Thread: Pimsleur vs. Princeton course

I've downloaded the Princeton course and it looks to be much more thorough than Pimsleur. For a beginner, what is your recommendation? Mix the two, dump Pimsleur altogether, or do one first and the other next? Which proved more useful to those who have used both?

Mix the two. Listening to the CD's will give you better pronunciation and ingrain some words into your brain.

PS and don't waste too much time playing your guitar when you should be learning Russian!

hi
I first went through Pimsleur, and then I discovered Princeton courses. They are so different ! Pimsleur is a lot more fun - and you can listen to the lessons anywhere, but if you really want to learn russian, you'll have to memorize grammar stuff (and writing), so you'll need something like Princeton courses, very thorough but sometimes somewhat funny too (the teacher who wrote them has a sense of humor).
So I guess what I would recommend is : yes, mix the two. Begin with Princeton courses, and when you lack time or are too tired with grammar, listen to some Pimsleur lessons. With luck and if the paces match, you may even be able to practice the Princeton stuff you just learnt, with the Pimsleur lesson.