When you buy a Pimsleur course, you’re buying one of the most successful language learning courses of all time.

The Pimsleur audio course is based on four main ideas:

1. Anticipation: You must think about the correct answer and retrieve it from your memory before it is confirmed.
2.Graduated Interval Recall: You must keep repeating and learning words at careful intervals before they become part of your permanent memory.
3. Core Vocabulary: If you learn certain critical words and phrases early, you will find it easier to construct important phrases and sentences.
4. Organic Learning: You learn faster when you learn words and phrases in real-world scenarios and as parts of entire conversations.

The Pimsleur method combines small pieces of information and regular testing to make sure you complete each stage before jumping to the next level. As you complete each 30-minute lesson you will learn new words and phrases while reinforcing vocabulary you’d learned before.

Dr. Paul Pimsleur (d. 1976) devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world's leading experts in applied linguistics. He was fluent in French, good in German, and had a working knowledge of Italian, Russian, Modern Greek, and Mandarin Chinese.

Dr. Pimsleur was a member of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and a founding member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

His many books and articles revolutionized theories of language learning and teaching. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed a new method (The Pimsleur Method) that is based on two key principles: the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called "Graduated Interval Recall." This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the "Pimsleur Programs."