Rosetta stone has been around for a while. The question I always get asked is does it really work? In this Rosetta Stone review I will go over my personal experience using Rosetta stone to give you guys a personal, honest and detailed review of the Rosetta Stone language learning program.

First up what is Rosetta Stone?

I’ve seen Rosetta Stone in a ton of different book stores where they have really pushed in terms of marketing – cue fancy kiosks where you can play around.

Rosetta stone is a language learning program that comes in the form of CD Roms or as a download (very convenient!). By using the CD’s or downloads you can sit in front of your computer and start learning the language through the use of audio and pictures.

I encourage you to try demo first

Here at Language Diet I always encourage people to pick and choose through trial and error a system that works for them. One of the big benefits here (as with many other language learning systems out there) is that there is a free demo on the Rosetta Stone homepage.

So while I encourage you to continue reading my review of Rosetta Stone, I also encourage you to head on over to Rosetta Stone’s official home page and give their demo a spin, which at the time of this being published gives you access to 11 languages for the demo.

So how did I use Rosetta Stone?

I decided to use Rosetta Stone fairly early on to supplement my Korean study at a beginner level. I had already picked up some beginner words, but didn’t know many phrases and definitely could not hold a conversation yet.

For the reasons above I went with the beginner Korean CD to start. I skipped out on the live conversation lessons as I felt I wasn’t ready yet at this stage. I also didn’t bother with the mobile app or joining the online community because I only wanted to block off a certain amount of time for Rosetta Stone study and have other time for other activities like practicing the phrases and words that I learnt with native speakers.

I also didn’t take Rosetta Stone for the purposes of reviewing it. I actually approached it with the aim to improve my Korean, but thought I would post the experience and a review of Rosetta Stone as I do hear it come up a lot. Well done Rosetta Stone marketing!

How EXACTLY does it work?

Well you sit in front of a computer and pop in the CD Rom. The program boots up and has a progress screen. You go into the lesson you want to do – in a sequential order and get started.

You will then see pictures and hear someone talking in the target language. So you may see a picture of someone greeting someone else and hear the word ‘Hello’ in the target language. Or you may see a picture of an apple and hear the word ‘apple’ in the target language. It progresses into stuff that is more interactive and into stringing words together to form sentences and then you practice these as you get better within the program.

I would say the system is very akin to how you learnt your first language. You saw something, heard the word for it and then locked it into your head after repeat exposures.  From there, you build up to larger sentences, very much like Rosetta Stone.

So what are the advantages of Rosetta Stone?

Cool voice recognition technology

As mentioned earlier when you see an image with an associated word/ phrase, you are given the chance to repeat the word/ phrase. The system records you and tells you if you pronounced it properly. You are then forced to re-pronounce the word/ phrase again until the technology approves you and you move on. It’s a very cool feature and really tunes up your pronunciation immediately. It’s probably my favorite feature of Rosetta Stone.

Things kind-of stick

Obviously it takes differing exposures for particular words for you to have them stick in your head. Everyone has different associations and different native languages, so the stickiness factor varies. I found the stickiness of the first CD great, but as I progressed onto the second and third, things began to get a lot harder and just found many things just did not stick.

Of course, more time with Rosetta Stone and mixing this up with one-on-one conversations would definitely help things stick a lot better.

No need to think about what to do next

Not needing to plan lessons or think about what to do next can be HUGE for your language learning success. Many language learners just want something where they don’t have to bother with planning.

Similar to the Pimsleur method, you just schedule a time and hit play. There’s no need to find material and you can do the lessons any time you want in the privacy of your own home (less embarrassment if you are shy).

The disadvantages of Rosetta Stone

With any language learning program, there are going to be disadvantages. It really is up to each individual learner to try before committing (do you see a theme here? – If you do it’s because I advocate trying many options before settling on any method). With that being said the advantages may outweigh the disadvantages or vice versa, you don’t really know until you give it a shot.

There’s not a lot of reading

I’m a big advocate of using reading as part of your language learning strategy. The phrases and words do show up, but you don’t have this with you for alter on if you decide to go back. With a system like LingQ for example, you can read and listen at the same time to review.

