Pimsleur Method

Pimsleur Method Italian Level I – Lessons 4, 5 & 6

Pimsleur Method — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:27:34 +0000

So the learning continues. It is starting to move a little faster. Every Pimsleur Method lesson reviews in some way the material already learned. And then it just builds from there.

So here is what you’ll learn in Level I Lessons 4, 5 & 6:

Level I – Lesson 4

You speak
I speak/I don’t speak
But no (to mean “of course”)
And me
Directions
Where is _____ street?
Where is such and such?
The street
The avenue
Feminine/Masculine words
A city square
St. Mark
It’s here
It’s over there

Level I – Lesson 5

I know/I don’t know
You know/You don’t know
I want
You want
You would like
I would like
To eat
Something
To drink

Level I – Lesson 6

Where would you like to eat?
At my place
At your place
Also/Too
You too
Me too
When
Now
Later
I wan to/I don’t want to
Yes, that’s fine

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Pimsleur Method Italian Level I – Lesson 3

Pimsleur Method — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:04:30 +0000

Pimsleur Italian I – Lesson 3 continues by adding new content along with reviewing what you’ve already learned. The new content learned in this lesson is:

But
Are you American? (to a woman)
I
I am
I am Italian (for both a man and a woman)
Are you Italian? (to both a man and a woman)
And you…
Please
Are you well?/How are you?
You’re welcome/Don’t mention it
I’m well/I’m not well

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Pimsleur Method Italian Level I – Lesson 2

Pimsleur Method — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:35:22 +0000

Pimsleur builds on what you’ve already learned so after reviewing what was in lesson 1, I learned the following:

You are American
Hello/Good Morning/Hi
Mrs./Mam
How are you?
Very well, thanks
I’m well
Good-bye
Not very well

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Pimsleur Chinese Mandarin & Chinese Cantonese – What’s the Difference?

Pimsleur Method — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:30:38 +0000

Many people want to know what difference there is between Chinese Mandarin and Chinese Cantonese. In other words, “Which one do I need to learn?” Here is some information to help you make the decision.

Over 1 billion people speak Chinese. The two most common dialects are Mandarin and Cantonese. They are not mutually intelligible. Mandarin and Cantonese are tonal languages, which means that each sound’s meaning is affected by the tone used to pronounce it. There are four tones for Mandarin and six for Cantonese. Mandarin and Cantonese use the same written characters with a few exceptions. Although Mandarin speakers and Cantonese speakers are unable to communicate
orally, they are able to communicate in written form. Both are written using a non-phonetic writing system called “hanzi”. Hanzi uses pictograms, which have different readings and meanings depending on how they are combined with
other kanji. In other words, the same kanji pictogram can be read in different ways based on context. Pimsleur’s approach to reading is based on phonetics, which is not compatible with the ideographic Chinese written system. The Pimsleur Chinese courses therefore offer Culture Notes instead of reading lessons.

Mandarin is the official language in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore. The Mandarin dialect is used in most Chinese schools, colleges, and universities, and in most TV programs, movies, and radio stations throughout the country (even in Guangzhou, or Canton, where people speak Cantonese in their daily lives). Mandarin is one of the five official languages in the United Nations.

Cantonese is mainly spoken in Hong Kong, Guangdong (where Guangzhou/Canton is the capital), the Guangxi provinces, and most of the overseas Chinese communities in Australia, Europe, and North America.

To see our full line of Pimsleur Method Chinese language learning courses please visit PimsleurMethod.com.

Pimsleur Method Italian Level I – Lesson 1

Pimsleur Method — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:20:13 +0000

One of the most common questions we receive at PimsleurMethod.com is, “What will I learn?” If you’ve gone through any of the Pimsleur programs you know this is a difficult question to answer. Pimsleur is not designed like most language programs. We cannot answer that question by simply saying, “Well, in Lesson 1 you’ll learn colors, numbers 1-10, directions, etc.” Since you are learning conversational skills with Pimsleur it’s hard to say exactly what you’ll be learning. With Pimsleur you will learn something new and then after 2 or 3 lessons you’ll be asked to recall that “new” word or phrase again.

With that being said, you can follow the progress of what you’ll learn as we outline what we are learning as we go through the Pimsleur Italian Level I course. Pimsleur has a total of 100 lessons in the Italian language. The Level I course is lessons 1-30.

“But I’m not learning Italian. What will I be learning?” As long as you are completing the Level I course is any other language, it will follow almost identical to what we are posting here. Sure the cities or currencies or cultural differences will change between languages, but the content will be just about the same…as long as you’re looking at the Leve I course. The Compact (10 lessons) programs will be different.

So what did we learn in Pimsleur Italian Level I – Lesson 1?

