Pimsleur Japanese Language Audio Course Review

Our Pimsleur Japanese Language Audio Course Review gives you an upfront honest review.  We bought the Pimsleur Japanese Complete Comprehensive Bundle Lessons 1-90 and went through the entire course over a period of 6 1/2 months! We started fresh without knowing anything about the language and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that this method actually works! You can start speaking some Japanese after the first lesson! How exciting is that?

Why should you choose the Pimsleur Japanese Language Course

If you are visiting Japan for the first time, it can be very nerve-racking not knowing enough Japanese to communicate to the locals.  Something as simple as asking for a drink, or directions to the bathroom can be a difficult task. The Pimsleur course gives you enough vocabulary and phrases to feel confident that as a tourist you won't get lost forever in a foreign country.

The Pimsleur course concentrates on teaching the essential vocabulary that you would need in everyday situations, but does not really put a strong emphasis on teaching grammar. This is because as you learn the language you will pick up the grammatical structures automatically. 

Learning Pimsleur on the go

This course is perfect for the daily commuter.  Each lesson is approximately 30 minutes long and begins with a conversation. You will not know the everything they are saying in the conversation until you finish the lesson.  You are only supposed to complete one Pimsleur lesson each day.  If you were actually able to absorb 1 lesson a day, you can technically finish the course in 3 months. 

Realistically though, we found that the Pimsleur Level 1 lessons were easy to learn, but as you progress, it becomes more difficult.  With your own time constraints, you may find that it takes you two or three days to master a lesson. Level 2 lessons string together words to form longer sentences. This makes it more challenging, but fun at the same time because its not too easy. Level 3 lessons take it to the next level by adding more useful vocabulary you might use. 

The best results

We found the best results were obtained by going through the lessons without stopping and rewinding.  One lesson was taken going to work and then the same lesson taken again going back home.   After 2 or 3 hours at home, take the lesson one more time for good measure. If you feel that you've mastered it, start a new lesson the next day. Otherwise, repeat the same lesson the next day, but never start a new lesson on the same day!

Do we recommend the Pimsleur Japanese course?

The quick answer is YES YES YES!  If you are on a time crunch and want to be able to communicate what you need, this is perfect for you! Even if you aren't in a rush this course provides an excellent introduction to the language, BUT don't expect to be perfectly fluent in the Japanese language. The Pimsleur Japanese course is limited by the 30 minute audio lessons which also limits the amount of vocabulary you can learn, but the positive outcome is that you retain more of the vocabulary by repetition.

If you are serious about learning Japanese, you should definitely buy the COMPLETE Pimsleur Japanese Comprehensive course! You will quickly finish Level 1 lessons and be glad that you have the next two Levels available to you right away.  Your Japanese friends will marvel at how you pick up the language so quick!

Learn about the Pimsleur Method 

Buy Pimsleur Japanese Language Courses

What's missing in the Pimsleur Japanese course?

After going through the course, you may find that you know there is a word or a phrase you learned, but can't remember what it was. You may also know the word, but you may not recognize it in one of the written forms. 

View the Pimsleur Japanese Study Guide to review each lesson and find the words and phrases you need.

View the Pimsleur Japanese Vocabulary List to review all the words used in the lessons.

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