Sometimes lacking in personal relevancy

Do I really need to learn the word for ‘horse’ in Korean? Well maybe in the future, but there just aren’t a ton of horses in Korea. It seems many of the words are generic and pushed across all the different languages without much thought in terms of personal relevancy and relevancy to the actual target country.

Lacking in different formalities

I found in the beginning that you got taught the most polite and formal way to say things, especially in Korean. I don’t really hang out with a ton of older people or won’t be meeting the President any day, so my preference is towards conversations in a much more casual speech.

This is where Rosetta Stone fell down a lot here. One could argue that knowing your formalities is very important (and it is, especially when talking with strangers), but you may loose out a little if your intent here is to speak in a language that has a lot of informal phrases and words.

The price – Not quite a disadvantage or advantage for Rosetta Stone

This is a huge factor. Rosetta Stone is an expensive system with a ton of recommendations. It will cost you hundreds of dollars to get started. This is much more than many books and a few online language learning sites I know of. But it is definitely cheaper than paying for an expensive classroom course.

The final conclusion

Cutting to the chase here, I wouldn’t use Rosetta Stone going forward. I am currently learning French at the moment and find the use of other systems like LingQ or Pimsleur a better route for myself. The keyword here is ‘myself’. I would say I’m a pretty competent language learner and thus don’t need any hand holding or the extra advantages that Rosetta Stone has because I have access to free French conversation lessons via friends.

But, if you are the type of person that is known to bail out of learning a language  then this could be a good route for you (although I personally think Pimsleur is much better). Bear in mind there are limitations to Rosetta Stone, but it may be the right fit for your start into language learning.

Please let me know what you think in the comments below and whether or not you would recommend Rosetta Stone as a language learning tool in your Language Diet.

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Learning a new language is already daunting enough, how does one get started? How do you ensure you don’t give up after a few months?  There are plenty of ways to great great habits. I’m not going to go into them today, but today I want to talk briefly about finding successful material for your language learning diet.

Here’s what you should be looking for to keep you engaged and speed up your language learning experience:

Level of difficulty

Level of difficulty is a HUGE determinant of selective learner attention. Of course when you are only starting out you’ll have 0% comprehension, but as you progress it is very important to pick the right input. I always recommend shooting for around 70-80% comprehension in material that you study. LingQ does a great job if you are a paid member as it tells you how many words are unknown.

There are a few things at play here with picking the right comprehension level.

1.)  Better chances of understanding grammar through input processing. You may misinterpret a sentence because a slight change in grammar may change the entire meaning of the sentence. You aren’t going to notice this if you struggle to understand the words. Picking something at an 80% comprehension level will allow you to notice grammar structure as well as learn new words.

2.)  We as learners only have a limited processing capacity. There is only so much non-comprehensible input that we can take before we simply turn off. This is the opposite of what we want. We want to be engaged and have fun when we learn a new language. Choosing stuff that isn’t too difficult will help you stay on during your learning phase.

Personal relevance

Personal relevance = positive attitude towards learning. In the beginning you are going to have to listen to cheesy and sometimes babied conversations. After you get over this initial hump, you must find content that has personal relevance.

What do you do more of on a daily basis? Do you love travelling or eating out? I love eating out so I love studying and practicing conversations that are held in restaurants.

Being able to order in a foreign language is liberating and there are plenty of opportunities to practice if you are in the target language’s country, or if you have some local restaurants that have people from your target language’s country. Everyone has to eat right? So this is a great place to start.

As you get more advanced, you may skip over content that just has no personal relevance. I’m a big advocate of picking and choosing when it comes to language learning. The right language diet for someone may be totally different to someone else. I’m not going to be listening to any political speeches in my target language, because I just wouldn’t do that in my native language, and you should be doing the same too.

Picking and choosing the right material

You need great material to arouse interest and enthusiasm. When I was studying Korean, I was learning out of the Sogang University books. They were hilarious as it was always about some guy walking around and having cheesy conversations with (picking up) girls. My study partner and I always joked about who he was going to try and ‘pick up’ next.

Remember that you have the power as the language learner. If something doesn’t interest you, then toss it and find something else. Classroom learning is very structured which works for many people, but the down side is is that you are bound to a set prescription of material.

If you are doing a classroom based course, I highly recommend you supplement the material if the books you use are a bit dry (90% of language learning books are soooo dry). If you are learning on your own, then by all means try everything you can until you find something that you can have fun with.

