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SIMON & SCHUSTER’S
PIMSLEUR
®
hungarian
reading booklet
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Graphic Design: Maia Kennedy © and ‰ Recorded Program 2008 Simon & Schuster, Inc. © Reading Booklet 2008 Simon & Schuster, Inc. Pimsleur® is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Mfg. in USA. All rights reserved.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
hungarian Voices English-Speaking Instructor . . . . . . . . . . Ray Brown Hungarian-Speaking Instructor . . . Gabor Szentpaly Female Hungarian Speaker. . . Gabriella Wortmann Male Hungarian Speaker . . . . . . . . . . Jozsef Dóczi Course Writers Ibolya Latrán ◆ Dr. Ulrike S. Rettig Reviewers Krisztina Varga ◆ Eva Balogh Editors Elizabeth Horber ◆ Beverly D. Heinle Executive Producer Beverly D. Heinle Producer & Director Sarah H. McInnis Recording Engineers Peter S. Turpin
◆
Kelly Saux
Simon & Schuster Studios, Concord, MA iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS Reading Lessons Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Alphabet Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Unit Eleven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Unit Twelve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Unit Thirteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Unit Fourteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Unit Fifteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Unit Sixteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Unit Seventeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Unit Eighteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Unit Nineteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Unit Twenty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Unit Twenty-One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Unit Twenty-Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Unit Twenty-Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Unit Twenty-Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Unit Twenty-Five . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Unit Twenty-Six . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Unit Twenty-Seven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Unit Twenty-Eight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Unit Twenty-Nine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Unit Thirty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 v
hungarian Introduction Hungarian belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family, which also includes Finnish and Estonian. It is not at all related to the Indo-European languages which surround it and is very different both in vocabulary and grammar. It is spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in seven neighboring countries. The Hungarian name for the language is magyar. There are about 14 million native speakers, of whom some 10 million live in modern-day Hungary. Some two and a half million speakers live in areas that were part of the Kingdom of Hungary before World War I. Of these, the largest group lives in Romania, where there are approximately 1.5 million Hungarians. Hungarian speakers are also to be found in Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia, Austria, and Slovenia, as well as about a million people scattered in other parts of the world, including over a hundred thousand in the United States. The different dialects of Hungarian can be heard mostly in rural areas in Hungary and the neighboring countries. These dialects are mutually intelligible and differ mostly in the pronunciation of their vowels. The “standard” Hungarian, which you will hear in this course, is based on the NorthEastern dialect and is spoken in the entire territory of Hungary.
hungarian Introduction (continued) Hungarian is an “agglutinative” language, which means that grammatical relations (past tense, possession, plural, …) are expressed by adding suffixes and prefixes to words. The vowels of the suffixes change according to the dominating vowels of the word they are attached to. This important feature of Hungarian is called “vowel harmony.” For example, to determine the correct particle to use on a word, you look at the dominant vowels in the word. If the vowels are mostly:
a, á, o, ó, u, ú use ban as in szállodában e, é, i, í, ö, ő, ü, ű, use ben as in étteremben
