Thread: Pimsleur vs Babel Yak - is there a difference?

Hi guys,

Has anyone here tried both Babel yak and Pimsleur to learn Russian?

As far as I can tell, the first lesson of each is identical to the other (I understand; you understand; I understand Russian; I don't understand Russian etc etc). Babel Yak lessons are free on youtube, I was wondering if the Pimsleur lessons eventually diverge from the Babel Yak ones. I was planning to use Pimsleur's 90 lessons to add to the 20 Babal Yak lessons. The extra thirty lessons would add heaps to my vocabulary if the two actually end up teaching different words.

I understand that some people do not like the Pimsleur/Babal Yak way of teaching, but I enjoy it so I want to stick with it.

Does anyone know how many words Pimsleur (all three units) will end up teaching me? Is it over a thousand?

Is there any other software out there like Pimsleur/Babal Yak that I could also get my hands on? Specifically, I am referring to software that uses the same method of instruction - but hopefully different words.

Finally, does anyone here remember a member named "Astrum"? There was a song by a Russian singer he REALLY liked and I cannot remember the name (I liked the song as well). I have a feeling the songs video had a christmas tree or something along those lines in it. She was an awesome Russian singer.

Thanks


Chemist12

If you like that method that's fine and all, in my opinion, no money needs to be spent at all to learn a language. Some people hate learning grammar ideas, and prefer to just learn vocab. This is not me. To learn all the grammar of Russian through the free magical power of the internet, that'd that like a month, maybe 3 with memorization time included. When learning with payed all-in-one products (as well as classrooms), they like to hide complicated concepts from you, and lie, so as not to confuse you, and explain bigger concepts later, once they've set them up more (such as declension, formality, or literal translations). On the bright side, learning vocabulary and pronunciation through those methods is great, while much harder through just internet articles.
Anyway, you should be fine even if they do share a lot of vocabulary between each other. All that really matters for a long time is the 200-700 most basic words, which those lessons are probably targeting.