Pimsleur French, developed over 20 years by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, is the learn French software used by the FBI and the CIA designed to teach French quickly through constant repetition and dissection of vocabulary.
The Pimsleur program does an excellent job of ingraining a few key useful phrases into you in a relatively short period of time. It takes you through several casual conversations using standard, proper grammar. After using Pimsleur Italian (the French version follows the same method) for a trip to Italy a few years ago, here’s my take on it:
The Bad Points
- You don’t cover a heck of a lot of ground. You will definitely get to start feeling comfortable with the language and maybe even think you can say more than you actually can, but once you realize that you want to have conversations that go far beyond “Hello, I am an American.”, you’ll be scrambling to learn phrases and vocabulary any time you want to open your mouth.
- It ridiculously expensive. Each level runs close to $250 each, so you’ll spend over $700 to do the entire program. I only did Level 1, and based on that experience, would be hesitant to get the others next time I go to Italy.
The Good Points:
- It is very thorough with what it teaches. You will drill the same sentences over and over and OVER again until they become second nature. I found in the Italian edition that I was automatically doing the translations without stressing and 100% of the time I was correct.
- It teaches using some real life situations. After Level 1 you’ll be able to introduce yourself to strangers. Level 2 has you ordering food in restaurants and making plans with friends. And finally in Level 3, you’ll be able to hold a superficial conversation and do some basic shopping.
Who is this for?
The vocabulary and grammar you’ll learn with Pimsleur is rather formal and rigid. So you may find that you don’t understand people when they speak with you in their everyday speech. It’s best application would be for people who travel in tour groups as the phrases are fairly limited. But what it teaches you, it teaches well and should definitely be considered if you are visiting a French-speaking country for only a few weeks.