Listen to material with scripts

Listening and shadowing to podcasts and conversations is a great way to pick up a language and get your pronunciation right. But often times it can be hard to go back and look up a word because the in conversation speed was just so fast. This is where written scripts can be extremely valuable. LingQ has a great free library for this and it’s the best resource I have found for podcasts and scripts for multiple languages.

I’ve only touched on what traits successful material has for the language learner, but if you start with these tips you will have a solid base.

What kind of language learning material gets you excited? What are your favourite resources? List’em in the comments below!

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Hey guys it’s been a long time since I’ve written on Language Diet. Time flies when you’re having fun I guess – but I have been using Pimsleur recently for French – I’m up to lesson # 22 for Pimsleur French. I have used Pimsleur in the past for Spanish while I was in South America which I wrote about here.

This time I am learning French in Canada here in Toronto – so no one to practice with on a daily basis out in public, but I do practice with someone else I know who knows French occasionally to practice what I’ve learnt in Pimsleur.

I aimed to find out the ultimate answer to mine and probably your question: Does the Pimsleur method really work? Well read on to find out as here is Pimsleur review #2 for 2013:

Ease of getting started

What I love about Pimsleur and the reason why I do recommend it to other people learning a second language (L2 acquisition) is because it is easy to get started. You literally only have to do 30 minutes a day by pressing play and going for 30 days in a row, or in my Pimsleur French case – 90 days in a row.

The tracks are all numerically ordered so you never have to repeat a track. There is nothing you have to do except listen and speak as the spaced repetition is already calculated and vocab is introduced to you gradually. This negates the need for a tutor or separate spaced repetition system (SRS).

In my Pimsleur tracks – there are options for separate speaking and reading sections for individual vocab – but I skipped out on these. So all in all – a very hassle-free system. Because it is all audio based, you can do this on the move (you’ll have to speak as well – so public transport is probably not the best place to study here) or anywhere really. I found myself doing Pimsleur lessons while sitting on the couch or while doing the dishes.

Difficulty in later stages

After starting off I had a lot of confidence. New vocab is introduced in a gradual way so you are not bombarded. Now that I am up to lesson 22, things start to get a lot harder. I found that the learning curve gets a lot steeper with retention lowering – probably from 90% down to 60% if that.

The spaced repetition used in Pimsleur does seem to help, but I found this doesn’t kick in until I have completely forgotten the term again – this will vary depending on how good you are at association, but in generally after about lesson 15, retention becomes a lot harder.

The biggest reason people fail language learning is that they don’t stick it out for long enough. The difficulty factor here in Pimsleur can definitely make things a lot more challenging. Because of this I found I wasn’t able to keep consistent. Maybe it’s because I didn’t really start Pimsleur with a big enough why.

Others may have more success – but (not to sound cocky) I feel as though I am a good language learner, so if I couldn’t stick with this after 3 weeks consistently, then I have to question whether others would as well. This is similar with Rosetta Stone. I found Rosetta to have an even harder learning curve after the first section – typically there are 3 difficulty sections in Rosetta.

What you can use in conjunction with Pimsleur?

Because Pimsleur does get hard rather quickly – I wouldn’t recommend doing this program only by itself. You will probably hit the wall easily, so I recommend supplementing on the side with something like LingQ – where you can choose material based on your own skill level or have someone to practice conversation with as well (I always recommend the later but do understand that it may be expensive or not a possibility).

Take away here – You’ll have a tough time learning a language using only Pimsleur as the learning curve and pace is not one size fits all. My criticism of Pimsleur comes down to the fact that some people may get each lesson better than others – but there doesn’t seem to be any resort for someone struggling except to replay the same track over and over again before moving onto the next track – something that can easily get someone to skip lessons or move onto something else.

Does the Pimsleur approach work in everyday conversation?

To be dead honest – Pimsleur is actually great  for learning a language for everyday conversation. The training you get prepares you for regular conversation.

Because the Pimsleur tracks don’t ‘baby’ the language – you get the full speed a lot of the time and you need to be quick on your feet when answerign during the tracks.

This kind of listening and quick speaking is perfect for the real world. If you want a system that will allow you to go out and have simple conversation then Pimsleur is definitely the way to go, but as I suggested probably in conjunction with a language parter, LingQ or Anki (or all of them).

