Pimsleur has been helping people learn languages for more than 60 years through a unique audio-first approach designed to develop real-world speaking and listening skills.Created by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, a pioneer in language acquisition research and a founding member of ACTFL (the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), the Pimsleur Method™ was the first language-learning system to systematically combine language instruction with memory science. Dr. Pimsleur developed his own spaced repetition algorithm, known as Graduated Interval Recall, which remains a core part of the learning experience today.Unlike many language-learning programs that focus primarily on reading, vocabulary recognition, or translation exercises, Pimsleur was designed to help learners speak in a new language. The method helps learners process new sounds, speech patterns, rhythm, and cadence through active listening and speaking practice, building the confidence to engage in real-world conversations.Today, Pimsleur offers courses in more than 50 languages through an award-winning mobile app and web-based platform. In addition to the proven audio lessons, learners can access interactive speaking, reading, vocabulary, pronunciation, and review activities. Learning can take place at home or on the go, with support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.Millions of learners around the world have used Pimsleur to prepare for travel, advance their careers, connect with family and friends, and experience new cultures through language.Whether you're learning your first foreign language or your fifth, Pimsleur is designed to help you start speaking from day one.
Pimsleur Language Programs (pimsleur.com) has 205 customer reviews on Five Star Index, with an average rating of 3.5 out of 5.
Also known as
pimsleur.com
Website
pimsleur.com
Category
Education Services
Location
New York, New York
Listed on Five Star Index
2026
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The company replied to 79% of reviews.
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Most recent review: October 2026.
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It's very powerful way to learn ..
It's skipping sometimes
Some languages has only one level
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 11, 2026
Hi Amr,
Thank you for your feedback.
We’re glad to hear that you find Pimsleur a powerful way to learn. The Pimsleur Method™ is designed to help learners build practical speaking and listening skills through audio-first lessons, Active Participation, and carefully timed review.
We’re sorry to hear that the audio is skipping sometimes. That is not expected and is very unusual. Our support team would be happy to help troubleshoot what may be happening, as skipping can sometimes be related to device connectivity, including the connection between a phone and Bluetooth headphones or speakers. You can also report a bug directly in the app by shaking your phone while the app is open.
You’re also right that course depth varies by language. Pimsleur offers courses in more than 50 languages, and many of our top-selling and most popular languages, including Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, German, Mandarin Chinese, and others, have five levels. We continue to evaluate opportunities to add more levels to additional languages, and learner feedback helps us prioritize future development.
Thank you for learning with Pimsleur. We wish you continued success on your language-learning journey.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
AS
Aaron S.
Pimsleur is probably the best app…
Pimsleur is probably the best app period for starting a new language. I don’t think anything else comes close.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 11, 2026
Hi Aaron,
Thank you for such a strong recommendation.
We’re delighted to hear that Pimsleur has stood out to you as the best app for starting a new language. The Pimsleur Method™ is designed to help beginners build real speaking and listening skills from the very first lesson through audio-first instruction, Active Participation, Core Vocabulary, and carefully timed review.
Our goal is to help learners move beyond simply recognizing words and start developing the confidence to understand and respond in real conversations.
Thank you for learning with Pimsleur. We wish you continued success with every language you take on next!
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
JD
James D.
I like Pimsleur
The lessons are well designed. I've been learning Japanese and making faster progress than with different language learning approaches that I have tried. Pimsleur gets you focused on practical language fairly fast.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 10, 2026
Hi James,
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
We’re glad to hear that you’re making faster progress with Pimsleur Japanese than with other language-learning approaches you’ve tried. The Pimsleur Method™ is intentionally designed to help learners focus on practical language early through Dr. Paul Pimsleur’s Core Vocabulary principle, so they can begin building real speaking and listening skills rather than simply memorizing isolated words.
Each lesson is carefully structured around useful conversational patterns, Active Participation, and carefully timed review, helping learners retain what they study and use it with more confidence in real-world situations.
Thank you for learning Japanese with Pimsleur. We wish you continued success as you keep going!
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
D
全 红.
Make progress on daily basis
Learning every lesson and doing the following exercises, you will make progress on daily basis. This is much helpful for me.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 10, 2026
Hi,
Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
We’re glad to hear that Pimsleur is helping you make progress every day. The Pimsleur Method™ is designed around consistent daily practice, with each lesson building on what came before so learners can steadily develop practical speaking and listening skills lesson by lesson.
We’re also happy to hear that you’re completing the follow-up exercises. Review activities such as flash cards, quizzes, reading lessons, and pronunciation practice are integrated with the core audio lessons to reinforce what learners have practiced, validate whether they understood and recalled the material correctly, and provide feedback on pronunciation. These tools help strengthen retention, accuracy, and confidence over time.
Thank you for learning with Pimsleur. We wish you continued success on your language-learning journey!
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
MH
M H.
Do NOT buy Pimsleur if you really want to learn a language. Total waste of money
If you really want to learn a language Pimsleur is worthless because it doesn’t go past level 5. Of course, they never tell you this when you sign up. I already know some Spanish, which I think is probably true for the majority of people, but there is NO placement test and in every lesson it gets really boring because they put in so much beginner stuff and then out of 30 minutes maybe lucky to learn one new word. I mean do we really need to say Como estas like 50 times. I tried to level up to find where it would become useful to me but after level 5 it just ends so totally a waste of money. Plus they don’t use native speakers so you are never going to learn how to speak with this app.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 10, 2026
Hi M,
We’re sorry to hear that Pimsleur was not the right fit for your current level and learning goals. However, we do want to correct a few points in your review for others who may be reading.
