Pimsleur Russian

I walk to work down what must be one of the ugliest streets in Sydney (Regent St). If I'm not enjoying any of the sights down this concrete smog filled corridor I may as well learn something while I do it. It was this line of reasoning that had got me onto Pimsleur. It was recommended to me by a friend of mine - on the basis that it was made in the 70s, was invented by a linguist that studied the way which people learn a language and it's what the FBI and CIA use - both of which must have a profound understanding of other languages and cultures (sic). I am now about two thirds of the way through which means that I have done about 30 hours. There are ninety lessons split up in to three parts of 30. I religiously do one half hour lesson on my way to work each day - this way I'm insulated from the junkies asking me for money and, if you prescribe to the school that turns up the car radio when they fart, from the smells of that terrible street too.

The Good

My generation was brought up in front of commercial TV. Our food was loaded with chemicals and I'm pretty sure the rooms we grew up in still had lead in the paint. This means our attention spans suck. Not a good asset when trying to learn a language - especially when you're relying solely on your non-primary sense, hearing.

Pimsleur do a pretty great job of getting different words through without me tuning out. Their technique is basic: teach you a word in a context, repeat, change the context of the word, get you to translate the word in a sentence, then translate the same word in a different context. Pretty soon you have at your disposal a bunch of words which you will continue to use as you learn new ones - keeping them fresh.

Early on this is great for making the content stick in your head. By the second part the gaps in audio, when you are expected to translate something into English have reduced in length, so you really need to know it straight away otherwise they start giving you the answer before you've finished. I found I had to repeat some of the lessons or even some blocks of lessons until I really remembered the content.

You begin by learning the really important stuff right off the bat. "I don't understand" "I don't speak Russian" "Do you speak English?" "Can you repeat that?". Later there is content about travelling, asking directions and buying things - which is all invaluable.

They somehow managed to stopped me from getting bored which is a small miracle but it's difficult to know how much of that was due to me being able to repeat whatever Russian I was hearing in a menacing voice to be overheard by a "norm" at the lights.

The Bad

A lot of the content of the course seems to be geared towards the jetsetting businessman who is also a closet alcoholic (we learn "wine" and "beer" almost before anything). The bulk of the beginning of the course is all about eating and drinking and inviting people to places. It seems pretty formal - it wasn't until about twenty lessons I found out that there was an informal way of addressing people.

They gloss over a lot of the grammar, or rely on you to learn it implicitly - that is don't explain the rules to you directly, instead expect you to work them out from the context of numerous sentences or pieces of dialogue.

The Weird

There are some awesome conversations like lines taken from French New Wave cinema as well as some poor desperado who just doesn't get that a girl is not really interested in going out with him.

Man: Would you like to get something to eat at 3?

Lady: No

Man: At 4?

Lady: No

Man: At 5?

Lady: No

Man: At 6?

Lady: No

Man: At 7?

...

Man: At 12?

Lady: No

Man: Would you like to get something to drink at 3?

Lady: No

Man: At 4?

Lady: No

Man: At 5?

Lady: No

Man: At 6?

Lady: No

Man: At 7?

...

Man: At 12?

Lady: No, you don't understand.

Man: I don't understand?

Lady: You don't understand Russian.

Nice one Casanova.

The gender roles are pretty old school. I remember one lesson a wife is asking her husband for money so she can go out and buy a pretty hat.

All lessons are taught to you by three voices - one male, one female and the narrator is a male voice too. For the first forty or so lessons, these three voices are polished as if from people who take out the silver spoon from their mouths only to help themselves to more luxury pie. Out of nowhere at the fortieth lesson the non-narrator male voice gets the boot and is replaced by a gravelly harsh voice. It sounds like someone that sleeps under a bridge and smokes Pall Malls but is a welcome change in pace.

Conclusion

It's a pretty massive call to be able to teach a language in 45 hours face-to-face let alone over tape. All in all I'm pretty happy with how it's gone but it's definitely not enough on it's own to learn a language. I still haven't got to the end but I have a sneaking suspicion I will not be able to understand the news in Russian by then. I am not sure how to bridge this gap.