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July 16, 2010 Expose your Child to a new Language

Exposing your child to a new language is one of the best things you can do for them as a parent. Early foreign language learning helps with brain development and has proven to have positive long term affects. Children that were exposed to other languages as babies excelled in primary school subjects like English and math. Orgeonlive.com published an article entitled 'Helping Children Learn Second Languages' which offered great advice to parents who wanted to expose their children to foreign languages. A concerned father who uses a bilingual caretaker took notice of his 20 month old daughters progress. He says, "About a third of her 50 or so words are foreign, but sometimes says things in the foreign language we don't understand.I figure it's good for her brain to learn a second language even if it is one she'll never use as she gets older, or probably even remember. Or am I just confusing her?"  Portland Principal Maria Abad of the Internationale School which teaches language immersion courses in French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese to children as young as three reassures the parent.  "Exposing your children to more than one language is never confusing."  Simply put your child does not have to understand that they are learning more than one language especially at such a young age. The simple fact that they are getting the exposure is beneficial anyway you look at it. 

The outcome of early exposure to language education paves the way for success in the future. For example children will learn to become more accepting  of different cultures and customs,  they're more willing to try new things  and overall are more adjusted globally. Principal Maria Abad cautions against children being exposed to too many languages at once. Children wont be able to associate the many sounds that come with learning multiple languages. Choose one language and stick with it! 

This article is loaded with helping hints and useful material for parents that are teaching their children a second language. Perhaps the best and most rewarding experience I've had in the course of teaching my daughter Spanish is seeing her use it in natural conversation. At bed time now she alway says "Buenos noches te quiero  mama" for "Good night I love you mommy" which is always the perfect way to end a day no matter what language she says it in. 

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July 08, 2010 In Afghanistan A Language Learning Experience

Dari language courses are beginning to take place for a  NATO training mission in Afghanistan. The goal is to teach the  Dari  language to soldiers stationed there  while at the same time giving them the opportunity to connect with the Afghan communities. Captain Felisa Dryud of the U.S. Air Force played a vital role in organizing the Dari language classes. Dryud was first introduced to the Dari language when she worked in an Afghan orphanage in Kabul as a civilian.  She expanded her knowledge of the Afghan language and culture by connecting with other Afghan natives who spoke fluent Dari. Now back in Afghanistan she is a main player in organizing the English-Dari immersion classes. 


The program is separated into two sections; a conversational Dari course for senior leaders and mentors and a basic Dari course for interested coalition members.  The conversational Dari course is a 12- week  program that has 24 sessions. The course is broken down into  three levels each addressing key parts of successful language learning all ranging from coursework , instructional books and interactive dialog sessions to learning about the culture of the Afghan people. The basic Dari program which is called the ‘Qatra Qatra’ course is a much shorter program that can be completed with six sessions over a period of two weeks even though it is taught with the same curriculum as the conversational Dari.

American Soldiers and Afghan civilians agree that these courses will bring both cultures closer together. It will also make communicating with one another a much easier and more enjoyable experience. Dryud’s ultimate goal is to get foreigners to begin greeting and speaking to natives on  a basic but personal  level. She wants people to realize and understand that these courses wont allow for a mastery understanding of the Dari language. However it will allow for the western culture to experience the Afghan culture. Captain Felisa Dryud  remarks “ Just getting to the point of greeting and speaking some basic Dari communicates a lot of honor and respect”.  

If you are interested in learning the Dari language on a more comprehensive level Pimsleur can help. We offer a full 16 hour 30 unit program complete with reading material. You  can experience this Eastern Persian dialect and learn like a native how to greet, speak and communicate in Dari.  Plus a  military discount is offered for this program to the men and women that are serving in Afghanistan.


