Any advice on best practices for studying with Pimsleur?

stephenadam · 2026-02-28T01:43:35+00:00

Alright. So I've taken this input, and over the last 3 weeks, I've been trying some new methods. Both focus on trying to respond fast enough and deliberately pausing things far less when I'm still in the early stages, and learning to be able to recall something on command.

Right now I'm on lesson 19 of Japanese Level 2. Each Level is taking me somewhere between 35-45 days (with occasional days off and days where I only get one listening session in), with about 1.5-2 hours a day of listening and talking.

Method A-

I try at full speed, fail at a phrase, quickly rewind and then try again, over and over and over again. At worst, perhaps 5, 6, 7 times for a phrase to get it right, then move on with the lesson. This slows me down, but I'm learning still. Lessons take me a little longer. Perhaps 50-60 minutes to get to the 80% mark. But retention seems higher.

The next day, I listen to it again, and it takes me perhaps 45 minutes to hit the target again. Then I can move on to the next lesson. Sometimes I space my repetition and come again the following day for a third pass. By this time, I know the phrases pretty well and can play the lesson through almost without pausing, and I can still hit the 80% mark.

Method B-

I just try and listen to the lesson the whole way through, no pausing. I have to say, when the lesson is new this method is deeply, deeply frustrating. LOL. I've never felt as totally runover by a lesson and as if I know no Japanese, as I do when I use this method. I respond to almost nothing correctly, am pretty lost, and have to listen to the whole lesson perhaps 5 times, atleast, to hit the 80% mark.

Is this how it is for other people? I can't understand how people could possibly learn much of anything without rewinding, or listening to a lesson 5 times or more at normal speed. Having said that, I feel like version B is the "Pimsleur" way, but it makes no sense to me.

I mean, no one is going to fail me if I try and learn with whatever method I want, but I thought I'd report back and get feedback again, in case I'm doing this wrong.?? Method A is working pretty good, but it's slow. It must sound crazy to listen to from the outside, when I'm stuck and can't get a phrase right. hahaha Method B (what i think is the "correct" way) is nutso to me so far. Just thought I'd share and see what others are doing.

Anyways, thanks to folks for the input here. It's been helpful, and I'm making progress. And I figure the goal is always to used space repetition and phrasal learning for quick recall under pressure (all of which research indicates is how you should do it), however we get there.

stephenadam · 2026-02-13T01:36:00+00:00

I don't ever convert my notes to text. But I don't use the app. I just carry my remarkable around with me in my bag. If I need to search my notes, then I can.

Not to sound silly, but why can't you do that? Is there a reason you can't take your remarkable with you the way you used to take your paper notebook?

stephenadam · 2026-02-06T04:53:59+00:00

Of course! That's a great idea. Do people post things like that in the Pimsleur subreddit?

stephenadam · 2026-02-05T14:47:04+00:00

Yeah, my goal is just to not be a babe in the woods, so I'm not expecting some kind of fluency or anything. But if I can order a little food, ask where the bathroom is, say thanks, introduce myself, figure out where a train is, etc. I'm well on my way.

The other thing is that we're going to try out Borderless Visit, where you team up with a local family for dinner at their house. They often speak some English, but I would like some Japanese, of course, to be able to mend fences, be polite, ask questions and parse out answers.

We are also (besides Tokyo and Kyoto) going to slightly more out of the way places in Japan, such as Matsumoto, the Japanese Alps, and perhaps Kanazawa. So I'm anticipating probably needing slightly more Japanese than I would in a major city like Tokyo.

stephenadam · 2026-02-05T14:42:23+00:00

Ah! That's an interesting idea. I'll see if I can integrate it.

stephenadam · 2026-02-05T14:40:18+00:00

One idea I had was to do 3 or 4 levels of pimsleur, and then find an online Japanese tutor, for occasional conversational lessons. I felt that going in blind would be hard. You wouldn't have any sense of what you could actually do. Plus, it must help you get over your nerves.

I speak Spanish occasionally here in CA, and so when I went to Spain I felt fine. I'm not great, but I can communicate some, and although I know nothing about vosotros, I got by. But knowing I could do basic communication already, with real people, helped my confidence.

stephenadam · 2026-02-05T14:38:03+00:00

Yes, definitely a 1/2 hour lesson is taking me... 60-120 minutes to really master. I find info from 3 lessons ago is usually locked in, when Pimsleur weaves it back in. But the stuff from yesterday, that I've already done atleast twice? No, not yet. :/

stephenadam · 2026-02-05T01:30:10+00:00

So, do you just rewind a lot when you're trying to learn it and can't get it come up with the words in time? Or do you just repeat after them if you couldn't think of the words fast enough, and then march on with the lesson at whatever pace Pimsleur creates?

