Job Discussion Forums

Tiger Beer · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Hong Kong

Anyone studying Japanese using Pimsleur?

I'm on level 10...it's fairly efficient.

But how about the different ways of speaking to different people? Or even when listening to the TV? What kind of speaking style do they usually speak while watching TV programs? Would I be able to understand much just by studying the 'how to speak with a friend' style of Pimsleur Japanese?

vancouver_syndicate · Joined: 09 Sep 2004 Posts: 46 Location: Canada

i used pimslear. it's not enough to understand tv. they don't give you enough colloquialisms

southofreality · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 579 Location: Tokyo

TV is one of the best places to learn colloquialisms. Even if you hate the programming, you should force yourself to watch it several hours each week if you want to improve your listening skills as well learn colloquial speech.

ReedNZ · Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 19 Location: New Zealand

I have used Pimsleur but am now using japanesepod101.com... i find it easier to understand and learn from. Anyone else tried both and care to comment?

Mark · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 500 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Pimsleur, IIRC, give you 30 lessons per level and 3 or 4 levels per language. Each lesson is about 30 minutes. So, I think there are 120 Japnaese lessons for a total of 60 hours. This is not enough to have you understanding Japanese television. I actually like the Pimseur programs, but they're an introduction to a language. They're beginner materials to help get you ready for authentic material. My main problem with them is that they're waaaaaaay too expensive for what they are. However, they are (of course) easy to find for free on the internet. I think they're worth doing, but have realistic expectations.

As for jpod, I've listened to some of their intermediate podcasts and they were ok. They have more English language discussion and explanation than I would like, but I think they're worth the time. I don't know about their beginner programs, but they're probably helpful.

Basically, I'd just say, do one Pimsleur lesson per day (repeat when necessary as is the Pimsleur system), and do one or two jpod lessons per day until you either get tired of the courses or feel that they're not helping. There are now some decent Japanese textbooks for beginners, so you might want to start thinking about them as well. There's a program floating around the net called "Let's Learn Japanese Basic" which I found helpful when I was starting out (especially part 2).