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June 28, 2010 Hear No English, See No English, Speak No English

We want all of our language enthusiast to  embody for a weekend this popular Japanese proverb.  Challenge yourself by using your language of study as often as possible and significantly limit the use of your natural language.   We know you're probably wondering "How the heck are we supposed to do that?"  Well we're happy to help!  Our TV and radio stations are filled with foreign language programs. We have Korean news, Spanish soap operas and middle eastern music. Depending on your language of study, you have an entire community dedicated to expanding its culture.  We want you to think outside the box by visiting different religious ceremonies where they worship in their native tongue.  It's good to hear casual conversation in your language of study but think of the insight you could gain by hearing  it in a concentrated context. Check out international films, live plays and other independent performances going on in your area. End your weekend of cultural exploration by dining at your favorite foreign restaurant and of course ordering in your target language. Not only will it be fun but it will be challenging and eye opening to experience life outside your normal routine. Remember to not get discouraged as you go through this task. This is a learning experience and you will make mistakes. Always look at them as learning opportunities.

Before you Begin: Prepare for Success!

Organization is key to  pulling off this type of task so be sure you prep yourself by creating an itinerary of where you want to go and what you want to do. Locate any foreign film festivals, museum exhibits and restaurants ahead of time.  If you know how to read the language you're studying like Spanish or French you'll want to have a dictionary/ thesaurus handy. A phrase book is suggested too just in case you want to strike up a conversation but need a little assistance with it. 

Cram Session: Remember to Review.

Cram sessions are a great way to refresh already learned material. Prep yourself by doing a  flash review of your Pimsleur lessons. Depending on the of fluency with your language you can review an entire level or just a few lessons within the level. Make sure it is only the material you've already covered. You do not want to  introduce any new material into your cram sessions since you need to dedicate more time and energy into them.  If you feel like you want to advance a little more in your lessons before doing this task that's okay. Preparation is key to having a successful experience 

Start Small

We know many of you are new to language learning and education. You probably never thought about it much so when you're challenged to take yourself out of your comfort zone you may feel a little lost because you're not quite sure where to start. That is why we'll always encourage you to start small. If I were going to a German breakfast buffet I would say "Guten Morgen!" to everyone I saw. I would make a point to say "Danke!" every time a waiter or waitress assisted me. Make sure you are relaxed and well rested when doing this exercise. No doubt at times it can become intense and stressful. Usually when frustration gets the best of us we stutter and stumble over our words. All you have to do is keep a cool head and an open mind. Trust in yourself that you can do this! 

Be brave: Say it with a Smile!

People often take for granted the price of a smile and it's ironic because smiling is still as free as the air.  So why don't we do it more often? When you greet someone do it with a smile because all people understand this gesture no matter what part of the globe they're from. Another key point to remember- If you're having a hard time... don't show it. If you look uncomfortable and uneasy people may treat you would be more comfortable if they spoke to you in English. If that happens you haven't accomplished what you set out to do.  Try to remain comfortable and confident when conversing with native speakers because usually they are happy to see you put in the effort. Many times they will extend the offer to teach you a few things about their native language. 


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June 22, 2010 Super Sweet Tweetstakes Winners!

Drum Role Please

Before we annouounce the winners of the Super Sweet Tweetstakes challenge we want to give a great big thank you to all the folks that participated. We really appreciate hearing from you. Many of you shared personal stories of  success with the Pimsleur program as well as family photos of places you visited around the world. We were delighted to see all of the encouraging feedback on our blogs and hope you all benefited from this experience. We can't thank you enough for your participation and hope you visit us often.

And now...the moment we've all been waiting for

Our Grand Prize Winner: Christopher J. McGee

Second Prize Winners: Kristen Street, Michael Eliyahou and Frank Major

Runner Ups: Randy Tijerina, Bill Bella, Susan Miller, Nikke, Wineva Hankamer, Michele, Isobel, Raina Swaggerty, Elizabeth Kelleher & Maya Lee


Congratulations to all of our contestants! Each of you will be contacted via email for shipping information. 

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June 21, 2010 Organic Learning

 The Pimsleur method relies on the core principals of language learning to teach you your target language.  The method we'll explore today is called  'organic learning' which simply means that you gradually learn the  language by listening to native speakers who  interact in normal conversation.  You learn grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation all at once using the Pimsleur method..