Does Pimsleur really work for formal language testing like the C2 in French?

Unfortunately not. The C level exams are tough and require you to be good at both reading and writing too. Because Pimsleur doesn’t get you to do any reading or writing (or limited anyway) you will be inadequate to get a C1 or C2 grade in the official French tests.

Pimsleur is definitely a great start if you’ve never done it before, but to really expand out, you will need to supplement or switch to another system afterwards.

In conclusion Pimsleur is a solid start. I would recommend Pimsleur to anyone starting out in any language. It makes you into quick thinker and you actually get good practice speaking and getting into the habit of forming good pronunciation. But you are going to have to supplement it to become fluent in the target language you are going for.

Let me know in the comments below what your experiences have been like! Also you can read my previous Pimsleur review #1 for learning Spanish here.

I’m going to look into this test to see what it is all about in this post to see just what you need to do and how you can excel doing it to get a great score.

A quick look at the TOEFL iBT test

The TOEFL iBT test is commonly taken to get into colleges and universities for non-native speakers, but is also a common measure of English proficiency for business, government agencies and scholarship programs.

The score is rated out of 120, with no exact score being a pass or fail. Universities and Colleges will have varying benchmark scores that they use to allow students in. For example, Harvard requires at least a 100/120 score. So participants are required to do a bit of research to see what score they will need to attain for their intended College or University.

The test is administered online, with the spoken section being recorded and sent to real human markers. The whole test is marked using a mix of both automatic markers and human markers. Onto the test preparation.

Here’s how the actual test looks:

1. Reading 3–4 passages, each containing 12–14 questions  60–80 minutes
2. Listening 6–9 passages, each containing 5–6 questions  60–90 minutes

Break 10 minutes

3. Speaking 6 tasks and 6 questions  20 minutes
4. Writing 2 tasks and 2 questions  50 minutes

So essentially, the test is broken down into four areas: reading, listening, speaking and writing. Each section is weighted evenly, so 30 points for each section max.

Let’s look into each section and see what it is really about and how you can improve your score in each.

1. TOEFL iBT Reading

As with all sections, you are allowed to take notes, so make sure you jot down some essential details. Time is an issue here, so when writing notes, use single words or short descriptions, because summarizing with sentences takes too long. It is best to have a dozen or so small helpful 3 word notes as opposed to two to three sentences.

The reading section consists of about 3-4 passages, each 700 words long. Each passage has 12-14 questions. So you have about 20 minutes each passage to read and answer questions. This is all strictly comprehension, so you do not need to know about the certain subject matter itself. The test is for your English skills, not on the passage subject.

You will be tested on your understanding of rhetorical functions such as argumentation and cause-effect. You will need to answer questions on things like, details, main ideas, inferences, sentence insertion, rhetorical purpose, vocabulary, overall ideas and essential information among other things.

So while reading, jot down in 2-3 word blocks max:

Main ideas

Details

Essential info

Do this in a sequential order.

All the other stuff, you are going to have to look at the questions that follow and answer or skim back through. This is why you need to have the above in a sequential order. It will help you know whether or not certain things happened towards the end or at the beginning of the passage, so skimming back is quick.

When reading, use your finger or a pointing device as you follow along. This gives your eyes an anchor and will help you read a lot faster. This is a common technique with speed readers.

Remember to stick to the allocated time for each section, If you do not know an answer, take your best shot at an answer and then move on, to give equal amount of time to all the questions. Then if you have extra time, you can quickly go back before moving onto the next section.

2. TOEFL iBT Listening

In this section, you will get six passages, each 3-5 minutes in length. You will get two student conversations and four academic discussions or lectures. You will only be able to listen once, so listen extremely carefully, and take notes.

Take lots and lots of notes in a sequential order. The conversation is between two people, so make sure you identify what is going on between the two. A lecture may not be between two people, but still take lots of notes. Write down any important details, ideas, information, purpose and speaker attitude. Test takers are allowed to refer to their notes when giving answers.

Listening and participating in every day conversations will give you the edge here. For lecture based listening, try getting a hold of past TOEFL iBT tests for this to get a feeling for how these will work. I suggest going to lingq.com to get their free conversations and lectures that come with scripts to practice your listening and listening comprehension through acquiring words.

