Ukrainian Level One is FREE on Pimsleur in 2023!
How to get the most out of your language lessons
I kid you not. Premium access to Pimsleur’s Ukrainian Level One course is free for the desktop or mobile app now and through December 31st, 2023 — but you MUST claim it by March 31st, 2023. And I’m here to walk you through all the features of the app.
What is Pimsleur?
It’s a hands-free language learning system that focuses on listening and repeating natural conversations between Native speakers, created by the linguist Dr. Pimsleur.
I remember when it was only on CD. They’ve finally caught up to the app craze and added tons of amazing features that truly support and enhance the audio lesson.
Why is Ukrainian free on Pimsleur?
To support current relief efforts, and to bring awareness to Ukrainian culture, arts, and language. Many volunteers benefit from learning basic Ukrainian as they help refugees at the borders.
I’m not a volunteer, but my heart breaks as the war continues. I simply have a love for Ukrainian culture, language, and people. And from what I have learned, they are quite happy to share it with us.
How to Make the Most of Ukrainian Level One
When I started the course, I focused on the audio recordings exclusively and didn’t bother to explore the rest of the content. After a year of Russian on DuoLingo, I was used to ignoring all the cash and prizes. Its gamified approach left me feeling frazzled.
So, when I decided to start Ukrainian on Pimsleur, I was relieved to be hands-free and screen-free. But around lesson 18 when things got tough, I decided to give myself a tour of the app— it’s incredible how many useful features Pimsleur has added to complement the audio lessons.
The app is brimming with resources and content for all learning styles, and there are a few tucked-away treasures I discovered along the way. Here is a breakdown of all the features on Pimsleur plus tips to help you customize your own language-learning plan.
Audio Lesson
This 30-minute narrated dialog is the core lesson. First, you listen to a brief conversation between two people in Ukrainian. Then the conversation is broken-down phrase by phrase, word by word, and phoneme by phoneme.
A phoneme is unit of sound — the sound of a single letter, a group of letters, a syllable, a word, or words that blend together.
Various scenarios are thrown in to expand the conversation, making it easier to pick up new word endings, negations, or speak from the POV of a man or a woman. The lesson wraps up with a final dialogue where you participate as one of the speakers.
Tip #1: Use headphones, or better yet, noise-canceling headphones.
Tip #2: Download all the lessons! I didn’t even realize they could be downloaded at first until I noticed the icon to the right of the lesson number. But don’t waste time clicking on each one to download it. Go to Me > Download Lessons > Download All.
Flash Cards
Choose which direction to flip your digital flashcards: English to Ukrainian or Ukrainian to English. This is an easy way to make the words more tangible between listens.
Tip #3: By tapping the alphabet icon in the upper right-hand corner you may select Cyrillic or Latinized letters or view BOTH alphabets at once.
Tip #4: Do the audio lesson once, and then review the Flash Cards and/or the Reading to become more familiar with individual vocabulary words before repeating the lesson later or the next day.
Reading
The narrator takes you through vocabulary words and phrases from the audio lesson, so you see them for the first time and repeat them. (Choose your alphabet).
Tip #5: To the left of the alphabet toggle, is an info icon where you can find bonus resources: a chart of the Ukrainian alphabet and a short history of the language!
Speak Easy
This tool zeros in on the brief conversation from the beginning of the audio lesson (not the entire dialogue) and lays it out like a text message exchange. This is great if you want to master the conversation in each lesson without all of the instructions or additional scenarios.
Quick Match
This is a multiple-choice quiz. An English phrase is presented, and you must choose from one of four sentences.
Speed Round
Reminiscent of an Atari game, phrases float down from the top of the screen, and your job is to quickly tap the matches below.
Tip #6: After your second listen try Reading or Speakeasy to get a better sense of the dialogue. After a third listen, or when you feel comfortable with most of the conversation, test yourself with the Quick Match and Speed Round.
I saved the best feature for last…
Voice Coach
When you open the Voice Coach you will see two options: Pronunciation Practice and Challenge. They are both in the beta stage of development…
Pronunciation Practice Improve your pronunciation by recording your voice for playback. Tap the phrase in Ukrainian to hear it and model your voice after native speaker’s. Playback to compare the two. It’s pretty stress-free since you can adjust the speed of the native speaker and you can start over as many times as you like.
Challenge This is where you take off your training wheels. A prompt is given in English with no audio or text in Ukrainian to test your acquisition. Speech Recognition determines if you got it right. Score 10/10 across all 30 lessons to earn a language certificate. Can’t wait to get my badge!
Bonus Packs of Flash Cards!!!
I happened to click on the Practice menu, and I discovered that I had unlocked bonus packs of flashcards for each lesson. It felt like Christmas morning. I can’t wait to go back and review the old lessons with the bonus vocab words in mind.
You can get sign up for the free course here.
Keep in mind this is only Level One. Most Pimsleur courses have five levels, so I was disappointed to learn I could not even pay for Level two because it doesn’t exist yet. Hopefully, it’s in the works…
Addendum: Once your lessons are over, I recommend heading to this podcast/blog Ukrainian Lessons: Inspiring Resources for Learning Ukrainian Language.