Thread: language software

i'm looking for advise on good language software. i'm american and have taken one college semister course of russian many years ago. i'm looking at self learning russian with the aid of software. does anyone have a suggestion good program out there? thanks-b.

Actually, I'd suggest Pimsleur and an iPod.

It's fun to criticize Pimsleur -- and often pretty easy. But they actually do make a good product and present it well. They work with a small and restricted vocabulary so that you get the general grammer patterns down. It's probably the biggest criticism of Pimsleur; but (really) adding vocabulary later is no big deal.

Originally Posted by RavinDave

Actually, I'd suggest Pimsleur and an iPod.

It's fun to criticize Pimsleur -- and often pretty easy. But they actually do make a good product and present it well. They work with a small and restricted vocabulary so that you get the general grammer patterns down. It's probably the biggest criticism of Pimsleur; but (really) adding vocabulary later is no big deal.

may i ask, does the pimsleur work with an ipod? thanks for all the help-b.

Originally Posted by nduetime

may i ask, does the pimsleur work with an ipod? thanks for all the help-b.

Pimsleur is nothing more than sound files on CD; no different that your favorite Billy Joel songs (I kid). You load them to your iPod the same way you'd load a song from CD.

Another caveat -- they're very expensive. You can buy a stripped down of Level 1 (something like 18 of the 30 lessons) for about $40 bucks to see if you like the method.

Also: Check out this site. There's a very good Pimsleur thread that will show you the general vocab.

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On another topic, it really astounds me that no one have put together a "Learn Russian" podcast of any significance. There are some FANTASTIC podcasts if you want to learn Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch ... even Thai. But no love for Русский Язык. Strange.

Sooner or later, someone will.

Originally Posted by RavinDave

Actually, I'd suggest Pimsleur and an iPod.

It's fun to criticize Pimsleur -- and often pretty easy. But they actually do make a good product and present it well.

This was my response from a year ago in defense of anyone wishing to use the infamous Pimsleur.

Don't be put off by the Language Elite, the Aristocracy of Language Learning. To them, those of us who use the "crass" and "unseemly" Pimsleur will always be considered "Just the Nuevo Rich" to them.
We will never be able to drink out of the same punch bowl as them at their Fancy Dress balls. They will always mock our taste in fashion behind our backs, simply because we do not use the right tailor. ....and because the horses that pull the carriage that awaits them outside are sired by the right stud and have all the correct papers while we showed up in a dray pulled by 14 Shetland Ponies...... No my friend, we will never be accepted by the Leaders of Language Learning, these Titans of Tongues.

But, if you insist on being accepted and using the Pimsleur Method may I suggest that you do it by renting a cheap hotel room in an obscure part of town while disguised as a busboy and lock yourself in there with two packs of Marlboro Reds and a Sony Walkman and study in secret. For it will do you no good to "come out of the closet" at this point in time.

check out http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140002 ... 07?ie=UTF8

it's at least a full years worth of material plus 8 cds

i've checked amazon and half.com by ebay and found so many items with the pimsleu name. i see the a few expansive lessons (1-3) but i see more things like conversation titles and others. my question is, can anyone suggest one or two that can get me going? i'm thinking i'll try the less expensive ones first and then work into the more expensive ones unless people think that's not wise. i took a semister of russian in college about 5 years ago before stopping but have always wanted to really learn russian fluently. i'm looking for something that will start pretty much from the beginning so that i can freshen up on what i've learned before but have slightly forgotten over time. any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks-b.

im sure someone posted recorded pimsuler lessons here. + if you want to try before you buy then download some thru limewire or whatever