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Pimsleur Croatian Basic Course - Level 1 Lessons 1-10 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Croatian with Pimsleur Language Programs
The Pimsleur® the easiest, fastest way to learn a new language. Completely portable, easily downloadable, and lots of fun. You’ll be speaking and understanding in no time flat!
This course includes Lessons 1-10 from the Croatian Level 1 Program - 5 hours of audio-only effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions. Get a chance to test drive the incredibly effective and efficient, world-famous Pimsleur Level 1 Program. Each lesson provides 30 minutes of spoken language practice, with an introductory conversation, and new vocabulary and structures. Detailed instructions enable you to understand and participate in the conversation. Practice for vocabulary introduced in previous lessons is included in each lesson. The emphasis is on pronunciation and comprehension, and on learning to speak Croatian.
The Croatian Language
Croatian, the official language of Croatia, is spoken by approximately 4.5 million speakers in Croatia, plus 1 million speakers in other parts of Europe, the US, and Canada. There are 3 main kajkavski, cakavski, and štokavski (official dialect). Pimsleur's Croatian teaches štokavski.
Tech Talk
- CDs are formatted for playing in all CD players, including car players, and users can copy files for use in iTunes or Windows Media Player.
This course includes Lessons 1-10 from the Croatian Level 1 Program - 5 hours of audio-only effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions. Get a chance to test drive the incredibly effective and efficient, world-famous Pimsleur Level 1 Program. Each lesson provides 30 minutes of spoken language practice, with an introductory conversation, and new vocabulary and structures. Detailed instructions enable you to understand and participate in the conversation. Practice for vocabulary introduced in previous lessons is included in each lesson. The emphasis is on pronunciation and comprehension, and on learning to speak Croatian.
The Croatian Language
Croatian, the official language of Croatia, is spoken by approximately 4.5 million speakers in Croatia, plus 1 million speakers in other parts of Europe, the US, and Canada. There are 3 main kajkavski, cakavski, and štokavski (official dialect). Pimsleur's Croatian teaches štokavski.
Tech Talk
- CDs are formatted for playing in all CD players, including car players, and users can copy files for use in iTunes or Windows Media Player.
- GenresLanguage
5 pages, Audio CD
First published December 5, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 30, 2024
Go ahead and skip the first 2 sections. No one in Croatia asked me if I knew how to speak Croatian.
August 12, 2008
This was the third Pimsleur series I'd tackled, and at this point I've found a number of shortcomings with a system that I otherwise genuinely recommend. On the positive side, using the Pimsleur tapes really does help develop speaking confidence and more accurate pronunciation.
Now for the flaws. First, although I know that each lesson is meant to be listened to once, I found myself listening multiple times. This is perhaps my own stubbornness, but there always seemed to be just a small section that eluded me, so I'd go back to listen to that part again. Since the lessons are set up as *one entire half-hour track*, however, it meant listening to the entire lesson, or (if I was listening by iPod rather than in my car), fast-forwarding through to find the section I wanted to review. I really wish the lessons were broken into several tracks rather than a single one for this reason.
Second, (and most critical) is the paucity of vocabulary presented. Only a handful of verbs, for example: understand, speak, drink, eat, buy, do, want (would like).... granted, these are important verbs, but they don't make much of a dent. It seems to me that the folks at Pimsleur could do less repetition and include more lexical variety. Since I suspect many of the other listeners do as I do and listen to each lesson more than once, having more words and phrases would not present a huge pedagogical stumbling block.
Finally, I question some of the choice of phrases that a great deal of time is spent on. While in Croatia, I found that it was helpful to be able to ask, "Excuse me, where's the....?" but of VERY limited use to be able to say, "Would you like something to drink?" However, unfortunately, a great deal of time is spent on this dialogue, which I suspect is included because it is deemed of use to business travelers.
On the whole, though, I still subscribe to the Pimsleur approach. For "ear learners" like myself, it's a great fit. I just wish they'd broaden the scope of the lessons to include a wide (and more useful) repertoire of words and phrases.
Now for the flaws. First, although I know that each lesson is meant to be listened to once, I found myself listening multiple times. This is perhaps my own stubbornness, but there always seemed to be just a small section that eluded me, so I'd go back to listen to that part again. Since the lessons are set up as *one entire half-hour track*, however, it meant listening to the entire lesson, or (if I was listening by iPod rather than in my car), fast-forwarding through to find the section I wanted to review. I really wish the lessons were broken into several tracks rather than a single one for this reason.
Second, (and most critical) is the paucity of vocabulary presented. Only a handful of verbs, for example: understand, speak, drink, eat, buy, do, want (would like).... granted, these are important verbs, but they don't make much of a dent. It seems to me that the folks at Pimsleur could do less repetition and include more lexical variety. Since I suspect many of the other listeners do as I do and listen to each lesson more than once, having more words and phrases would not present a huge pedagogical stumbling block.
Finally, I question some of the choice of phrases that a great deal of time is spent on. While in Croatia, I found that it was helpful to be able to ask, "Excuse me, where's the....?" but of VERY limited use to be able to say, "Would you like something to drink?" However, unfortunately, a great deal of time is spent on this dialogue, which I suspect is included because it is deemed of use to business travelers.
On the whole, though, I still subscribe to the Pimsleur approach. For "ear learners" like myself, it's a great fit. I just wish they'd broaden the scope of the lessons to include a wide (and more useful) repertoire of words and phrases.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews