What do you think of when it comes to learning a language? Text books? Grammar? Most people who have tried and failed to absorb a language the old-fashioned way will point to these very problems. Practicing verb conjugations but little exposure to speaking. The idea behind the course is repetition in varying situations; it does not build on rote memorization. Throughout the course, an English speaker will guide you through your learning, and you will hear all phrases from a native speaker. It will ensure that you learn the proper pronunciation from the very beginning.

In fact, even the basic Pimsluer Program will have you talking within minutes of starting the first lesson. Can a course without books truly work? Dr Paul Pimsleur, the system's founder, spent the majority of his career trying to prove that it does. It does have a number of advantages. Pimsleur shaped his system after the way babies learn language. You do not hand a textbook to a young child as he or she begins formulating words. As children we all learnt to speak by listening and repeating what we heard in our life's situation. This is the same assumption behind the Pimsleur System.

The Pimsleur approach has the student responding with new words and phrases without the student trying to memorise. The retention of words and phrases happens naturally. The new content introduced in each twenty five minute segment is comfortably assimilated. Instead of wondering what some words you read earlier sound like, the ideas and phrases you heard over your headphones start to ring in your head throughout the day. This technique of the Pimsleur method just works. The average student is much more likely to go home singing a popular song than reciting a line from a book. The sequential story line of each lesson becomes a memorable event.

After a very short period of time the learner can engage in a conversation based on the content that has been covered. Is this possible? Immersing yourself in the language is the best way to become fluent. Listening to CD will require a bit more of an effort. You positively need to concentrate. The systems strength is that it is designed for beginners. You're expected to begin without much in the way of previous teaching, whereas in a unfamiliar country not many people expect a grownup to be clueless. Professionals transferring overseas would likely benefit from this approach.

Will you be ready to pen One Hundred Years of Solitude or other foreign language classics after ten days of lessons? Of course not, but you will be able to start conversing and get your feet wet, which is a big feather in the cap of the Pimsleur Approach. It puts students on the road to learning the language immediately. Subsequently, for beginners wishing to get into deeper subject matter and use more complicated sentence structures, there are the advanced segments of the Pimsleur Method. Therefore, it is hard to think of a superior approach to start from scratch with a new language.