First, Pimsleur courses are written and developed with PhD-level native speakers, reviewed by native-speaking editors, and recorded exclusively by real native speakers. Native-speaker audio is fundamental to the Pimsleur Method™, because learners need to hear the rhythm, cadence, pronunciation, and natural sound of the target language in order to develop practical speaking and listening skills.
Second, while Pimsleur courses begin at a true beginner level, they do not remain limited to basic phrases. In languages with five levels, the course builds toward much more advanced real-world communication, including topics such as travel complications, medical situations, prescriptions, reporting something to the police, politics, unemployment, mergers and layoffs, environmental issues, climate change, natural disasters, opinions and preferences, hypothetical situations, and other practical subjects.
We also want to clarify the role of repetition and vocabulary development in Pimsleur. The method does not repeat phrases 50 times, use repetition as filler, or introduce only one new word per lesson. Each lesson introduces and reinforces multiple words, phrases, grammatical structures, and spoken response patterns. Dr. Paul Pimsleur’s Graduated Interval Recall system brings material back at carefully timed intervals so learners can retain, recall, and produce language when they need it. The goal is not just to introduce more material, but to help learners remember it and use it in conversation.
Pimsleur is intentionally designed as an audio-first speaking and listening method. Even for learners who already have some familiarity with Spanish, the early work of training the ear to recognize the sounds, rhythm, cadence, and spoken response patterns of the language is essential to long-term speaking success. It may not be the right choice for someone looking for a placement-test-based program or a grammar-first curriculum, but for learners who want to build conversational confidence, improve pronunciation, and strengthen their ability to understand and respond in real-world situations, Pimsleur has helped millions of learners for more than 60 years.
We appreciate your feedback and wish you success in finding the learning approach that best fits your goals.
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
AN
Anonymous
Amazing Paired with Other Resources
Pimsleur is a great app that can be used almost anywhere. Its 30 minute lessons make it very easy to continue daily. It drills essential vocabulary and grammar into your mind and its optional exercises after the lesson help you build whatever skills you need, like pronunciation or vocabulary. The reading lessons are great for quickly learning to read your language.
The only reason I’m not giving this five stars is that while Pimsleur develops essential vocabulary quickly, they take a long time to teach other vocabulary and verb conjugations, making it highly difficult to navigate real world situations that don’t happen to be the very specific experiences Pimsleur teaches you. If you pair Pimsleur with other language learning resources, you will have an optimal experience learning your language.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 9, 2026
Hi,
Thank you for such a thoughtful review.
We’re glad to hear that Pimsleur’s 30-minute lessons, flexible audio-first format, review exercises, pronunciation practice, vocabulary activities, and reading lessons are helping you build a strong foundation. These features work together as part of the Pimsleur Method™, which is designed to make daily practice manageable while developing practical speaking, listening, reading, and vocabulary skills over time.
You’re also right that Pimsleur focuses first on essential vocabulary, high-frequency structures, and useful conversational patterns. That is intentional. Dr. Paul Pimsleur’s Core Vocabulary principle was designed to help learners begin communicating quickly by mastering the words and structures they are most likely to need early on, rather than trying to cover every possible word or conjugation at once.
We appreciate your perspective that Pimsleur can work especially well alongside other resources, depending on a learner’s goals. For learners whose main goal is to build confidence speaking and understanding a language, Pimsleur provides a strong audio-first foundation and a practical path into real-world communication.
Thank you for learning with Pimsleur. We wish you continued success on your language-learning journey!
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
EV
Evguenia
Really good results
Really good results. Fun to do the lessons. Good value for the money.
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 9, 2026
Hi Evguenia,
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
We’re delighted to hear that you’re getting good results and having fun with the lessons. Pimsleur is built on a structured, audio-first method for developing real-world speaking and listening skills, but the learning experience is also designed to be engaging and easy to return to day after day.
We’re especially glad that the lessons feel enjoyable while still helping you make meaningful progress. That combination of consistency, confidence-building, and practical conversation practice is central to the Pimsleur Method™.
We’re also happy to hear that you feel Pimsleur offers good value. Thank you for learning with us, and we wish you continued success on your language-learning journey!
Best,
The Pimsleur Team
HU
Hugh
Easy bite size learning chunks
Easy bite size learning chunks
Response from Pimsleur Language ProgramsJul 9, 2026
Hi Hugh,
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
We’re glad to hear that you’re enjoying Pimsleur’s easy, bite-size learning format. The lesson length is not arbitrary; it was designed around Dr. Paul Pimsleur’s research at UCLA and Ohio State into effective lesson length, retention, and helping move new language from short-term to long-term memory.
The Pimsleur Method™ uses focused lessons to help learners build practical speaking and listening skills step by step, without feeling overwhelming. That steady, manageable approach makes it easier to stay consistent, fit language learning into everyday life, and continue making progress over time.
Thank you for learning with Pimsleur. We wish you continued success on your language-learning journey!
Best,
The Pimsleur Team