3. TOEFL iBT Speaking

This section has six tasks:

2 independent tasks – basically answering opinion questions on familiar topics.

4 integrated tasks – For 2/4 you will be reading a passage and listening to a recording about campus life or a lecture. You will then have answer a question by combining appropriate information from the text and the talk. For the other 2/4, you will listen to another 2 passages (about campus life or a lecture) and answer questions from them.

Once again, take tons of notes to get the main ideas down in a sequential order. You will get a bit of time before you have to begin speaking. These get recorded and get sent away for marking.

You will need good reading, listening and speaking skills here as well as the ability to write quick notes. This all requires a good level of known words in your target language. Use a spaced repetition program like Anki to get the top 2000 most common words learnt.

Also, speaking into a computer can be hard, so practice speaking into the computer before the test to get comfortable. Treat it as if you were just chatting to a friend on the other side. Also, do not overdo it with any advanced sentences. Just keep things simple and you should be fine. You do get extra marks for advanced sentences, but it is always best to be clear and understandable, than be non-comprehensible.

4. TOEFL iBT Writing

Writing I say is by far the hardest section to get down for a language learner. Maybe it’s because you hardly ever need to write these days.

You will be given one integrated task and one independent task.

Integrated task – read a passage and listen to a speaker discuss the same topic. You will then have to write a summary about the important  points in the listening passage and explain how these relate to the key aspects of the reading passage.

Independent task- Essay. You will need to ‘argue’ and support your opinions on an issue, as opposed to just listing personal choices or preferences. Keep things simple here. Try not to be too fancy, although a few advanced sentences will look good and get you extra marks.  Writing correctly in a non-native language is extremely hard, so keep things simple. Pretend you are writing to a kid. But always remember to keep the essay formal.

Using Lang-8 to get better writing skills for free is a huge asset.

If you have the money, I suggest getting some books and a practice test before taking the final test to get as much practice in as possible. Doing this and combining the above tips should help you raise your TOEFL iBT score.

The person behind the podcasts, Benson Hoi gives you some good phrases to use in a Chinese restaurant speaking Cantonese. He also gives a little info on what the etiquette is and why things are the way in a Chinese restaurant to help enjoy the experience a lot more.

Also, Dim sums are awesome.

You either get value for your money or you don’t. When you go out and buy a consumer product, it comes with a guarantee or a warranty. This means that if it does not perform to what it was intended for, then you can return or get it fixed to a standard to where you can use it for its intended purpose.

Should you be able to ask for a refund or get some sort of guarantee when it comes to language learning courses?

A few weeks ago I ordered two new Dell monitors for a dual screen set-up. One kept blinking after hooking it up, while the other worked fine. I tried everything and eventually called Dell tech support who sent out a replacement the next day and paid for someone to come and pick up the defective screen right away. Brilliant, problem solved.

It got me thinking in terms of support in terms of education, especially language learning. If something goes wrong, is it the student’s fault or the teacher’s? Should someone be able to ask for their money back if they can’t even speak the language after taking a course? My answer is Yes.

The Consumer Guarantees act of New Zealand splits it up into different aspects for services:

“Services must be provided with reasonable care and skill” as well as

“Services must fit for the purpose” also,

“Services provided must be provided within a reasonable time” and a “reasonable price”.

This means that if I go in for a haircut, I can expect a reasonable price, skills matching that of a competent hairdresser, the right color and cut I ask for and that all to be done within a reasonable time that a haircut normally takes place.

These outlines or rules are somewhat mirrored in the U.K. under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 or in the United States with the variety of laws at both the state and federal levels that regulate consumer affairs.

So for a language learning course, I should expect a reasonable price, a competent tutor, and being able to speak the target language after finishing.

This is not unreasonable at all, after all, if you sign up for a ‘Learn English’ course, you should be able to speak English after finishing the  course, much like being able to drive after signing up for a  ’learn to drive course’, otherwise what’s the point?

Of course the debate is that some students excel more than others and there will always be varying levels of ‘completion’ for each student.

I like the way a driving course splits the skills up and after you learn each one and combine them all, such as ‘parking’, a ’3 point turn’ or ‘changing gears’, then you know how to drive. This is how language courses should be.

