PIMp My Language

I'm nearing the end of Pimsleur and it's definitely a bittersweet moment. I'm psyched to have completed the series but I'm truly going to miss it. If you ever decide to try and learn a foreign language, please give Pimsleur strong consideration. Like any other language program it has some shortcomings, but the methodology is so incredibly positive in terms of your ability to retain information and speak the language. I'm truly amazed how far I've come after only a little over 3 months.

Knowing Pimsleur was coming to an end, over the past few weeks, I started to contemplate what was next for my quest to learn Italian. I considered taking a course at the local community college but given the relatively unorthodox way I am learning I figured this was not a good fit. Next, I started researching other self-study courses that would specifically address grammar and vocabulary, the two biggest Pimsleur deficiencies. After careful consideration, I've chosen Italian With Ease by Assimil. It's a nice transition from Pimsleur for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is there's also a CD listening component to the series. I got the program a few days ago and it looks pretty interesting. It has 105 lessons and the publisher says it should take you 6 months to complete -- although I'm thinking I should be able to do it in about 4 months because they assume you need a few days to get through each of the first few lessons if this is your first language series. I would agree with them that it appears fairly advanced off the bat/it's not as accodomating for true beginners as PIM.

So regarding PIM, today I'm doing lesson 28 of level III. This means I have only 2 more lessons left. Next week I'll be starting Assimil. However, I get the feeling I'm still going to using PIM in my quest to learn Italian. I'll probably re-do level III lessons as I drive in the car, etc... So maybe this isn't goodbye to PIM as much as a transition to a different way of using it. Regardless, PIM is GOD.