Hungarian is written in the Roman-based alphabet. The first known Hungarian text, a funeral sermon and prayer, dates back to the 12th century. In addition to the Roman characters, the Hungarian alphabet contains several consonants made up of two or three letters, and vowels with umlauts or accent marks. The modern Hungarian alphabet has a total of 44 letters: a complete listing follows, starting on page 4. There are 14 vowels (listed in bold on the chart) and 25 consonants. However, one of these consonants is counted twice, since it can be represented in two different ways (j or ly). In addition to these 40 letters, 2
hungarian Introduction (continued) there are four more letters (q, w, x, and y) that are only used in foreign words and in the spelling of old Hungarian family names. Both vowels and consonants can be “short” or “long.” The long sounds are pronounced about twice as long as the short ones. Long vowels are marked by long accent marks. Long consonants are doubled in writing; in the case of consonants containing two letters, only the first letter is doubled. Whenever possible, English equivalents are given in the chart. You should use this for reference only, however, as all the information you need to do the readings is contained in the audio on which the reading lessons appear. There are twenty Hungarian reading lessons. They are in the units, starting with Unit Eleven, and are combined at the end of the program. You may choose to do the Readings along with the lesson units, starting with Unit Eleven, or you may wait and do them all together, after completing the rest of the course. Feel free to repeat the reading lessons as often as needed for practice with the Hungarian alphabet and its sounds. Instructions on how to proceed with the Readings are contained in the audio portion of the course. 3
hungarian Alphabet Chart Uppercase Lowercase
13
A Á B C Cs D Dz Dzs E É F G Gy
a á b c cs d dz dzs e é f g gy
14
H
h
15
21
I Í J K L Ly M
i í j k l ly m
22
N
n
23 24
Ny O
ny o
25
Ó
ó
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
16 17 18 19 20
4
Sound o as in bod a as baa b as in by ts as in tsunami ch as in check d as in door ds as in Hudson j as in Jack similar to e in bed é as in café f as in father g as in go du as in duke h as in high; h as in human; ch as in loch; sometimes silent i as in thin ee as in reed y as in yes k as in key l as in long ey as in hey m as in mom n as in no; n as in king (before k, g) n as in new o as in for the long version of o as in for
hungarian Alphabet Chart (continued) Uppercase Lowercase 26
Ö
ö
27
Ő
ő
28
P
p
29
(Q)
(q)
30 32 33 34
R S Sz T Ty
r s sz t ty
35
U
u
36
Ú
ú
37
Ü
ü
38
Ű
ű
39
V
v
40
(W)
(w)
41
(X)
(x)
42
(Y)
(y)
43 44
Z Zs
z zs
31
5
Sound [not used in English] similar to ur in burn [not used in English] long version of ö p as in plan [used only in foreign words] rolling r sh as in shore s as in song t as in ten soft t as in stew similar to oo as in foot; [the short version of the next letter] oo as in pool [not used in English] corresponds to u in French tu [not used in English] longer version of ü as in very v as in very [used only in foreign words] x as in taxi [used in itself only in some old family names, in those pronounced i as in thin] s as in desert su as in measure
hungarian Unit Eleven 1.
ma
2.
mama
3.
ad
4.
alma
5.
fal
6.
falat
7.
falam
8.
falamat
9.
falak
10.
a falak
11.
un
12.
tud
13.
luk
14.
Duna
15.
Ubul
16.
Lulu
17.
rum
18.
durum
19.
radar
20.
urna 6
hungarian Unit Twelve 1.
fut
2.
futunk
3.
utam
4.
utunk
5.
vas
6.
vasat
7.
suba
8.
utas
9.
satu
10.
sarat
11.
satura
12.
abba
13.
nulla
14.
lassan
15.
arra
16.
fussak
17.
amarra
18.
urasan
19.
saruban
20.
a saruban 7
hungarian Unit Thirteen 1.
untat
2.
út
3.
úr
4.
uram
5.
falu
6.
falú
7.
fúrunk
8.
húsunk
9.
huzat
10.
húzat
11.
Garam
12.
garat
13.
ugat
14.
gúla
15.
rúg
16.
aggat
17.
agara
18.
faggat
19.
ugrat
20.
kúra 8
hungarian Unit Fourteen 1.
Kati
2.
Mari
3.
ugrik
4.
úri
5.
taxi
6.
alibi
7.
illan
8.
addigi
9.
hív
10.
ír
11.
hívnak
12.
gurít
13.
irat
14.
írat
15.
utasít
16.
hamisít
17.
kitakarít
18.
zúdít
19.
fiúk
20.
írattak 9
hungarian Unit Fifteen 1.
akar
2.
ár
3.
Ági
4.
Ádám
5.
pávát
6.
párás
7.
harap
8.
arat
9.
árát
10.
kanál
11.
bánat
12.
áradás
13.
az áradás
14.
állás
15.
utazás
16.
április
17.
írás
18.
írásában
19.
búrát
20.
aláírás 10
hungarian Unit Sixteen 1.
sár
2.
szív
3.
szárát
4.
suba
5.
asztal
6.
szál
7.
sál
8.
aszú
9.
úsztatás
10.
Pisti
11.
lassú
12.
issza
13.
ásszal
14.
vadászik
15.
tavasszal
16.
virágos
17.
sírással
18.
halászfalu
19.
húsz táska
20.
lassan isszák 11
hungarian Unit Seventeen 1.
eper
2.
fele
3.
kerestem
4.
szexi
5.
elviszem
6.
Budapest
7.
Eszem valamit.