Before your very first day of school you already knew how to  express yourself. You're not going to school to learn how to talk, your going to school to learn how to read and write. You see organic learning happens naturally with all of us, its how we develop our mother tongue. From day one we begin picking up words and sounds that form our native language. By the time many of us our pre school aged we are conversing like the pros! We can ask questions by putting the proper stresses and inflections in our voices, we can sound surprised,  disappointed, confused and happy. We can express all of these emotions with our voice because we learned it naturally through our parents conversations. 

When you learn with Pimsleur the same methods will be applied. You will be prompted to interact with the program as if someone is actually engaging in a conversation with you. It will be on you to recall how to respond and to use the proper grammar and pronunciation when replying. With the guidance of the instructor and the native speakers, incorporating the other methods such as core vocabulary and anticipation you will have developed a good understanding of what the native speakers are saying because you've already been conditioned to do so organically!

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June 14, 2010 Tonal Languages

 "A tonal language is a language in which pitch is used as a part of speech, changing the meaning of a word" Wise Geek explained tonal languages perfectly!  When  you are using the same word but apply a different tone you "radically" change the meaning of the word. This means that the way you say a word can drastically change the meaning and certainly the direction of a conversation.   Tonal languages are found mostly in Asia, Africa and South America. 

 Chinese is an  infamously difficult language to learn because of the many tones it has. Mandarin Chinese for example has four tones and a toneless tone. The fours tones and toneless tone apparently  exist  because of the small amount of syllables in the Mandarin Chinese language. Cantonese Chinese however has six tones in the language which may represent a different word or expression.  Cantonese.ca noted "linguistic tones are not set at specific, absolute pitches like do or C flat. Instead, they are relative. If you start your voice high-pitched and keep it high like that during the entire syllable, that's the 1 tone. If you then start your voice at a mid-lower pitch and then rise it to the same higher pitch, that's 2. If you start with a low tone of voice and let it drop a bit, that's 4. And so on". There are plenty more examples of Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese tones on these websites Cantonese.ca and People.wku.edu.  Some include audio examples and we encourage you to visit the sites to hear the different tones and to practice them. They may offer a little assistance in your Mandarin or Cantonese studies. 


It's not clear as to why certain regions have multiple tones in a language and why others have none. There are many theories circulating the phenomenon and while linguist have been able to show how tonal languages evolve there is still no concrete explanation for what causes "a society to develop or drop a tonal language". Interestingly enough ancient Greek was once a tonal language,  and the tonal sounds of the language led to the "development of diacritical markings" which enabled written Greek to be understood.  Modern Greek has no tonal element even though it is obviously derived from ancient Greek. Other examples of tonal languages are Thai and Vietnamese which both share unique regional dialects. African languages like KiSwahili and in South America pre Columbian languages like Mayan are tonal.

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June 11, 2010 Learn a Language in 90 Days?

 We know that the very idea sounds a bit gimmicky and you probably have your reservations about it. However this is not the place for skepticism and  believe me when I tell you, this goal is easier to achieve than you think. 

The Pimsleur language courses are presented to you in increments of thirty and the units themselves are a half hour long. Before you begin the program you are assured that 100% accuracy is not your goal so it should not be your expectation. Your primary goal is to retain 80% of the material taught to you and move on to the next unit. If at the end of a lesson you are not happy with the results you are always encouraged to invest an additional 30 minutes repeating the course. If you decide to repeat the course you would have only spent one hour that day practicing your language. Imagine now that you do this everyday for 90 days consecutively no breaks included. Can you image the amount of progress you would have made if you developed a strict regiment and stuck with it? You see 90 days is not an extraordinary length of time but it's not a short amount of time either. It seems that 90 days would provide the perfect amount of time to learn the fundamentals of your target language to the point you are confident with speaking it. 

