
that is both interesting in itself, and relevant to the kinds
of things the learner will have to do when he's using the
language. That will keep up the motivation.
Now, as for the material, if you have material produced by
a native speaker of that language, and a sufficient amount
of that material is provided, then language learn learning
takes place. Since we are equipped to learn languages, the
brain does the rest of the job for us. All it needs is sufficient
motivation and sufficient first-class, first-language speaker
material from which to learn.
Please explain the concept behind Pimsleur courses.
From a linguist's standpoint, Pimsleur courses work
in a very natural manner. Lots of people try to learn foreign
languages-it's rather like people trying to lose weight. Lots
of people try to lose weight and very few do. Lots of people
try to learn foreign languages, but they get bored, they get
discouraged, they find that it's too hard for them. By presenting
the learner with material in the target language, Pimsleur
courses expose the learner-from the earliest stage-to
real-life dialogue in real-life situations. So, it's going
to keep the learner interested and teach the learner language
that can be used immediately. There's a payoff right away.
Briefly, what are the fundamentals that make
up any given language?
Our brain is automatically programmed to take words and put
them together. It differs from language to language, but not
as much as you'd think. Every language is cut to so close
a pattern, that some linguists regard them basically as dialects
of one language. So, in other words, you already have in your
brain a machine that is ready and waiting for language.
What do you have to do? You have to learn the sound system
of the language, which may different from yours. Then, you
have to learn the words. And when you've done that, you have
to learn what the particular properties of the words are,
because the properties will tell you how to put them together
in a sentence. You do this by hearing them used correctly
in sentences, preferably, by a native speaker of that language.
That's all you need to know. You don't have to be given a
lot of elaborate grammatical rules, because your brain's already
equipped to figure them out for you.
How does the brain acquire new information?
When you hear anything at all, it is stored in your short
term memory. The short-term memory will hold it, but unless
it is repeated and re-emphasized, it is not going to hold
on to it. Many things pass, so to speak, through your memory.
In order to make long-term memories, the information must
be transferred. This occurs through repetition, but if they're
repeated exactly as they were the first time, that becomes
monotonous. So, the best way to do it is to take the same
information, or similar information, and present it in a slightly
varied so you see the same situation from different angles.
Why do you think the Pimsleur approach works?
I think what makes the Pimsleur approach most effective is
that it engages the learner from the very first stage and
presents him with situations that hold his interest and attention-and
it's been carefully prepared to do so. Let's face it, lot
of foreign language work can be terribly boring. And one of
the key elements in language learning is motivation. If the
learner is not motivated and gets presented with mechanical,
repetitive kinds of exercise, then it becomes a chore. To
find a language program that holds the learner's interest
is really something quite rare. And I think the Pimsleur approach
certainly does that.
ABOUT DEREK BICKERTON, PHD
A graduate from the University of Cambridge, England in 1949, Derek Bickerton entered academic life in the 1960s, first as a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and then, after a year's postgraduate work in linguistics
at the University of Leeds, as Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Guyana (1967-71). For twenty-four years he was a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii, having meanwhile received a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Cambridge (1976).
Known the world over for his work on the evolution of language,
he is the author of many books, including Language and
Species, Derek Bickerton's most recent book, Lingua
ex Machina: Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky with the Human
Brain, was co-written with William H. Calvin and published
by MIT Press.
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The best guarantee of its kind
|
|
Maybe you've already tried to learn
a language but realized it was all in vain. Don't give up.
It's time to change your approach! Within thirty days of receiving your Pimsleur Approach course, you'll
learn to speak English (for Rus or we'll refund your money.
You don't have anything to lose... You can start to speak English (for Rus now!
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10 fluency-oriented lessons (30 min each)