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.
During the early lessons I obsessed about remembering everything perfectly. In later lessons I found “those things I couldn’t remember” came out of my mouth automatically. The spaced repetition works for me!
This is a brilliant method and I love that Pimsleur uses it in all of their language lessons. It flies in the face of a lot of academic courses, where academics still haven’t caught on. If a teacher in a classroom expects students to learn a chunk of content (let’s call it a chapter), then moves on and never touches that chapter again, how can the students be expected to learn the subject meaningfully for long-term recall? Mid-term and final exams don’t help; they only teach the students to cram for a couple of days before those tests and then forget the material again.
Only this method of spaced repetition solves this problem,teaches the language for long-term memory recall, and makes exams a pure formality.
I’m hearing more and more about this spaced repetition. But I wonder if someone can comment about how/why it works and how it works in Pimsleur?
Thanks!
I am well into Spanish 1; and I’m committed to completing the entire program, (1-3). After a recent vacation to Costa Rica, I realized how important it is to be competent in Spanish.
That’s really interesting
The Pimsleur approach is unbeatable. I tried the 8-lesson CD and I never thought it would be “easy”… really! I’m headed off to China for a year in August, it’d be great to have a jump on my classmates learning Mandarin.