Reviews for Pimsleur | Language Learning

Very overpriced for what you get. Learning Chinese and disappointed. I don't like the outdated UI. No visual ques in the lessons so it's difficult for your brain to associate new vocabulary with their meaning. The complexity ramps up very quickly so I have to redo lessons. The worst aspect is that the lessons are extremely BORING. No emotion in the instructor's voice, it's tough to stay engaged. I regret my purchase and cannot recommend it.

I like the lessons, but the app is the worst ever. It had one purpose... to let me listen to audio lessons. It fails at that so miserably, I've never seen anything like that - I can't control playback, it won't respond to me tapping pause or +-10 sec, it won't let me scroll to a point in the track, there are sometimes long pauses, it tracks playback time wrong and it doesn't start from where I left off if I close the app mid-lesson and reopen. So. Damn. Bad

Ok, I'll be honest, I've only tried lesson 1, but I really enjoyed it! I wanted to try pimsleur because of its rep in speaking practice, something other apps underperform in. Unfortunately, I looked at the pricing and oof! it's so ridiculously expensive it's ludicrous. The subscription is monthly and gives you access to all languages at all levels, or you can purchase one level for one language for hundreds of dollars. no in-between. how about an affordable subscription for just one language?

This app 70% works and that 70% is great. That 70% is getting you used to physically speaking ane forming sentences, and this is important. Nothing else does this for you as well as Pimsleur. The 30% which doesn't work is: 1) 20% the "mastering phrases" score. It just can't hear you well most of the time. It seems to be pretty bad at filtering out background noise, so you often "mispronounce" everything. 2) 10% not enough reading. You'll need to practice additional reading on your own

This method is horrible for adults. There are no visuals with the lessons, so you have to rely on hearing the unusual way they're pronouncing a language you don't know with spelling that is very different from your native language. I'm not a 2yo - I'm 60 and can read much better than your app can annunciate. Half the time I can't even tell what your app is saying. Then I see the word / letters and understand. I moved on to another app that uses both aural and visuals with much better success.

I never rate apps or programs. They've all become a dime a dozen cheap repetitions in one form or another. And language apps are often the worst as they focus sometimes wholly in reading or playing games in that language which stunts your development of crucial skills needed to survive in another country's setting. I have gained huge amounts of confidence going through this Pimsleur course and I can ACTUALLY understand so much spoken Japanese now just from practicing their method!!!

Okay overall. Useful for getting used to spoken language, it would be nice to have subtitles while listening to also learn how to read and write whatever is spoken. App needlessly uses lots of mobile data to download the lessons while listening to them (and moving back and forward through a lesson) when these episodes could/should be downloaded on Wi-Fi and cashed. App is unusable without data connection, e.g. on the subway.

So far the lessons and associated exercises are enjoyable. I like the UI, it's dense but easy to use. One gripe: when listening to each lesson by aux in my car or by bluetooth headphones, there is a "crossfade" that omits the first second or so off each sentence which is jarring and makes it impossible to follow the speech exercises. Update 26/5/25: It's better with headphones but still has crossfade loss when using an aux cable meaning no good for driving (my car has no touchscreen).

I've dreamed of going to Japan and speaking the language there. Pimsleur definitely got me there. There were 5 modules of 30 lessons each that I took before going. I actually took the last lesson on the flight to Tokyo. You can visit Japan without knowing Japanese but it definitely helps. Pimsleur got me to where I could handle common transactional type conversations. I still have a way to go (mada mada desu) but the local people were very appreciative and engaging. Arigatou gozaimasu!

I like the way it gets you right into the language. the interface is great and the video lesson is quite helpful. my only issue is there is no placement test. I've been learning norwegian for years and recently decided duolingo is no longer helpful. but, unfortunately, I don't want 30 minutes of easy lessons until I get to my level. I understand the reason behind that, it just doesnt work for me. if I start a new language this is where I will go. love the app.