8.
Mit eszik ma?
9.
Kivel eszik este?
10.
Nem eszem semmit.
11.
Hat után szeretne enni.
12.
Merre van a Parlament?
13.
A Parlament messze van.
14.
Elveszett az útlevelem.
15.
Ez az út Budapestre vezet.
16.
A busz az út mellett áll.
17.
Ebben a házban lakik.
18.
Ki lakik itt?
19.
Ki lakik ebben a házban?
20.
Mit tanít Eszter? 12
hungarian Unit Eighteen 1.
én
2.
szép
3.
kérés
4.
keres
5.
kevés
6.
édes élet
7.
elnézést
8.
étterem
9.
Mit kér?
10.
Hét rétest kérek.
11.
Két kávét kérek.
12.
Kér valamit?
13.
Megnézhetem a képet?
14.
Nem kérek semmit.
15.
Péter Éva mellett áll.
16.
Budapesten éltem.
17.
Februárban készen lesz.
18.
Ez az úr ismer téged.
19.
Mész a várba pénteken?
20.
Ádám tíz hét múlva indul. 13
hungarian Unit Nineteen 1.
cél
2.
acél
3.
cérna
4.
arc
5.
kacat
6.
cica
7.
picikék
8.
vicces
9.
cucc
10.
cuccaim
11.
Ezek az én cuccaim.
12.
utca
13.
az utcában
14.
a Váci utcában
15.
Az étterem a Váci utcában van?
16.
tetszik
17.
Nekem tetszenek.
18.
Ebben az utcában éltél?
19.
A tanár úr mindig viccel.
20.
Cecília kerek arcú. 14
hungarian Unit Twenty 1.
hol
2.
ott
3.
Hol van?
4.
Hol van a Váci utca?
5.
Mikor találkoztok?
6.
Tudod a címét?
7.
Megmondod a telefonszámát?
8.
Sok bolt van ebben a városban.
9.
pohár bort
10.
Holnap utazom oda.
11.
póló
12.
cókmók
13.
kóstoló
14.
fotóalbum
15.
Hét órakor.
16.
Tíz órakor találkozunk.
17.
Otthon van most Nóra?
18.
Beszél angolul és oroszul.
19.
Október szép hónap.
20.
A kávé túl forró. 15
hungarian Unit Twenty-One 1.
garázs
2.
zsiráf
3.
Ázsia
4.
szépen
5.
Szólok a pincérnek.
6.
Zsíros ez a hús.
7.
Ánizs van a szószban.
8.
Zsóka szereti
9.
Zsolt nem eszik semmit.
10.
Sok pénz van a zsebében?
11.
zsebemben
12.
ánizzsal
13.
garázzsá
14.
Mi van a zsákodban?
15.
Ez a zsinór elég hosszú.
16.
Hová mész Balázzsal?
17.
Ánizzsal készítem a teát.
18.
Mivel issza a kávét?
19.
Volt már Ázsiában?
20.
Van színes zsinórunk. 16
hungarian Unit Twenty-Two 1.
jól
2.
játék
3.
ajándék
4.
sajnos
5.
bajjal jár
6.
Józsi fekete hajú.
7.
Ez az új hajója?
8.
Vajjal kéri a zsemléjét?
9.
János megijesztett.
10.
Jár busz a Jókai utcában?
11.
beszéljen
12.
találjak
13.
ismételje
14.
Mikor keljek fel?
15.
tojáshéj
16.
Tejjel issza a kávét?
17.
Januárban jártam Tokajban.
18.
Feleljen a kérdésre.
19.
Ne fájjon a feje.
20.
Jól beszél japánul. 17
hungarian Unit Twenty-Three 1.
öt
2.
öt sör
3.
köszönöm
4.
A barátom török.
5.
összesen ötszáz
6.
Jönnek a görögök?
7.
ők
8.
szőlő
9.
főemlős
10.
Ez kőből van.
11.
Ő a főnököm.
12.
Hol van a Vörösmarty tér?
13.
Sárközy Ernővel szeretnék beszélni.
14.
A rendőr a Toldy Ferenc ---
15.
utcában várt.
16.
Ő sört iszik?
17.
Jenő nem önző ember.
18.
Öt őzet láttunk az erdőben.
19.
Ötkor kezdett esni az eső.
20.
