Has anyone used any Pimsleur tapes?

[sir_captain]

Do they work at all? I've got about a year and half in which I ought to learn Spanish, and I don't have the luxury of being able to up and move to a spanish speaking country in the meantime. Nor do I really have the money to spend on classes at the moment, though I might bite the bullet and end up doing that anyway.

Anyway, anyone have any experience with Pimsleur? Is it a decent way to start, in any case?

[Magrittes Pipe]

1. Pimsleur tapes are great.

Listen to them in your car, while working out, fishing, whatever.

The Pimsleur method was very effective for me learning German. I've forgotten most of it in the past 4 years, but still.

[sir_captain]

2. Did you do all three levels?

[Magrittes Pipe]

3. No, just the first.

Still knew German better from 2 weeks of Pimsleur than I did French from 4 years in high school.

[sir_captain]

4. Heh...I hear that.

What the hell...can't hurt to give it a shot.

[Squeech]

5. Got an incomplete set

Four of the tapes from part A, plus a booklet, and seven tapes in part B, but no booklet. I think I trash-picked them. Mrs. Squeech speaks some Spanish, and I thought they might be helpful for her to work on it. Instead we had this roommate who listened to them, a little, and then got some goofy computer program that was clearly made for grade school kids and used that instead-- but this roommate was such a loser that I consider her rejection of the tapes equivalent to an endorsement by an actual scholar.

Anyway, I need to learn Portuguese way more than Spanish, and I need to clean house, so if you want these, PM me.

[sir_captain]

7. Thanks

I actually picked up a set from a friend, so I'm all set there, but I appreciate it!

[trof]

6. Check you library. Ours has them.

[sir_captain]

8. Heh

My "public" library (the NY Public library) doesn't lend, though I'm sure I could find it at one of the smaller branches.

But it's all a moot point--a friend of mine is lending them to me, so it's no problem.

Thanks for the advice, though. I checked on Amazon--they're expensive!

[trof]

9. Doesn't lend?

You can't check out a book or tape or CD/DVD?
Wha kina liberry is that?

[sir_captain]

10. It's the biggest publically available library in the world

A truly fantastic place. The only bigger library is the library of congress. The catch is that you have to do all of your work in the reading room--it guarantees that they actually have what's in the card catalog, and that you can get what you need at almost any time.

Edit: The Harvard library system is actually bigger, and it lends to Harvard affiliates, of course, but it consists of about a dozen or more separate buildings spread all over Cambridge and Boston.