Pimsleur
(Author)The Easiest and Fastest Way to Learn French
Whether you want to travel, communicate with friends or colleagues,
reconnect with family, or just understand more of what's going on in the
world around you, learning French will expand your horizons and
immeasurably enrich your life.
The best part is that it doesn't have to be difficult or take years to master. Thirty minutes a day is all it takes, and we get you speaking right from the first day. Pimsleur courses use a scientifically-proven method that puts you in control of your learning. If you've tried other language learning methods but found they simply didn't stick, then you owe it to yourself to give Pimsleur a try.
Why Pimsleur?
What's Included?
What You'll Learn
Builds upon skills taught in Pimsleur's French Levels 1 and 2.
In the first 10 lessons, you will expand your vocabulary and increase your fluency to an even higher level. You'll gain experience participating in many informal and some formal discussions on practical, social, and semiprofessional topics. You'll skillfully form longer, more complex sentences, and most importantly, you'll find yourself being understood, even by native speakers unused to dealing with foreigners. You'll be able to join in conversations eagerly, confident of being understood.
In the next 10 lessons, your skills will demonstrate ever-increasing mastery of French. Speaking with grace and complete naturalness, you'll enjoy fluid conversations on many new subjects. Delving deeper into cultural norms and situations, you'll find yourself responding effortlessly, and able to choose from a wide accumulation of vocabulary and structures.
In the final 10 lessons, you're nearing fluency with agile responses, and a natural sounding, near-native accent. You're able to utilize the language in subtle ways, and speak using past, present, and future tenses. Self-confidence soars as you no longer experience the language and culture as a foreigner, but as someone with a deepening insight into the French-speaking world.
Reading Lessons are included at the end of Lesson 30. These lessons, which total about one hour, are designed to give you practice reading French, to provide vocabulary and improve pronunciation. Before you know it, you'll be reading French with the ease and flexibility of a native speaker.
The Pimsleur Method
We make no secret of what makes this powerful method work so well. Paul
Pimsleur spent his career researching and perfecting the precise
elements anyone can use to learn a language quickly and easily. Here are
a few of his "secrets"
The Principle of Anticipation
In the nanosecond between a cue and your response, your brain has to
work to come up with the right word. Having to do this boosts retention,
and cements the word in your mind.
Core Vocabulary
Words, phrases, and sentences are selected for their usefulness in
everyday conversation. We don't overwhelm you with too much, but
steadily increase your ability with every lesson.
Graduated Interval Recall
Reminders of new words and structures come up at the exact interval for
maximum retention and storage into your long-term memory.
Organic Learning
You work on multiple aspects of the language simultaneously. We
integrate grammar, vocabulary, rhythm, melody, and intonation into every
lesson, which allows you to experience the language as a living,
expressive form of human culture.
Learning in Context
Research has shown that learning new words in context dramatically
accelerates your ability to remember. Every scene in every Pimsleur
lesson is set inside a conversation between two people. There are no
drills, and no memorization necessary for success.
Active Participation
The Pimsleur Method + active learner participation = success. This
method works with every language and every learner who follows it. You
gain the power to recall and use what you know, and to add new words
easily, exactly as you do in English.
The French Language
French is spoken by 55 million speakers in France, 3 million in Belgium,
1.5 million in Switzerland, 6.5 million in Canada, and 5 million in
former French and Belgian colonies. It is an official language in 44
countries and an official language of the United Nations. An estimated
50 million people around the world speak French as a second language.
Tech Talk