Bőrből van ez a bőrönd? 18
hungarian Unit Twenty-Four 1.
Hová költözöl?
2.
ül
3.
sütünk
4.
Hová ülünk?
5.
Üres az üveg.
6.
különös
7.
Repülővel jön.
8.
Ő nem örült a hírnek.
9.
tűz
10.
remekmű
11.
kisfülű
12.
A fűben ültünk.
13.
Önnek van fésűje?
14.
A követtől jobbra ültem.
15.
Nem őrültem meg.
16.
A sütő működik.
17.
Tűkön ültünk.
18.
Ősszel költözünk.
19.
Tűbe fűzöm a cérnát.
20.
Üzenet jött tőlük. 19
hungarian Unit Twenty-Five 1.
cső
2.
bocsánat
3.
ücsörög
4.
csűrdöngölő
5.
Mit csinál csütörtökön?
6.
Az öccse rendőr.
7.
Elkezdődött a meccs?
8.
bagoly
9.
Nincs itt Jancsi.
10.
Jöjjön ibolyát szedni.
11.
Károly a kocsit javította.
12.
eséllyel
13.
Csilla Mihállyal jár.
14.
Hellyel kínálták Csabát.
15.
Lyuk van a csűr falán.
16.
Milyen bélyeget kér?
17.
A műhely csődbe ment.
18.
Melyik étteremben vacsorázunk?
19.
Ezen a helyen volt a kulcsom.
20.
Ki csinálta az estélyi ruhát? 20
hungarian Unit Twenty-Six 1.
Értse meg.
2.
Tartsa meg.
3.
Ő tanítson.
4.
Hajítsátok ki.
5.
magyar
6.
Hogy van?
7.
Hogy vagy?
8.
Hová megy a gyerek?
9.
Eltűnt a gyűrűm.
10.
Meggyet kérek.
11.
Együnk valamit.
12.
Igyunk egy kávét együtt.
13.
Eggyel elég lesz.
14.
maradjunk
15.
Fáradjon be.
16.
Adjon egy sört, legyen szíves.
17.
Győrben gyártanak kocsit?
18.
Milyen gyakran jár ide?
19.
Tudja, hol van a Vörösmarty utca?
20.
A hegyekbe megyünk. 21
hungarian Unit Twenty-Seven 1.
nyelv
2.
nyáron
3.
Milyen nyelven beszél?
4.
Mennyi pénze van?
5.
Aránylag könnyű nyelv.
6.
Ne legyél nyűgös.
7.
Annyira nyugtalan vagyok.
8.
Hány órakor találkozunk?
9.
Nyolckor a Nyugati előtt.
10.
menjenek
11.
Kenjen egy szelet kenyeret.
12.
Mit kívánjak?
13.
Ne nyavalyogj annyit.
14.
dzsungel
15.
Elveszett a dzsekim.
16.
Hány dzsámi van Magyarországon?
17.
Nyáron majd főzünk dzsemet.
18.
A lányod még tinédzser?
19.
Menjek vagy ne menjek?
20.
A kertben nyílnak a rózsák. 22
hungarian Unit Twenty-Eight 1.
tyúk
2.
atya
3.
kártya
4.
patyolat
5.
hattyú
6.
A pöttyös szoknyát veszem fel.
7.
Az öltöny a Patyolatban van.
8.
Lepottyant a fáról.
9.
útja
10.
látja
11.
Szép a kabátja.
12.
Hogy hívják a barátját?
13.
A kulcs a zárban fityeg.
14.
bodza
15.
madzag
16.
Az edzés holnap este lesz.
17.
Mi rotyog a fazékban?
18.
Ez meg se kottyan.
19.
Az óra ketyeg a falon.
20.
Kátyúsak a város útjai. 23
hungarian Unit Twenty-Nine 1.
Halló, tessék!
2.
Jó estét kívánok!
3.
Bill Jones vagyok.
4.
Pataki Dórával ---
5.
szeretnék beszélni.
6.
Pataki Dóra vagyok.
7.
Á, Dóra, ön az!
8.
Jó estét, Bill!
9.
Hogy van?
10.
Köszönöm, jól.
11.
Dóra, szeretne velem ---
12.
vacsorázni holnap este?
13.
Szeretnék. Hánykor?
14.
Hat órakor jó önnek?
15.