Excuse Me
Do you understand English/Italian?
Yes/No Sir/Miss
I understand/I don’t understand
A little
Are you American?
Yes/No

Pimsleur starts out slowly for the first 10 lessons or so and then it really picks up speed. Make sure you don’t skip ahead even if you think it is too easy as the lessons build on each other and if you skip ahead you’ll quickly become confused.

Check out all of our languages at PimsleurMethod.com.

ITALY – THE LEANING TOWER OF PIZA

admin — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:56:07 +0000

Here we were, with all of the other tourists … looking at one of the Seven Wonders of the World Today … The Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is located in a city called Pisa in northern Italy. The day was sunny with blue, blue skies overhead. We came by car ourselves, but big tour buses were parked all over the parking lot. There were crowds of people everywhere. It was hard to take any pictures without having people we did not even know in our pictures. One of the favorite shots seemed to be people positioning themselves with their arm out as if they were holding the Tower up by their arm, thus saving the Tower from falling over. It did seem to lean a lot to the side.

It really does look like it is going to fall over because it is leaning too much to the side. Engineers have built stilts or poles to keep it from falling. The Tower of Pisa is a freestanding bell tower of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is located right behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square.

The Tower is 186.02 feet high on the high side and 183.27 feet high on the low side. That creates a significant lean. It really does lean a lot. The lean has been caused by unstable ground. The width of the walls at the base is 13.42 feet and at the top is 8.14 feet. Its estimated weight is 16,000 tons. The Tower has 296 steps, but the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north facing staircase making that side 294 steps. Before restoration work in 1990 and 2001 the tower leaned 5.5 degrees. But today after the restoration was completed it now leans at 3.99 degrees. This means that today at the 3.99 degree lean the Tower from a horizontal position leans out 12 feet 10 inches from where it would be if the Tower were perfectly vertical.

There were three steps to the construction of the Tower. It took 177 years to finish. The marble campanile began on August 8, 1173 during a prosperous period for the military. The Tower began to sink as construction progressed to the third floor in 1178. This was due to unstable subsoil and a flawed design from the beginning construction and so construction was stopped for almost 100 years. This stoppage was caused by all of the military battles Pisa was involved in with Genoa, Lucca and Florence. This allowed the subsoil to settle. The seventh floor was finally completed in 1319.

There are seven bells in the Tower, one for each note of the musical major scale. The largest one was installed in 1655. The bell chamber was finally added in 1372.

To see this wonderful edifice was worth the effort and the trip. It truly is a Wonder of the World.

Tell us about any Wonders you have seen in this world.

ZERMATT, SWITZERLAND – WHAT A PLACE

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:06:18 +0000

International flights into Switzerland usually arrive at either Geneva or Zurich airports. Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland. It is also a global city, a financial center, and a worldwide center for diplomacy. As I looked around I could pick out people from Japan, China, India, Italy, France, Germany and many other countries. Listening to them speak was a real treat … a melody of languages. Both of these airports are very convenient to traveling to Zermatt, Switzerland, a gateway to the Matterhorn. But don’t miss taking a little time to visit the azure blue lakes; Lake Geneva and Lake Lucerne with their castles. Then it’s on to the Matterhorn, Switzerland’s most famous mountain of 14,692 feet; the mountain that movies have been made about. It is located in the Penninie Alps on the border of Switzerland and Italy. In German “matte” means “meadow” and “horn” means “peak.” It is the tenth highest peak in Switzerland.
There were seven of us, four adults with three children, in our Honda Odyssey making our way towards the Swiss Alps. The morning was sunny with a few white billowy cumulus clouds making their way lazily across the wide expanse of blue. The road was very straight most of the time with a few curves intermingled. Looking out the window, we saw green fields dotted here and there with acres of yellow flowers that looked like sunflowers. The beauty took my breath away. It was so picturesque, just like in the travel magazines I had seen.
Off in the distance, I could see mountains rising up from the green plains we had been traveling through. At last I could see them … the Swiss Alps. This was the home of Heidi, my favorite childhood novel. I can still remember some of her adventures. Her grandfather lived here and cared for her in these wondrous mountains. The Heidi book is among the best known works of Swiss literature and well worth reading to your children.
As we drove into Zermatt, a beautiful, little tourist town at the foot of the Alps, we parked our car on the outskirts and walked from there. No cars or big tour buses allowed in the village. The train stops here and goes no further. This is one of the great ski and climbing centers in the world. This deep valley is nestled between two steep, sculptured mountains. The air is crisp and clean with an Alpine flavor. Summer flowers drape themselves from each building along the way. Its cobblestone streets and pathways take you back in time to a simpler way of life. It is beautiful. It is exhilarating. It is special to be here; to see this great mountain and walk the cobblestone streets of Zermatt.
The Matterhorn is truly a magnificent mountain. A dream comes true, just to be here.

