He starts out with shared vocabulary between English and the target language whereas I think Pimsleur focuses more on useful phrases for e.g. travel.

Yeah Pimsleur does tend to focus on travel scenarios.

Though I find it does a good job of actually getting phrases into your head and getting you thinking in the language.

Looking forward to trying out this approach.

This should work fantastic in theory, since differing vocabulary (not grammar) is the main factor that determines the difficulty of a new language. Putting off this primary obstacle so one can ease into it sounds genius to me. It also agrees with the method hyped by Steve Kaufman, where one should read and speak level-appropriate material.

I listened to the initial few lessons and I was really surprised.

I've already got a almost conversational level of Spanish but coincidentally have been wanting to focus on improving it, rather than jump into learning the absolute basics of another language.

It's quite different to courses or classes I've tried before. Often there is a focus on keeping everything in Spanish (for example) and not using English at all. This is the complete opposite, completely leveraging the similarities between the language.

I found it really enjoyable how he spoke about the shared Latin roots (even though English is primarily Germanic). I have a hobbyist interest in linguists so I found this and the etymology bits really entertaining.

I hesitated to listen to the Spanish, fearing they would be too basic, but I think already I have learned things I hadn't fully realized and have improved my pronunciation.

You can tell the instructor is a lover of languages and linguistics, you can hear the passion in the lessons.

Going to continue with the Spanish course and I'm excited to see his take on Arabic after (of which I know zero).

Planning on donating and recommending this.