Az nem jó nekem.
16.
Akkor hétkor.
17.
Az jó.
18.
Rendben.
19.
Akkor viszlát ---
20.
holnap este hétkor. 24
hungarian Unit Thirty 1.
Nagy Pál vagyok.
2.
Budapesten élek a feleségemmel.
3.
Holnap New Yorkba megyek.
4.
Néhány hétig ott dolgozom.
5.
Aztán Washingtonba megyek.
6.
Barátaim vannak Washingtonban.
7.
Meglátogatom a barátaimat.
8.
Öt vagy hat napig leszek ott.
9.
Négy hét múlva jövök vissza Magyarországra.
10.
A feleségem is jön velem.
11.
A fiunk nem jön.
12.
Ő már nagy.
13.
Ő Budapesten dolgozik.
14.
Neki van családja.
15.
Egy kislánya és kisfia van.
16.
Ma vásárolni megyek a Váci utcába.
17.
Egy szép könyvet akarok venni.
18.
Tegnap is vásároltam.
19.
Vettem három jó CD-t.
20.
Egy jó étterembe mentem. 25
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HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM
To get the full benefit of each lesson, choose a quiet place
where you can practice without interruption and a time of day when your mind is most alert and your body least fatigued. The length of each lesson, just under 30 minutes, is that recommended by teaching specialists for a concentrated learning task. Once you’ve started the program, simply follow the tutor’s instructions. The most important instruction is to respond aloud when the tutor tells you to do so. There will be a pause after this instruction, giving you time to reply. It is essential to your progress that you speak out in a normal conversational voice when asked to respond. Your active participation in thinking and speaking is required for your success in mastering this course. The simple test for mastery is whether you are able to respond quickly and accurately when your tutor asks a question. If you are responding correctly about eighty percent of the time, then you’re ready to proceed to the next lesson. It is important to keep moving forward, and also not to set unreasonable standards of perfection that will keep you from progressing, which is why we recommend using the eighty percent figure as a guide. You will notice that each lesson contains both new and familiar material, and just when you may be worrying about forgetting something, you will conveniently be reminded of it. Another helpful feature of the Pimsleur® Language Program is its rate of “saturation.” You will be responding many times in the half-hour. This saturation enables you to make substantial progress within a short period of time.
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GUIDELINES FOR SUCCESS
Complete the lesson units in strict consecutive order (don’t skip around), doing no more than one lesson per day, although the lesson unit for the day may be repeated more than once. Daily contact with the language is critical to successful learning. Listen carefully to each lesson unit. Always follow the directions of the instructor. Speak out loud when directed by the tutor and answer questions within the pauses provided. It is not enough to just silently “think” of the answer to the question asked. You need to speak the answer out loud to set up a “circuit” of the language you are learning to speak so that it is heard and identified through your ears, to help to establish the “sounds” of the target language. Do this prior to hearing the confirmation, which is provided as reinforcement, as well as additional speech training. Do all required activities according to the instructions, without reference to any outside persons, book, or course. Do not have a paper and pen nearby during the lessons, and do not refer to dictionaries or other books. The Pimsleur® Method works with the language-learning portion of your brain, requiring language to be processed in its spoken form. Not only will you interrupt the learning process if you attempt to write the words that you hear, but you will also begin to speak the target language with an American accent. This is because the “sounds” represented by the American letters are different from the samelooking letters from the foreign language.
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DR. PAUL PIMSLEUR AND HIS UNIQUE METHOD
Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. He was fluent in French, good in German, and had a working knowledge of Italian, Russian, Modern Greek, and Mandarin Chinese. After obtaining his Ph.D. in French and a Masters in Psychology from Columbia University, he taught French Phonetics and Linguistics at UCLA. He later became Professor of Romance Languages and Language Education, and Director of The Listening Center (a state-wide language lab) at Ohio State University; Professor of Education and Romance Languages at the State University of New York at Albany; and a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. He did research on the psychology of language learning and in 1969 was Section Head of Psychology of Second Language Learning at the International Congress of Applied Linguistics. Dr. Pimsleur was a member of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and a founding member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). His many books and articles revolutionized theories of language learning and teaching. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed a new method (The Pimsleur Method) that is based on two key principles: the “Principle of Anticipation” and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.” This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs.
