About a month ago I blogged that I was starting to learn Italian using the Pimsleur Italian Course. How have I got on?
I’ve just finished the first thirty lessons (which make up Part I of the Course). So I’m one third of the way through. I’ve found that the course is easy to do, very well thought out and produced, and that my retention of what has been taught has been very high. My fears of doing a course that was nearly totally based on the spoken language have proved ungrounded. Not seeing the words written down has not been the handicap that I expected, in fact quite the reverse.
However, I don’t imagine that by the time I have finished the course that I will have more than a very basic vocabulary, though I expect to be able to use what I do know very well. The real test will be when I go to Sicily shortly after I am scheduled to finish the course. In the meantime I must try and find some unfortunate Italian speakers to practise on!