Instead of learning tons of ‘stuff’, you should learn specific skills that add up to you being able to speak the language. That way your learning can be monitored a lot easier and a guarantee can be given whether or not these specific skills are taught to achieve the outcome.

So maybe right now a guarantee may not be given for certain language learning courses. But I believe that if a course is designed properly and is taking your hard earned money, then like any other service, there should be some sort of guarantee for the language learner.

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photo credit: Vectorportal

As an ESL teacher and avid language learner, I had heard of Pimsleur in the past and never really thought too much of it. I always wondered ‘Does Pimsleur really work?’. That’s the big question I had in my mind.

That all changed when my girlfriend and I decided to pick up some Spanish for our 5 months in South America. We decided to give the Pimsleur Spanish course a go. Below is my unbiased Pimsleur review, check it out:

First off, what is this “Pimsleur”?

Pimsleur is an audio based language learning system. You pop the c.d in, then listen and speak when prompted. It sounds simple, but actually works remarkably well for the following reasons:

1. New, relevant vocab is introduced to you at a good pace. You feel like you are being pushed, but not at a pace so much that you actually forget stuff straight after a lesson.

2. Pimsleur uses a SRS (spaced repetition system) which means you will hear the word learned in a previous lesson repeated to you at strategically placed spaces between the lessons, so you will never really forget anything that you have learned previously. The program does this all for you, so you never have to go back and actively study an older lesson. For more info on SRS and how it works, check out our good friend wikipedia on spaced repetition.

3. 30 minutes a day. The program (possibly Dr. Pimsleur himself) suggests you only take one lesson a day, but every day. This is so you do not get overwhelmed and also for the program to introduce older material to you in a timely order. If you do too much in a day, then you will forget vocab etc.

4. The lessons are just really well done. You get plenty of talk time and it’s solid talk time. Not just ‘repeat after me’ styles, but they will say something like, “How do you say, one more drink please? in Spanish?” which is exactly what you would be thinking in a real life scenario.

What package did I go for?

The Pimsleur conversational Spanish course that we picked up had 3 levels, each with 30 lessons. These also had some supplementary listening and reading (basically going over the words while seeing them). I skipped out on the later and just did the audio course.

This course is aimed at the beginner, so would not really suit intermediate or advanced learners at all. For that I would probably recommend just finding some interesting content elsewhere for free (check out LingQ for their massive free library of audio and scripts). I say this, because the pace starts off slow, so even if you are an intermediate learner and wanted to brush up on the basics, you may have to skip some of the earlier lessons as they do start at a nice slower speed.

Remember that this is my honest review for the Spanish Pimsleur course only, so I can’t really comment on other languages. I do however imagine that the Dr. Pimsleur approach is probably the same across the board in terms of how the actual program is used.

So, How do I actually use the Pimsleur language learning course?

It’s simple really. You do one lesson a day, which is about 30 minutes. You are recommended this to make sure you get the right spaced repetition (incorporates increasing intervals of time between subsequent review of previously listened to material).

The biggest advantage to the program

During the lesson, you are somewhat forced to speak back, as you will be asked questions about how to say different things, as well as repeating certain words to make sure you get the pronunciation right.

So you are getting a lot of speaking practice in, just not with a native speaker. I did notice that because you get this sort of practice, you definitely feel confident in trying out the phrases you have learnt with a native speaker, knowing that you aren’t butchering a word or phrase. This is a HUGE ADVANTAGE.

I was able to do a 30 minute session in the hostel, then go out and bust out the actual phrase or understand someone when they said it. That’s what I loved most about this program.

The other way would be to ‘shadow’ some audio (trying to say the audio as you hear it over and over again, until you actually end up saying it at the same time), or talk with a native speaker a lot and make sure they correct you when you are saying things wrong. The later is time consuming and is a bit of a mission when you are on the road and don’t necessarily have some one to practice with on your time line.

Other wicked advantages

1. Do it whenever you want and where ever you want. Audio courses are portable and are flexible in time. You can bust out a session during the day or night at your own convenience.

This may also be a down fall, because you are accountable, which means if you get lazy, you could easily just pass on a lesson for that day.

2. Lots of time speaking phrases and forming your own sentences aloud. Other audio courses can be boring and not very interactive. Pimsleur seems to be VERY interactive, prompting you the entire time to be speaking and forming sentences in the target language.

