Pimsleur Armenian (Eastern) Level 1 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Eastern Armenian with Pimsleur Language Programs (1) (Compact)

My Armenian was very poor, but I found these CDs easy to follow. You start with phrases that are repeated by two speakers, helping you figure out the correct pronunciation and also variations. The conversations progress as new words and phrases are introduced, but the speakers always remind you of words and phrases you've already used, so that you can remember them and learn how to work them into coversation. Since I knew a bit to begin with, I can say that the pronunciation is good and the phrases are helpful. They tend to use the formal voice (rather than more informal terms that you might encounter everyday), but they are very useful CDs.

I'd love to get more of these, and practice every day!

I ordered this so my husband and I could learn a little Armenian (I am of Armenian descent). I have other Armenian language tools, such as the VocabuLearn cassettes, a textbook, and Samuelian's transliteration dictionary, and they are all helpful in their own way, but in terms of amount of progress for time spent, Pimsleur beats them all. If you have ever listened to the Pimsleur compact programs for other languages, you will be familiar with the structure. I have listened to the first lesson of two other languages, and the Western Armenian one is no different. They start out by teaching you how to ask someone if she understands Armenian (or whatever language the tapes are for), and by the end of the first lesson, you can understand and participate in a brief conversation that centers around that. Each subsequent lesson builds on that first lesson, teaching you more words and phrases. The lessons are in both English and Armenian, just as an FYI. This is not done in an immersion method. The way that Pimsleur handles pronunciation is also very helpful, especially for individuals who are not used to hearing Armenian. Some of the words are very long, and can sound very confusing. Pimsleur walks you through the pronunciation of each word, starting with the final syllable and working backwards. My husband, who has pretty crappy pronunciation (since he didn't learn how to make the "gh" and "kh" sounds), has been doing surprisingly well with this method. I still have to help him out, but overall, it is as good as can be expected without an actual person telling you what you are doing wrong, although the lessons do usually address common mistakes. Pimsleur also sneaks in grammar lessons, so you gradually figure out some of the grammar constructs. Some people catch on to this more easily than others, but the course does make an effort to teach you. Now the bad: The Pimsleur course doesn't come with any written materials, so if you are confused about a particular sound ("Is that a "t" sound, or a "ts" sound?"), there is nothing to check to make sure. Also, the Pimsleur courses (in general, not just the Armenian one) seem to be geared towards people travelling, rather than learning a heritage language to converse with relatives. The actual words and phrases that it teaches may not be helpful to you if you are learning it to converse with family. When will you really need to ask them if they understand English, or tell them that you are American? Overall, though, this is the most user-friendly Western Armenian audio language tool that I have found, and I would still highly recommend it to anyone trying to learn the language.

I have started this with disc 1 & 2. Now the trouble is making myself focus & be still long enough to get the full benefit. It is well done though different from the Armenian language I grew up with. When my grandmother died we stopped speaking Armenian in the home. Now both parents are gone & I want to do this for myself.

This is the language program I've been hoping existed. It teaches right from the start clear, concise Armenian conversation. The speakers are very easy to understand and the courses build on themselves in a logical manner. A great gift for those who always meant to get around to learning the language but haven't found a means to do so.

The Pimsleur method is very effective, but the content of these lessons was terrible. It consisted of two disks of greetings and asking for directions, which is useful, then 8 disks of awkwardly (and sometimes creepily) trying to get dates. I don't even know how to ask for someone's name, or ask the price of an object. This is neither helpful for speaking with my Armenian family, nor for traveling to Armenia. I had intended to review as 1 star at first, then as I thought about it pushed it up to two, because it really is an effective method. But as I wrote about how just utterly worthless the content was and considered it with respect to what I paid for the set, I brought it back down to one.

Excellent! Great for learning in on my commute. I feel like I am in a real class because if the listen & recite style if learning.

I am fairly pleased with the content. HOWEVER, the CD when I insert into my car displays that it is Italian. So i cannot save it to the hard drive built into my car or it will overlay my actual Italian CDs. That is very disappointing, same issue on my ipod. So I can only use this CD when i have an actual CD player which is less than convenient. I have discovered this to be the same problem with many of Pimleur's language CDs.