JAPANESE RELIEF EFFORT – FREE LANGUAGE COURSE

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:43:28 +0000

Japanese Relief - For a limited time, Pimsleur Method will offer free downloads of 8 hours of its Japanese language learning program to support agencies and volunteers helping the millions affected by the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis in Japan.

By providing these Japanese language learning programs, Pimsleur Method hopes to ease relief and recovery efforts in communities affected by the crisis by giving aid workers an easy way to begin communicating in Japanese. This is especially critical in more remote areas where English is not widely spoken.

TRAVELING TO CHINA

admin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:26:28 +0000

I was waiting at gate C 5 to board my flight. It was supposed to leave in 10 minutes. The announcement blared loudly over the airports’ PA system, “Flight 4659 will be delayed and will not be boarding for 30 minutes. We are sorry for the inconvenience.” I had a connecting flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong. What if I missed it, I thought. What will I do?

In 30 minutes another announcement and another delay, this one said we would have another hour delay before boarding. Frustration started to set in. By the time I boarded and got on my way, I knew I would miss my connecting flight. We found out that are delay was caused by Air force I, It was landing at the San Francisco Airport and so they closed it down to all incoming flights. That was so exciting. Oh the joys of International travel.

I was on my way to Guangzhou, China via Hong Kong to look for new items for our business to sell. I was to meet a business associate in Hong Kong who would take me to our hotel that night or should I say in the middle of the night. We were to meet with a couple businesses the next morning and then catch a train on to Guangzhou.

When I finally got to Hong Kong, it was about 2 a.m. and my business associate was nowhere to be seen. I did not have a phone number to call him or an address of where to find him. All I could do is stand around and hope he came. I waited for over an hour before he showed up. Imagine being in a foreign country in the middle of the night not knowing anyone, where to go, or what to do. Not the best scenario, I would say.

I am glad to say all worked out. We did meet up, make it to our hotel, our meetings, and caught our train. Canton Fair here we come! Guangzhou used to be called Canton due to the Europeanized names being used by the English Colonies but has since been changed back to its Chinese name.

My trip was successful despite my frustrations with the airline. I saw some great places, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Yiwu and Shanghai. It is unbelievable the capabilities that the Chinese have in manufacturing goods. The industry of the Chinese people is amazing.

Have any of you had frustrations or stories of interest with your International travel? We would love to hear about them.

I LOVE CHINA TOWN

admin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:49:12 +0000

Have you ever been to Polish Town, Czech Town or Korean Village?

Sounds strange, doesn’t it. So why are there so many China Towns around the world? How about a nice Danish Roll, a French pastry or some Baklava?

Speaking of Baklava, I can almost taste the thin layers of phyllo dough, with chopped nuts in between those paper thin layers, with a little honey added. I love Middle Eastern pastries and the Balkan cuisine. Let’s have some Chocolate Bavarian from the Normandie Café, one of my favorite French pastry shops. Is it any wonder my weight keeps going up? If I add “rich buttery flaky dough that Chania Townturns pastries into a sinful delight,” my Danish for breakfast doesn’t help my weight a bit.

Sauerkraut, Danish meatballs, pizza, Thai noodles, Kung Pao chicken, sesame oil chicken wings, stir-fry, bok choy, Moo Goo Gai Pan to name a few more favorite foods that keep me thinking about food.

Don’t’ you just love to eat? When I go out for the evening or even for lunch, I seem to choose German, Italian, Chinese, French, Thai, Indian/Hindi, or a Japanese restaurant. We have any and all kinds to choose from. We can pick different countries, different foods and all within a few miles from where we live. I don’t have to go far to feel like I am in a different country clear across the world.

Every restaurant has something special about it. Different restaurants have interwoven within their walls different foods, colors, languages, customs and some great people.

Developing their recipes has taken eons of time. We now experience the best a country had to offer in taste and drink. It is like having our very own “Sunday Dinner” with them. They offer us the best they have.

I have wandered through China Townes across the world from San Francisco to New York and from Singapore to Yokohama. What an experience: the sites, the smells, the people, the food. As we walk down a narrow street together in Shanghai we look through the window and start salivating as we see some of the best food we have ever laid our eyes on. Look at those bright greens, heaps of snow white sticky rice, bowls of steaming soup and those pieces of chicken and beef, browned to perfection. I can’t contain myself. How about you? Of course we go in … are we stupid?

We would do the same thing, if it had been a Polish Town, Czech Town or a Korean Village. It is just that most of the time it is a China Town, Italian Village or a Thai restaurants. Each culture has its culinary delights; we just need to find them. So let’s just keep looking.

Lunch time … see you later!