‘Little Pim’ DVDs teach Hebrew to the tiniest tots

Growing up, Julia Pimsleur Levine didn’t need to wait until entering school to learn a foreign language: her father was Paul Pimsleur, designer of the Pimsleur language-learning system, and Pimsleur Levine grew up learning French at the same time she learned English.

As an adult, Pimsleur Levine applied her inherited love of languages to her work, developing Little Pim, a DVD system that teaches language to the youngest learners, from infants to 5-year-olds through “entertainment immersion,” where they are guided through language lessons by a cartoon panda bear named Little Pim.

And recently, Little Pim went Hebraic. Now parents eager to expose their young children to some of the throaty sounds and foreign vocabulary of Hebrew can pop in a DVD and watch their children learn a new language.

The Little Pim language-immersion program for children recently came out with a Hebrew version.

“Especially with what’s going on with the economy, parents are realizing it’s a global marketplace and a global world, [and we’re seeing a] rise in popularity of language learning,” said Pimsleur Levine, who added that language classes often cost upward of $500 per class.

She said many parents worry that teaching children a foreign language will delay their English comprehension or speaking, but studies show that children’s brains are most malleable before age 5. Often, by the time they travel to Israel or are enrolled in Hebrew or day school, or in a Spanish or French class in middle school, it is too late to develop the same proficiency.

The Hebrew videos show phonetic pronunciations of some 180 words and phrases, so parents who are not fluent can follow along.

“A big part of it is making it fun,” said Pimsleur Levine, who originally designed the series when she wanted her son to learn French and realized there was a dearth of options for children so young. “I designed Little Pim to be as cute and cuddly as Elmo.”