3. No planning necessary. You don’t need to plan your lessons out or organize anything. Just follow the course in sequence and it will automatically introduce new vocab and phrases to you at the right stages. This is also huge, as it takes away that “what should I do next” barrier.

4. The lessons actually have a good sense of humor. The scenarios they choose are pretty funny. It always seems that for these courses, you are meeting up with a potential ‘date’ and need to ask them a bunch of questions.

Tell me about the down side

No program is perfect, and although Pimsleur seems fantastic, I’m going to do my best to tell you about the disadvantages:

1. Cost. I just checked out the site and for one Spanish package which has 30 lessons, it costs $345 U.S. dollars. That works out to be $11.50 per 30 minute lesson. That is costly. Here in Toronto, you can get one on one Spanish lessons for $10 an hour. Elsewhere online you can get $10 per hour lessons through Skype.

On LingQ.com, it would cost you $10 for 30 minutes with a native speaker, 1 on 1 and you get a report afterwards of how you did. For what it is, you could get the equivalent of talking to a native speaker 1 on 1 for cheaper.

2. Might not be 100% useful. If you are the type of learner that knows exactly what you want to study and want to keep everything relevant, then you may run into a few issues with the Pimsleur language learning course.

You are going to probably learn some words that you don’t need to, but overall for a beginner, I find what you learn to be really useful. I’d say less than 5% of words that you hear will not be useful. There is definitely a lot of useful content that can be used right away while traveling.

My results

Even after the first few lessons, I felt I had the confidence to start speaking. You only had the basic stuff like greetings, but it was kind of fun to try out these new phrases, especially while traveling.

After about 20 lessons, I really felt like I could string together basic sentences and start using plural words. I feel like the program definitely gave me a lot of confidence to speak, which is huge. It also gave me lots of vocab and sentences that I could use on an every day basis.

I wasn’t fluent by the end of it, but definitely had a really good knowledge base that I felt confident in speaking and had my ear tuned to being able to pick up different parts of conversation.

The program gives you a ton of essential words that you will definitely be able to use right away which I really, really liked.

The final word + FREE 1 lesson download

So the answer to the quesion, does Pimsleur really work? My answer is Yes. I definitely think Pimsleur is a great program, but only for the beginner. It’s a shame it’s a little on the pricey side, but if you are serious about building your confidence in a new language and getting a good audio based course, then definitely check it out.

Otherwise, I’d definitely go for something a little cheaper or hunt around online for similar priced 1 on 1 lessons depending on the target language, if you are strapped for cash or are an intermediate or advanced learner.

Hmm decisions, decisions..

Pimsleur language learning programs and a free 1 lesson download can be found here.

## I would love to hear your comments below if you have tried out Pimsleur or any other audio products for studying languages ##

Step 1: Define your Results

What are going to be your results? As Tony Robbins, a hugely successful life coach recommends, you need to be results focused. You need to specifically define your results. Let’s take learning Korean for an instance.

Average Definition: I want to learn Korean.

Good Definition: I want to speak Korean comfortably.

Great Definition: I want to speak Korean informally with a Korean friend about any everyday thing for 20 minutes straight.

Do you see the difference there? A specifically defined end result will allow you to laser focus your learning. If you have results in mind, you will have a huge advantage in terms of efficiency for choosing what to study and your mind will drive you in the direction of your desired results.

The first example of ‘I want to learn Korean’ is going to take forever and will quickly dwarf anyone who tries to tackle such a feat without having a better result to target on.

Step 2: Come up with an unstoppable reason

What is your purpose? What is the reason you are doing all this? A great plan is going to mean nothing, if you don’t have the fire. You need a real ‘because’ or your language learning will not last. Here’s a few examples:

Average Reason: I want to learn English, because I want to get better at it

Good Reason: I want to learn English, because I’d like to talk to English people more

Unstoppable reason: I want to learn English, because I can’t fail this TOEFL test and I want to get a deeper and stronger relationship with my cool English speaking friend Edwin.

Do you see the cheesy but real difference there? An unstoppable reason will guarantee your action. An average reason will get shoved aside when something else ‘important’ comes up. Come up with an unstoppable reason and your language learning will have long lasting drive.

