The Pimsleur Language System was invented by Dr. Paul pimsleur and is based around the principles of 'anticipation', 'graduated interval recall', 'core vocabulary', and 'organic learning'.

Each lesson consists of a recorded conversation between a native speaker and a language learner. The conversation is then broken down into its component parts and you are invited to participate in the conversation by filling in the gaps out loud. This is pretty standard fare for language programs these days but what makes Pimsleur stand out are these principles that each lesson uses.

Anticipation - The course makes you anticipate the correct answer by asking you to form and speak the answer from memory to fill the gap before having it confirmed by the lesson.

Graduated interval recall - Makes the learner recall a learned word or phrase at increasingly longer intervals. So when you learn a new word, the lesson will keep throwing it at you to check that you have not forgotten it, but the frequency of its use becomes less and less over time.

Core Vocabulary - It has been shown that a large majority of basic language use is made up of a small number of words. This 'core vobaulary' is what Pimsleur concentrates on so people can become conversational as quickly as possible.

Organic Learning - The program uses an audio format because Dr. Pimsleur argued that most people want to learn to speak and understand a language. He saw listening and speaking as very different skills to reading and writing and saw that people would learn more effectively and efficiently using auditory lessons. He called this organic learning.

These four system components ensure Pimsleur is an excellent program for learning to speak a language, but it lacks the ability of other packages to help you learn to read and write the language as well. It also has no written transcripts or peripheral activities to accompany the program.

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I have to admit I found Pimsleur extremely effective at doing what it claims—that is helping you to learn and use a small core of vocabulary words very well. The graduated interval recall technique is so startlingly simple and yet so amazingly effective. The very first lesson i took with Japanese Pimsleur began on a bus with what sounded like a very long, extremely complicated exchange in Japanese between an American man and a Japanese woman. I have to admit I was a little daunted, but continued. The conversation was broken down slowly through the following 30 minutes sentence by sentence, each word translated and then each sentence reconstructed from the bottom up, beginning with one word and expanding until the whole sentence can be repeated by the student. It is vital that you speak the words and phrases out loud for this to work. I tried saying them in my head for a few sentences but it was nowhere near as effective as when I recited out loud.

I was amazed at how well the graduated interval recall helped me remember the vocabulary. Just as I was forgetting a word I had learned previously, it was slipped back into use and I recognised it immediately. When this is done enough times you do not forget. I stil remember the sentences I learned in the first lesson. I am not sure though how well it will stand up to speaking real Japanese with real Japanese people who dare to vary their conversations from the Pimsleur format, but we shall see.

With its graduated interval recall, The information you will learn with Pimsleur will have a retention possibly greater than any other language program you can use. The vocabulary you learn will stay with you for years.

However, as Pimsleur uses only a core of vocabulary and only has 3 levels (for some languages) then it can never take you all the way to fluency on its own. You will need to learn new vocabulary eventually from somewhere else. The way the vocabulary is taught is excellent—probably the best in its class—but it is small compared to many other language courses.

Pimsleur also cannot help you read or write a language. Although this was the point of Pimsleur's system it also means that you are restricted again if you want to take learning a language all the way. To really learn a language you need to know how to read and write the script.

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Pimsleur is certainly in the higher bracket of prices within this market for what it offers. They do smaller courses which consist basically of fewer of the same lessons at a fraction of the price. However if you really want to learn to speak a language then you need the comprehensive courses. They are expensive but well worth it in my view. The smaller courses are created to whet your appetite and you will probably want to buy the comprehensive course when you have finished them anyway.