While the Rosetta Stone Japanese learning system is the best-selling language software program, the Pimsleur language system is one of the best-selling systems. Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone share some common elements, but Pimleur also includes elements that appear to be, at least theoretically, the opposite of its competitor’s system.
Both Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone take a scientific approach to teaching foreign languages. Both are based on well-tested psychological and linguistic learning models. In particular, they share the belief that languages are best learned from scratch in the same way that children learn their mother tongue. No system wastes time with lots of translations or grammar lessons. Both intervene and teach the student the spoken language.
Where the Pimsleur method differs from the Rosetta Stone method is that while Rosetta Stone, at least in theory, opposes the behaviorist (or behaviourist) approach to teaching, Pimsleur actively employs it and has used it historically as part of its teaching strategy. marketing. Dr. Paul Pimsleur introduced his language teaching technique over forty years ago, at the height of the popularity of behaviorism.
At its most fundamental level, behaviorism takes a mechanistic view of human behavior. We are basically automatons that respond to stimuli and lack unique and significant human qualities. The strict behaviorist believes, for example, that free will is an illusion.
While a more humanistic approach to both learning and psychology has been taken in recent years, no one denies the effectiveness of many behavior-based models, including Dr. Pimsleur’s. Two of the Pimsleur system techniques for memorization and retention are particularly noteworthy.
The first of these methods is derived from the “Anticipation Principle”. What this means is that the learner must anticipate the answer to a question instead of being given the answer over and over again until it “sticks.” Dr. Paul Pimsleur, creator of the Pimsleur language learning technique, called this type of interactive learning an “input/output” technique versus a passive learning technique. While they don’t like to give Dr. Pimsleur credit for it, most if not all modern language learning programs employ this technique as well.
Another of Dr. Pimsleur’s contributions to language teaching is called “graduated memory.” When we first learn a new word, we will only remember it for a minute or two, no matter how many times it is repeated to us. If the word is repeated to us at graduated intervals, more often at first and then at longer intervals, we will memorize it more quickly and retain it longer than if it is “drummed through our heads” repeatedly.
Pimsleur’s Japanese Learning CD series will appeal to those students who like a fully comprehensive audio teaching system that can quickly teach students how to speak and understand spoken Japanese. This method is used by the CIA and FBI, hence Pimsleur’s catchphrase: “Learn like a spy! Pass for a native!” At $274 per 30-lesson unit (30 minutes per lesson), the full set of lessons is over $800, so it’s for “true believers” only. It comes with a money-back guarantee, but you might want to try their short starter kit first. At just under $20, it contains the first 8 lessons and is designed for people who just want to understand some basic Japanese.
If you are interested in learning to read and write Japanese, you will have to look elsewhere. Pimsleur’s Japanese learning system is entirely dedicated to conversational Japanese. While the approach may be considered narrow, Dr. Pimsleur believed that a language can be best understood by learning it this way, just as children master their spoken language long before they learn their alphabet.
Teaching students to quickly speak and understand conversational Japanese is where Pimsleur excels. While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is a very effective system and has been used by businesses and government agencies for decades simply because it does its job so well.