Step 3: Appropriate Massive Action

Now that you have a goal, an unstoppable reason, it’s time for the plan. Your plan requires the appropriate massive action. By that I mean, you need to take the appropriate action and take lots of it. Steve Kaufman, one of the founders of LingQ and an accomplished Polyglot mentions in one of his 3 most important language learning strategies is ‘time on language’.

You need to choose the appropriate actions and spend a ton of time on the language. Think about all the things you can do to achieve your desired results and make it happen in a big way. Practice makes perfect with language learning, so get out there, make a plan and take the right action every day.

Final Words

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There are two ways to do this. The legitimate way and the illegitimate way. Let’s get the illegitimate way out of the way first:

There are a ton of language learning programs out there like Rosetta Stone, Pimsluer, Michael Thomas etc. If you are short on cash, you could just head over to a torrent site, do a search, and download these. It’s free, but illegal. I’m not a fan of this and don’t condone this, but if you are strapped for cash and have your own reasons, this is a great way to get the material and resources you need to just get going.

Now let’s look at the way I would recommend learning English for free online:

Step 1:

Get a real reason to study English. Having a real reason will ensure long lasting effort. I will not accept reasons like “I want to learn English, because I have to”. This is weak and will not bring you to study when you are having an off day. Get a real reason like “I need to learn English for the TOEFL exam in 3 months time” or “I need to learn English to talk to get that job I’ve always wanted”.

Remember a plan without a real strong reason will always be trumped by one that does.

Step 2:

Head over to LingQ. Sign up for free and get access to their massive library of English content. Put this stuff on your MP3 player. Listen and Read as much as possible every day.

Shadow while listening.

Step 3:

Look for Anki. Get the free version. Anki is a spaced repetition program based on a flashcard system. Basically what this means is that the program uses an logarithm that only shows you the cards that you need to see now, not the ones you need to see later. This maximizes the efficiency of your learning. Create a deck and keep adding and doing this every day to nail your vocabulary.

Step 4:

Practice speaking whenever you can. Unfortunately, unless you do a language exchange, you won’t be able to get free speaking lessons online. You may even want to look into other language schools, online language directories or language learning resources online to see what will suit your particular target language. Rinse and repeat steps 2 & 3 until you feel confident enough to speak, then go out and speak.

Step 5:

Keep doing steps 2 to 4 over and over again and I will guarantee your language learning success.

Having a language teacher can be a huge motivator. Having a strong reason to learn the language may be in the form of your teacher, so make sure you choose a great teacher who will motivate you and shape your learning especially for you.

Remember that a language teacher doesn’t have to be a professional teacher. It can be a friend that you study with, a language coach or someone else that speaks the target language. Anyway, here are 5 important things to look for in a great teacher:

1.  Empathy

A good teacher will always be able to empathize with you. Learning can be hard and frustrating, but also fun and rewarding. A great teacher should understand this and will help you through the highs and lows of your learning.

2.  Well Prepared

A well prepared teacher should be able to stimulate you and come prepared for a lesson, chat or whatever you may be doing. This one is also a two way streak. If you are not prepared to learn or do not spend a sufficient amount of time learning on your own, then your learning is going to suffer anyway. You can get some free resources for language learning through directories like this online.

3.  Appropriate Knowledge Level

Having a teacher that has sufficient ability in your target language is huge. I love to ask tons of questions and just chat with my tutors. For them to answer questions on the fly without having to look things up or refer to different things helps speed up my learning. Look for this in a tutor and you will have maximum efficiency in your learning.

4.  Experience

Nothing beats a well experienced teacher. As an experienced English tutor, I know the common mistakes people make at different levels. Because of this, I can point these out after a conversation and really help a student change things for the better. I know that even advanced English speakers often drop the plural sound when speaking. This all comes from experience. An experienced teacher will be able to leverage their knowledge to help you better every aspect of your learning.

5.  Fun

Language learning is all about having fun. Some may disagree and are strictly business, but for language learning in any language, be it English, Spanish or Cantonese; for it to be long lasting, must be fun. Choose a teacher or class that is going to be fun. A fun atmosphere will give you another reason to learn. Having fun is one of the keys to lasting learning.

What else do you look for in a language teacher? Have you had great experiences or bad experiences? I’d love to hear your thoughts below in the comments section.