Pimsleur Dari Persian Conversational Course - Level 1 Lessons 1-16 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Dari Persian with Pimsleur Language Programs (1) Audio CD – CD, September 15, 2009

Let's be clear about what this is and what it's not. For the reader who is seriously interested in mastering the language, this purchase is not going to be a substitute for a comprehensive study such as "Dari" by Rahman Arman. The underlying methodological principle, to deny the learner a text or visual cues of any form, is initially a lot to swallow. The serious mastery of any language requires a synergy of four elements: reading, writing, hearing, and speaking. But all we're talking about here is an introduction to help the learner to get started.After realizing that there was no accompanying printed material, I was skeptical to the point of wanting to send back my purchase untried. Frustrated but assuming I could try it out for free, I decided to listen to the first lessons and then got hooked. As an adult I've mastered several foreign languages, one or two of them at a level where native speakers occasionally confuse me for being native myself. I don't think I'm unusually dumb, at least when it comes to learning languages, but I'll disagree with some of the other reviewers on this point: I had to listen to each of the lessons several times before moving on to the next one. I copied them individually onto an mp3-Format using a freeware audiorecorder, Apowersoft. It was important to be able to frequently pause the recording while learning. Working on it while driving proved to be less effective because I didn't have my hands free to stop and re-start the playback. The exercises also take a lot of concentration, and I'm too careful a driver to let myself get that distracted. What worked for me was traveling daily to work either by train or bus.On balance it seems to be a seriously sensible way to get started. There's a concerted focus on pronunciation and simple dialogue that can be used "as is" for conversation or as a basis for further learning.I use my Dari for volunteer work with Afghan refugees. Parallel to the Pimsleur course I'm working as well on the written form of the language. Nonetheless, it's been helpful to put aside the Persian text while learning the pronunciation. It forces me to listen more carefully and doesn't allow me to reinforce my spoken mistakes while reading from the written cues.All in all, this is Dari for Dummies. I'm one of them. It's best not to be too proud and to start with the basics. It was well worth my investment. That said, it's unlikely I'll put out three digits for Level 2. At some point it's better to switch back to a standard textbook with reading and written exercises.

This is an absolutely perfect basic foundation for learning Dari. It is simple enough that a completely ignorant novice, like myself, can pick up the basics! You definitely can't take a trip to Afghanistan after just this course, but you can impress your local Afghan restaurant or you Afghan in-laws with a few key phrases.I love the way it tackled the grammar of Dari as it is very different from English, even setting it up for you to think okay you know this word and that word, can you guess how to say this phrase? This added level of thinking about how the language works rather than just memorizing a bunch of phrases is how you can really learn a language as time goes on.Perfect for beginners to get a solid foundation to then continue their studies later.

The female voice is not that great, but the male speaker is very clear. It is worth buying if you really want to learn something.

Only audio cd .. no book .. but very useful..

I just returned from a deployment in Afghanistan where I was embedded with the Afghan National Army as a Trainer. I learned quite a bit of language at Ft. Polk Combat Skills training and also by working with Afghans every day in country. I found that when I came back, I wanted to continue my language education and skills to be more versatile if and when I head back to Afghanistan soon, so I bought this language course. It is excellent. The lessons are actually what you hear in day to day conversation over there.

Before I left for Afghanistan, I purchased Pimsleur's Farsi, because the Dari CDs weren't available yet. Farsi and Dari overlap, by my rough estimate, by 75%, but they are not the same language. I ordered the Dari program as soon as it came on the market. The military may offer on-line Rosetta Stone programs, but for me, Pimsleur works a lot better. This Dari program helped me enormously to do my mission in Afghanistan. It certainly won't be enough to achieve language mastery, but it is a great start.Army Doctor

I didn’t manage to get the mp3 files from my computer on my phone, because the files on the CDs can’t be ripped (it gives some weird error that the files are labelled ‘unknown’). It would’ve been more user friendly if mp3 files were available to listen to the audio on a smartphone.

Definitely not worth the time or money. I tried to use the app version (same thing as the CDs) and I learned nothing from them. I learned more by googling what I wanted to know.The conversations are too long and hard to practice with and don’t make sense for trying to learn to talk to family and such.