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5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth its weight in gold!, Nov 7 2003
For those new to the Pimsleur method, you may wonder how or why this audio course is superior to all others. The late Dr. Pimsleur studied intervals of repetition with students learning new languages... rote repetition over and over doesn't always sear new vocabulary and syntax into the brain - but Dr. Pimsleur discovered that repeating certain words and phrases in specific time intervals while learning other new things inbetween the intervals seemed to be the right method for training your brain to think in a new language.American English is my native language and I didn't grow up hearing Hebrew or any other language at home. I was a late talker and have always had problems discerning sounds, despite my accute hearing. I didn't think an audio course would be worth my while. All the Pimsleur programs start out the same way - a brief introduction - then you will hear an announcer speak in English, introducing a male and female native speaker of the language. At the beginning of lesson I, you first hear a brief conversation in Hebrew. If like me, you have had no prior foundation in the language, it might as well be gibberish. Then the announcer tells you that at the end of just that 30 minute lesson, you will understand the entire conversation you just heard - and they are not kidding. I hope that everyone who uses this program will contact Simon & Schuster (the publishers) and beg them to come out with Hebrew II and Hebrew III like they have for Spanish, German & French. I didn't study with these endlessly - I just had the lessons in the car and when I'd go to lunch during the work day, I'd listen to one lesson in my car. As the lessons progress, they get increasingly more challenging, so I had to listen to some lessons more than once. After listening several times to all the lessons through the last lesson, lesson #30, I felt confident that I could go to Israel, order food and drinks, ask for directions to the Western Wall or a hotel, have someone fill up my gas tank and even visit with new friends, etc. - all in modern Israeli Hebrew. I listened to the CD lessons for a few months before enrolling in a Hebrew class in college (which I am still taking) - after 2 months of studying in college, there are very few new words that I've learned in class that weren't already covered in my lessons. Hearing native speakers speak the language is essential - you get the intonation drilled into your head, which really helps you to speak it with the right accents in the right place and gives you more of a feeling for the language. The announcer explains important things about Israeli culture when necessary and as needed, will explain that a particular verb or other grammatical element is different in some instances (all languages have "irregulars") and why that's the case. This is like having an Ulpan-to-go. Granted, you won't be ready to run for the Knesset after mastering all 30 lessons, but you will be extremely confident in being able to conduct business and basic conversations in Hebrew. I took Spanish in High School and I feel like I have a much more comprehensive mastery of Hebrew in a couple of months than I ever had in Spanish after 2 years of classroom training.
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