Pimsleur Farsi Persian Level 1 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Farsi Persian with Pimsleur Language Programs (1) (Comprehensive)

Very good program, easy to follow and improve spoken Farsi. I'm finding I can pick out words used by my Farsi speaking friends. It's too bad there aren't further lessons because it doesn't go far enough in some ways. For instance, it teaches words for lunch and dinner but not breakfast, and the only day of the week covered is Friday. Another useful phrase would be something like "Sorry, I don't know the words to respond to that" or something similar

I completed this course while concurrently using the Rosetta Stone software, and I'd like to offer a review which compares the two: PRACTICALITY: Pimsleur wins. You'll learn how to ask for directions, order in a restaurant, make introductions, haggle with a merchant, etc. After a similar amount of time spent using Rosetta, you'll know how to say things like, "These two girls are wearing red dresses and riding bicycles." CONTENT: Rosetta wins. I'm paying $100 to use Rosetta online for three months, compared to $140 for the complete Pimsleur comprehensive course. In the amount of time it took me to complete the Pimsleur course, I've learned much more vocabulary from Rosetta. RETENTION: Pimsleur wins. While this could partly be because it has less content than Rosetta, I feel that the Pimsleur method is still much better for fostering retention. READING: Rosetta wins. Reading is ingrained to every lesson, whereas Pimsleur has audio lessons with a separate small set of reading lessons. OVERALL: Both are great. Pimsleur will get you up to speed fast enough to encourage you to keep learning, while Rosetta probably offers more in-depth training over the long term. They also reenforce each other pretty well.

This is a fun way to get started and my skills improved markedly over just 2-3 weeks, however I definitely need more! Pimsleur needs to come out with a level 2 and 3 for Farsi. This is a great way to get started speaking, and you can fill in vocab and written later once you get started with this basic aural foundation.

Salaam ... This is a great course, but it really needs a sequel (or two). About 2/3 of the way through it, I also started working with a tutor. She was able to clear up some of the minor points I was missing (e.g. some of the pronunciation issues I was having). The biggest drawback of the Pimsleur method is the lack of a written text (even transliterated) or vocabulary list to refer to. That said, however, the course is great for independent study, especially by those of us who spend too much of our lives inside a 4-wheeled commuter box. Some folks have tried to compare Pimsleur with Rosetta Stone. Don't bother. That's like trying to compare horses to cats. They are completely different animals. My preferred method is to do Pimsleur first in whatever language you're trying to learn. At least do Level One. This will give you a feel for how the language sounds and fits together, making further study more productive. THEN you will find Rosetta to be much more helpful. Rosetta will clear up whatever lingering pronunciation mysteries you may have, address reading and expand your vocabulary. Use both systems, but do the Pimsleur first, IMHO.

I have been using Mace's Intro to Modern Persian, his Grammar book, and a couple of dictionaries. However, I have had no speakers to listen to or teacher to interact with. These CDs helped a great deal and gave me practice listening and speaking in a more active environment. I look forward to Levels II and III. Kheili Motoshakkeram, Omar Khayyam

Very helpful and informative

Like all Pimsleur products it's tremendously effective for acquiring useful speaking and comprehension skills at whatever level, and in whatever language, the given program teaches.

I received this CD to learn farsi so I could speak the language with my potential in-laws. All my my fiance's family is from Iran and I wanted to learn the language so I could speak their native language with them and got this CD hoping it would help me out. While I was not upset with my purchase, I wished that the lessons went further into vacabulary. While the other review here is correct, the pronunciation is very good and you can learn the pronunciation very well here, there is not nearly enough on how to speak the language. I am lucky, that I have my fiance, who is fully fluent in farsi (and her family) to teach me more. If not for that I would have been disappointed with this CD. While this CD is a great start, more would definately been better. The lessons at first moved to slow, and then by lesson 7 and 8 they went to fast, then lesson 9 and 10 were to slow again. A second lesson CD package (like Farsi II) would be nice, but more farsi language in this first CD package would have been better.