Pimsleur is one of the most popular programs on the market for learning to speak Chinese. With in-depth audio lessons and interactive exercises, it has a cult following. But does it work? We purchased and used the app for 90 days to put it to the test. Find our thoughts and analysis below on whether this Mandarin course is worth it.
As this is a lengthy review, please use the jump-to links above to quickly navigate this post.
In the above video, team member John discusses what we liked and didn’t like about the Pimsleur Chinese course.
Let’s begin this post by breaking down how the actual Pimsleur Chinese program works. This way, you will have some context for my thoughts below as I outline the pros and cons of this course.
Organizationally, Pimsleur is built around five different learning levels. You start with Level 1 (the newcomer level) and work your way up to Level 5 (the advanced level). Within each of these five levels, there are 30 full-length lessons to complete.
As for how each lesson actually works, it’s actually kind of simple. Each lesson starts with a 30-minute audio exercise, and that is then followed by a series of drills. I’ll discuss the audio portion first, as it’s the most important.
In this portion of the lesson, an English-speaking guide walks you through an audio lesson which is based in large part on an everyday conversation in Chinese. You’ll listen to a short, back-and-forth exchange between two fluent Chinese speakers, and then the moderator will stop and clarify what you’re hearing, explain key points, and ask you questions in order to get you engaged.
He has you repeat phrases; he quizzes you on what certain words mean; and generally speaking, the guide serves as an instructor. This is is the main portion of each lesson in the program.
Following the audio portion, you review what you just learned through a variety of drills and exercises. It’s kind of like class, followed by homework in a way. The homework portion (i.e. the drills), consist of flashcards, quizzes, pronunciation practice, and speed games, among others.
Each of these reinforcement drills takes around five minutes each. Thus, all in all, you’re looking at around 60 minutes to complete one full Pimsleur lesson (that is, the audio exercise plus all of the reinforcement drills).
Now, before we jump right into the pros and cons that I found, I want to quickly talk about Pimsleur’s pricing.
Pimsleur keeps it pretty simple and only offers two different plans. The first plan is Pimsleur Premium, which gives you access to the Chinese course for $20 per month.
The second plan is Pimsleur All Access, which gives you access to all Pimsleur languages (there are over 50 of them), for only $21 per month. In other words, you get all languages for one dollar more.
Comparing this pricing to other Mandarin language apps, Pimsleur is more expensive by around $5 to $10 per month on average. It’s definitely not the cheapest Chinese app on the market. You can find others like Duolingo or Busuu for $8 to $10 per month, but honestly, $20 per month is not that bad all things considered.
In fact, if you plan to learn Chinese (or another language) with your partner or a friend, you can actually account split with Pimsleur. This effectively makes the price $10 per month, which is super reasonable in my opinion.
Plus, it’s definitely worth mentioning that Pimsleur offers a 7-day free trial period, so you can always try this program out and see if you like it first before diving in and paying, which is pretty nice. Not all Chinese language programs offer this. Some you have to buy without even trying first.
Now that I’ve laid out how Pimsleur works, let’s get into what I like and what I don’t like about this app after testing out this Mandarin program. Let’s start with the positives.
For me, the first highlight of Pimsleur Chinese is clearly the audio lessons. I personally think the Pimsleur audio exercises are incredibly well-designed and executed.
Most other language learning apps, like Duolingo and Babbel, focus on short, quick-hit drills which are interactive and more game-like. The Pimsleur course, however, is totally different. It feels more like a true instructional program than an app or game, in large part because of these 30-minute audio lessons which kick off each unit.
These lessons are immersive, with thoughtful commentary, and they really help you to develop an ear for listening to Chinese. Because they’re built around real conversations and you get to listen to the back-and-forth (rather than just memorizing vocabulary like you do with Duolingo and Memrise), they’re really powerful. With the layered guidance and heavy doses of spoken Chinese, this is by far my favorite part of the Pimsleur program. I just think these audio lessons are great.
The next strength of this course goes hand-in-hand with my first pro: Pimsleur’s speech recognition software. Their software system is called “Voice Coach” and I think it’s particularly useful. This is for a couple reasons.
First, it’s very accurate. I’ve tested a bunch of these speech tools at this point, and Pimsleur is definitely one of the better apps in terms of speed and accuracy.