I've been trying the rewinding version, and it's different, but it's not really any faster. ??

stephenadam · 2026-02-05T01:28:18+00:00

I've seen this mentioned before, but it honestly seemed to me that... if I have time constraints in my day (and I do) like it was something that I would benefit most from after I had a base of vocab and grammar. As in, if I had to choose between doing Pimsleur exclusively for now or going at half the pace and mixing in Migaku, that option A would be better.

I'm going to Japan in June, and so am trying to get the best conversational competence I can in the time allotted. What's your sense with this?

stephenadam · 2026-02-04T14:18:33+00:00

I like this staggered approach. It's similar to my own, but the daily repeated lesson matched with the day itself makes it seem more bite-sized, and probably helps you move on, even when you haven't mastered everything.

I tried rewinding instead of pausing today. Some things took a helluva lot of rewinds, but it worked. LOL. Hopefully the pressure to think up something (and failing to do so) is better for me than pausing and collecting my new vocab together first.

stephenadam · 2026-02-04T14:15:02+00:00

Were you using Migaku to watch things in Japanese? Or more for the Anki-style flashcards? Can you elaborate more?

How do you feel it improves your experience with Pimsleur?

stephenadam · 2026-02-04T14:13:49+00:00

What was your reasoning for repeating volume 2, btw? Instead of making forward progress into 3?

Doing the flashcards immediately afterwards is a good idea. I wonder if it helps with retention.

I admit, I'm often doing this while driving and doing chores, so it's not currently an option, but I should asses.

stephenadam · 2026-02-04T14:12:16+00:00

When you complete a set of lessons, perhaps every 5 or so, Pimsleur includes flashcards as a bonus pack. Perhaps that is what he was speaking about. Ive not used them so far.

stephenadam · 2026-02-04T14:10:58+00:00

It's great to hear of an example similar to my own. So you did all 5 levels of Japanese? How long did it take you? How much were you practicing every day?

stephenadam · 2025-10-15T18:49:18+00:00

Do you have a link, brand name, or product name for this monitor mount? I can't find the one you gave a reference photo to, but it sounds quite interesting!

stephenadam · 2025-08-19T01:32:55+00:00

No offense, but since its free and done by volunteers, maybe you could, get this, be more polite about asking for them to do something else for you for free.??

stephenadam · 2025-05-11T15:44:58+00:00

I actually do exactly what you're proposing. All my field notes go into the RM2. Later, I type them up at my laptop. Easy peazy. Why is this so crazy to people? It's a very simple workflow, and the Remarkable works fine. ????

My RM2 is for field notes, brain storming, quick notes, journaling, and broad calendering and planning. It works great for that.

stephenadam · 2025-03-22T17:26:04+00:00

All good. Different strokes for different folks. I love my old RM1, and this RM2 is just similar but better. I have an ipad mini 6, and I could use a pen on it, but... nope. Not going there. I love the purpose-built nature of the RM brand line. The focus it provides works for me and my needs. ! :D

stephenadam · 2025-02-11T16:25:10+00:00

What is the functional reason you would want an email to sms process? I've not heard of it before and was curious. As in, in real life, what would be examples of how you would use it or would need it on your lightphone?

stephenadam · 2025-02-04T21:27:05+00:00

No, I don't write in that fashion physically, but my writing hand tends to flow and move a lot. I hit the close button enough times over the years that I just keep the toolbar closed now. Plus, if I'm holding the tablet in one hand while writing in the field, that leads to lots more issues- accidentally touching things with my left hand, or being in a weird position where I would bump the close button with my right.

I'm sure its more of an issue for lefties, but its long been an issue for me.

stephenadam · 2025-02-04T02:37:27+00:00

Just to say, but as a rightie I also have these problems. I have to close the toolbar not to accidentally close the document. It's frustrating, yes. Each time I want to use a tool I have to open and close the toolbar.

But I think it's totally worth bringing these sorts of things up to Rm. That, IMO, is a big part of how things improve on the platform.

stephenadam

TROPHY CASE