The Language Learning blog posted an article entitled "The 90 day rule: How to learn a language in 90 days" where they mention that "becoming good at something doesn’t require a tremendous amount of effort, it requires regularity, patience and discipline".  These ingredients included with the four key concepts of the Pimsleur method make for a delicious recipe called success and the preparation time is 90 days. Since we learn things through repetition and regularity we don't have to be concerned about the intensity of the lesson because we simply don't retain things the harder they get for us. We build up our skills set through regular and consistent practice and that is what makes all the difference when it comes to learning your new language. 

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June 07, 2010 International Turkish Language Olympics

Here's a fantastic story to start the week with. A group of 750 very fortunate kids from 120 different countries around the world will be participating in the International Turkish Language Olympics.  The students will gather together for song, dance and poetry competitions performed in the Turkish language. 

More than 10,000 kids from all over the world  prepared for this event, but only 750 were selected to compete. The Language Olympics kicked off on May 26, 2010 in the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. Students will move onto Ankara for the first round of eliminations, and finalists in the 12 main categories will be selected.  Each of the participants may have the opportunity to introduce their own country by participating in a cultural feast where they will perform traditional songs and dances and wear traditional costumes. 

Exhibitions from previous language Olympics will be on display in the cities where the students are competing as well. The Awards Ceremony will take place in Ankara on June 5th, followed by traditional Turkish songs and dances plus additional performances by the Olympic star students. This is a great way to encourage people to learn a new language.  The language Olympics in Turkey are an excellent example of what we can all do to promote language education for everyone. 

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June 03, 2010 Spaced Repetition

 We're sure you've heard this term tossed around on our blog quite a few times. We're obviously enthusiastic about the Pimsleur method and really like to emphasize how accurate and successful Pimsleur is. However, we realize we can't go on raving about the wonderful core concepts of this ground breaking method without first explaining to you why these simple concepts are fundamental to your learning and key to your success. 


Every time you listen to a Pimsleur lesson, spaced repetition is hard at work. You hear a word for the first time and repeat it a few times until you are used to saying it. The instructor moves on through the lesson and suddenly they are asking you 'Do you remember how to say thank you in German?" Your brain is quickly searching its short term memory until it is found. Ah yes! Vielen Dank!  No doubt you're feeling a sense of accomplishment because you can literally feel yourself learning your new language. What you are also experiencing is the method of spaced repetition. 

Basically how it works is that information is presented to you in small, specific doses. In the beginning you will hear a word several times throughout the start of a lesson. As the lesson progresses, more vocabulary will be introduced to you and the words you were hearing so frequently at the start of the program have become less frequent. As you advance in your lesson the instructor will tell you to recall a word you learned from a much older lesson... but because spaced repetition has been applied you will be able to respond in a heartbeat.  

More and more people are applying the Pimsleur method to more than just language learning. This concept is excellent for all sorts of subjects you need to absorb large amounts of information in. Law and medical students may find this method especially beneficial because the terminology in these fields are very extensive. 

So, the next time you find yourself needing to study for a big exam or want to build on your memory recall, think of how you can apply spaced repetition to help you along the way. 

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June 01, 2010 Super Sweet Tweetstakes Extended

Over the last two weeks people from all over have been signing up to be apart of our Super Sweet Tweetstakes contest. We've been delighted to see so many people participating by commenting on our blogs and using Twitter and Facebook to share their stories of success with us. Since so many of you have been involved in our contest we've been experiencing an overwhelming request to prolong the Sweepstakes so more folks can participate. Pimsleur Direct has decided to extend the Super Sweet Tweetstakes contest two more weeks!

For those of you who have been commenting regularly this is a great opportunity for you because your chances of winning have increased significantly! For the people just getting started we encourage you to comment on our blogs regularly. You can boost your chances of winning by retweeting our status on Twitter and liking us on Facebook. When you become our Facebook fan we encourage you to interact with the other fans and share your stories and experiences using the Pimsleur method. Good luck and have fun! 

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"There truly is something very powerful and familiar in the way Pimsleur taps into those primitive parts of your brain in the learning process, almost like hypnosis. Having done it successfully, I realize that it is a revolutionary learning protocol that was designed to bypass all the things that would get in the way of me learning and not wasting time."

-- Rick, Nevada

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