Secondly, they offer a cool feature with their speech tool called “challenge mode,” which tests both your pronunciation and your critical thinking skills. Basically, you turn on challenge mode and it doesn’t just give you the phrase to say in Chinese.
It instead prompts you in English, and then you have to come up with the Chinese phrase yourself and speak it aloud. I really like because this, as it makes you think critically and respond quickly. It’s great life-like practice.
My nest pro is flexibility. These lessons are mostly like podcasts. As the core 30-minute Pimsleur exercise in each lesson is audio-based, I like that you can throw on a lesson and do it while you’re on the go. You can do the lessons while you’re washing the dishes, walking the dog, folding laundry, or whatever mindless task.
It’s just nice that you don’t have to be glued to your computer screen or phone at all times like you do with other apps out there. In my experience, when you’re learning a language, sometimes it’s best to not sit in one place with a hyper-focus on the screen in front of you.
It’s better to just listen and let your brain absorb what you’re hearing, and the Pimsleur audio lessons definitely allow for that (much like how Rocket Languages does it). Their mobile app even comes with a special driving mode, so you can do lessons during your commute or a road trip, which I really liked also. Overall, I think the flexibility of the Pimsleur lessons needs some praise.
Lastly, I like the Pimsleur program interface a lot. Some programs are super clunky and outdated, but Pimsleur’s user experience is great. It’s super sleek and modern; everything is responsive and fast; and it’s just plain easy to navigate. It’s basically everything you could want in a modern app. I love the interface.
Knowing what I like about Pimsleur’s Mandarin program, let’s switch to the things I don’t really like about Pimsleur Chinese.
The first con is that while the lessons are awesome, they are just long. There is no way around it. Between the audio exercise and the drills that come after that, you’re looking at about one full hour from start to finish to complete a typical lesson.
To reiterate, I really like the lessons (especially the audio portion), but they can also become tedious at times because they’re so lengthy. Sometimes, around the 20-minute mark of each audio lesson, my mind would start to hit a wall, and I’d need to pause for 10 minutes to take a quick break. Then I’d be fine to finish up the last few minutes of the lesson, or save it for the next night.
That said, if you’re the type of person who has a short attention span, this is something to keep in mind. These lessons are in-depth, comprehensive, and not built for people looking for quick, Duolingo-like lessons.
My second negative is that Pimsleur is really limited when it comes to reading and writing instruction. If you need to learn to read and write in Chinese, this might not be the best program fit for you.
There are some lessons in the latter half of the program once you’ve established a foundation, but they’re basic. The Pimsleur program is definitely geared towards becoming conversational in Mandarin—not learning to read and write.
Thus, if you’re primarily learning for conversational purposes, it’s perfect, but for a more fulsome mastery of Chinese, I’m not sure this program alone will get you there.
The final con that I found is that because the Pimsleur lessons are so heavy in terms of audio, they might not be the best option for visual learners. Beyond the interactive drills after the audio lessons, there really isn’t too much in the way of visuals and images in the program. That might be an issue for some types of learners.
This has to do with the “Pimsleur Method,” which is based on developing your ear for a language, not reading and writing. Thus there is limited imagery. In short, if you’re the type of learner that needs imagery to learn to best, then Pimsleur may not be the best option.
All in all, I really like the Pimsleur Chinese program and think it’s an overall effective app, especially for those that do well with audio lessons. If you’re a podcast lover, you will probably really like this program.
The audio lessons which form the backbone of the course are effective, even if a little long. The post-audio drills are great for getting material to stick. And the speech software is good for working on your Chinese pronunciation and getting you to think critically under pressure.
Pimsleur Chinese isn’t perfect, and visual learners might struggle with it, but overall, I really like this program and think Pimsleur is a solid option that should work well for most people.
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Yes, the Pimsleur Chinese course is focused on teaching Mandarin, not Wu, Min, Xiang, Gan, Jin, Hakka or Yue.
These days, Pimsleur mostly promotes and sells their online language learning program. This can be accessed online via the desktop interface or through the mobile app. You may still be able to download the MP3 audio files at your local library though.
No, the Pimsleur Chinese course is not free. It costs $20 per month. However, they do offer a 7-day free trial.