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GRADUATED INTERVAL RECALL
The term, “Graduated Interval Recall” is a complex name
for a very simple theory about memory. No aspect of learning a foreign language is more important than memory, yet before Dr. Pimsleur, no one had explored more effective ways for building language memory.
In his research, Dr. Pimsleur discovered how long students remembered new information and at what intervals they needed to be reminded of it. If reminded too soon or too late, they failed to retain the information. This discovery enabled him to create a schedule of exactly when and how the information should be reintroduced. Suppose you have learned a new word. You tell yourself to remember it. However, after five minutes you’re unable to recall it. If you’d been reminded of it after five seconds, you probably would have remembered it for maybe a minute, at which time you would have needed another reminder. Each time you are reminded, you remember the word longer than you did the time before. The intervals between reminders become longer and longer, until you eventually remember the word without being reminded at all. This program is carefully designed to remind you of new information at the exact intervals where maximum retention takes place. Each time your memory begins to fade, you will be asked to recall the word.
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PRINCIPLE OF ANTICIPATION
The “Principle of Anticipation” requires you to anticipate a correct answer. Practically, what this means is that you must retrieve the answer from what you have learned earlier in the course. It works by posing a question, asking you to provide a new sentence, using information you’ve learned previously and putting it into a new combination. This provides novelty and excitement which accelerates learning. A possible scenario: Speaker’s cue: “Are you going to the movies today?” (PAUSE) Drawing on information given previously, you respond (in the target language): “No, I’m going tomorrow.” The instructor will then confirm your answer: “No, I’m going tomorrow.” The Narrator then may cue: “Is your sister going to Europe this year?” (PAUSE) Response: “No, she went last year.” Before Dr. Pimsleur created his teaching method, language courses were based on the principle of “mindless-repetition.” Teachers drummed words into the students’ minds over and over, as if there were grooves in the mind that could be worn deeper with repetition. Neurophysiologists tell us however, that on the contrary, simple and unchallenging repetition has a hypnotic, even dulling effect on the learning process. Eventually, the words being repeated will lose their meaning. Dr. Pimsleur discovered that learning accelerates when there is an “input/output” system of interaction, in which students receive information and then are asked to retrieve and use it.
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CORE VOCABULARY
While “Graduated Interval Recall” and the “Principle of Anticipation” are the foundation of the Pimsleur® Method, there are other aspects that contribute to its uniqueness and effectiveness. One involves vocabulary. We have all been intimidated, when approaching a new language, by the sheer immensity of the number of new words we must learn. But extensive research has shown that we actually need a comparatively limited number of words to be able to communicate effectively in any language. Language can be divided into two distinct categories: grammatical structures (function words) and concrete vocabulary (content words). By focusing on the former category and enabling the student to comprehend and employ the structure of the new language, Dr. Pimsleur found that language learners were able to more readily put new knowledge to use. There are few content words that must be known and used every day. The essential “core” of a language involves function words, which tend to relate to human activities. This course is designed to teach you to understand and to speak the essential elements of your new language in a relatively short time. During each half-hour lesson, you will actually converse with two native speakers, using the level of language spoken by educated citizens in their everyday business and social life. The program’s unique method of presenting dialogue insituation relieves you of the most common learning problem, the problem of meaning.
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ORGANIC LEARNING
The
Pimsleur® Method centers on teaching functional mastery in understanding and speaking a language, in the most effective and efficient way possible. You will be working on your vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation in an integrated manner, as you are learning specific phrases that have practical use in everyday activities. There are several thousand languages in the world. Because fewer than five hundred of these languages have developed formal systems of writing, linguistic specialists accept that language is primarily speech. For this reason, it is also accepted that the human brain acquires language as speech. Therefore, when Dr. Pimsleur created his language programs, he began teaching with recorded materials, which enabled the learners to acquire the sounds, the rhythm, and the intonation of the target language. The learners did this more rapidly, more accurately, and with great enthusiasm because they found themselves capable of almost instant beginning communication skills. Dr. Pimsleur called this “organic learning” because it involves learning on several fronts at the same time. His system enables the learner to acquire grammatical usage, vocabulary, and the “sounds” of the language in an integrated, exciting way. In short, the learner gains the language as a living, expressive form of human culture.
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COURSE CONTENT
When you have mastered a Pimsleur® Language Program,
you will have a highly-practical, every-day vocabulary at your command. These basic words, phrases, and sentences have been carefully selected to be the most useful in everyday situations when you visit a foreign country. You will be able to handle social encounters graciously, converse with native speakers in travel situations, and use transportation systems with confidence. You’ll be able to ask directions and to navigate your own way around the cities and countryside. The language skills you learn will enable you to participate in casual conversations, express facts, give instructions, and describe current, past, and future activities. You will be able to deal with everyday survival topics and courtesy requirements. You will be intelligible to native speakers of the language—even to those who are not used to dealing with foreigners. What is equally important, you will know how to ask the kinds of questions that will further expand your knowledge of and facility with the language, because you will have been trained by the Pimsleur® open-ended questioning technique. The Pimsleur® Method becomes a springboard for further learning and growth to take place—the ultimate purpose of any real educational system. This desire to learn will be apparent to the people with whom you speak. It will indicate sincere interest in and respect for their culture.
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A NOTE ON REGIONAL LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES
In any large country, and even in many smaller countries, regional differences in language are common. In the United States, for example, a person from Maine can sound very different than someone from Texas. Pronunciations (“accents”) vary, and there are also minor differences in vocabulary. For example, what is called a “drinking fountain” in New York or Arizona is known as a “bubbler” in Wisconsin, and a “soft drink” in one part of America will be called a “soda” elsewhere. The differences in English are even more distinct between North Americans and Britons, or between Britons and Australians. But all are native speakers of English; all can communicate with spoken English, read the same newspapers, and watch the same television programs, essentially without difficulty. Native speakers of a language can often tell where someone is from by listening to him or her speak. In addition to regional differences, there are social differences. Pimsleur® Language Programs use a standard “educated” speech, which will generally carry you throughout the country without difficulty.
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Reading in a Pimsleur Program
A phonetic alphabet, such as the Latin alphabet and the Greek alphabet, is a list of symbols (letters) that are used to represent the sounds of the language in writing. And given that language is primarily speech, the spoken sounds of the language necessarily precede learning how to decode the written form, i.e., learning how to “read” – just as a child first learns to speak and then eventually to read. This is the natural progression Dr. Pimsleur followed in his courses. After an initial introduction to the spoken language, reading is then integrated into the program and the new alphabet is systematically introduced, associating each letter with the sounds of the new language. Initially, you are sounding out words, mastering the different sounds associated with the new alphabet. You are not, at first, reading for meaning, but rather for sound/symbol correlation. Eventually, when the sound system is mastered, you will be able to look at known vocabulary and “read for meaning.” By the end of the first 30 lessons, you will be reading at the same level as you are speaking.
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Pimsleur covers the world of languages. You can choose from over 60 language programs, many with multiple levels, ranging from the most popular to the exotic. Become a Pimsleur learner and travel the world! Programs available for these languages: • Japanese • Albanian • Korean • Arabic (Eastern) • Lithuanian • Arabic (Egyptian) • Norwegian • Arabic (Modern Standard) • Ojibwe • Armenian (Eastern) • Pashto • Armenian (Western) • Polish • Chinese (Cantonese) • Portuguese (Brazilian) • Chinese (Mandarin) • Portuguese (European) • Croatian • Punjabi • Czech • Romanian • Danish • Russian • Dari (Persian) • Spanish • Dutch • Swahili • Farsi (Persian) • Swedish • French • Swiss German • German • Tagalog • Greek (Modern) • Thai • Haitian Creole • Turkish • Hebrew (Modern) • Twi • Hindi • Ukrainian • Hungarian • Urdu • Indonesian • Vietnamese • Irish • Italian ESL (English as a Second Language):
• Arabic • Chinese (Cantonese) • Chinese (Mandarin) • French • German • Haitian • Hindi
• Italian • Korean • Persian • Portuguese • Russian • Spanish • Vietnamese
SIMON & SCHUSTER’S
PIMSLEUR
®
Pimsleur® Language Programs are available in all of the commonly spoken languages. Many other languages are also available. For more information, call 1-800-831-5497 or visit us at www.Pimsleur.com
© 1997 Simon & Schuster, Inc. Pimsleur® is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Mfg. in USA. All rights reserved. Pimsleur® is a registered trademark of Beverly Pimsleur, used by Simon & Schuster under exclusive license.
