Pimsleur

Pimsleur is an audio-based language course for adults who want to speak and understand a new language, delivered through a mobile app, a web app and an Amazon Echo skill. It is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio, a division of Simon & Schuster, and every course follows the Pimsleur Method that Dr. Paul Pimsleur developed from his work in linguistics and the psychology of language. The site describes the method as one that "taps into your oral and aural skills" and uses spaced repetition to move new words into long-term memory. The FAQ counts 51 languages under the All Access plan, and the home page says courses are available "in 50+ languages for English speakers, and 15 versions of English."

How a Pimsleur course works

The core of every course is the conversational lesson. According to the FAQ, each one runs approximately 30 minutes and focuses on listening and speaking and on remembering what you learned. Pimsleur recommends one lesson a day, which can be split across several sittings, and asks learners not to take notes or look things up during the lesson, since the rhythm, cadence and sounds of a language "can only be developed aurally." For the same reason the company does not offer transcripts of the audio lessons. Courses are built in levels of 30 lessons, and the FAQ says each 30-lesson course teaches between 300 and 500 new vocabulary items, depending on the language and level. For most popular languages a subscription opens 150 lessons.

Pimsleur officially recommends starting at lesson 1 of Level 1 even with some prior knowledge. A learner who wants to skip ahead is told to try the first lesson of Level 2 and to drop back unless they can do it with 100% accuracy, because later levels teach very few new basic structures.

Reading Lessons are a separate part of the course. They teach reading through a phonetic approach developed by Dr. Pimsleur, starting with the sounds of individual letters and moving on to reading for meaning. The FAQ notes that they do not repeat the words of the conversational lessons but give learners a second way to process the language.

The app and its practice tools

The app is organized into tabs. Learn holds the lessons. Practice draws on everything completed so far: flash cards, quiz items, the Speed Round game, Speak Easy role-play conversations with transcripts, and Skills, which lists the sentences earned in each lesson by topic. Speak opens Voice Coach, where a learner can practice new sentences or take a Challenge, being cued in English and answering in the target language. The FAQ says Pimsleur uses AI to give pronunciation feedback in most languages; where it cannot, learners record themselves and compare their speech with the native speaker's. Enrich offers Minis, topic-based audio lessons on grammar, culture and real-life conversations. The Profile tab holds a personal vocabulary list, progress tracking, reminders, a streak counter, the Voice Coach score, badges and certificates.

These practice tools belong to the Premium format. The FAQ lists them as flashcards, Speed Round, Speak Easy, Lightbulb Moments and Cultural Highlights, the Quick Match quiz, Bonus Packs, Saved Vocabulary, Skills categories and Voice Coach. Completing all phrases of a level in Voice Coach earns a Pimsleur Certificate, and the home page describes it as "a certificate of proficiency suitable for framing or sharing." The home page also lists Daily Challenges and Rewards for completing them (US only), and notes that not all features are available for the English as a Second Language courses.

Where you can learn

The mobile app needs iOS 11 or later or Android 7 or later. It can download audio lessons for offline use inside the app, has a hands-free driving mode, and works with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The web app at learn.pimsleur.com runs in Chrome, Firefox or Safari and streams only. The Pimsleur Alexa Skill plays lessons on Amazon Echo devices, picking up where the learner left off, and progress syncs automatically across all three. One registered user can share a Premium or All Access course with up to three household members, each with progress tracked separately.

Plans, prices and refunds

Pimsleur sells three subscription formats. Audio-Only includes all core audio lessons of a single language with no visual practice tools. Premium adds the interactive tools above for a single language; the FAQ says Premium exists for every language except the English courses, apart from English for Spanish speakers and English for Brazilian Portuguese speakers. All Access covers all 51 languages, and new courses, languages and lessons are added at no extra cost while the subscription runs. Each single-language subscription includes every level available for that language. A 7-day free trial covers one language on Audio-Only or Premium, or every language on All Access; payment details are taken at the start and the subscription renews automatically unless canceled. Subscriptions can be paused for one or two months.

Every course can also be bought outright from Pimsleur.com as a lifetime purchase whose lessons never expire, either as a single 30-lesson level or as the complete course, and the language pages offer a "Buy 30 Lessons at a Time" option. The home page shows courses "Starting at only $150" and a promotion to "Save up to 40% on a Lifetime of Learning." Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and PayPal are accepted.

The refund rules differ by format. Subscription charges are not refunded, including for any unused part of a term, so the FAQ stresses canceling before the trial ends or before the next billing date. Purchased digital products fall under a 30-day money-back guarantee; the 30-Day No-Risk Guarantee on the home page says "you may return your course within 30 days for a full refund." Pimsleur.com subscriptions are open to consumers in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K.; elsewhere, learners subscribe through Apple or Google Play in-app purchases.

Support and history

Customer service is available daily from 9am to 10pm ET by live chat, a phone line for the USA and Canada, and email. The site also lists gift subscriptions, which do not auto-renew, and separate programs for business, for education and libraries, and for government and military users. The app pages show store ratings of 4.7 and 4.3, based on reviews from Google Play and the App Store in the US as of Nov 05, 2025.

The About page traces the method to 1963, when Dr. Pimsleur wrote of "an urgent national need for self-instructional materials" and recorded Modern Greek as the first course. French followed, then Spanish and German by 1967. In 1970 he gave the tapes to Charles and Beverly Heinle, who marketed them to schools. He died in 1976, at 48, while a visiting professor at the Sorbonne. Consumers first got the courses in 1980, through a listening booth at the Harvard University Bookstore. Simon & Schuster took on distribution in 1995 and bought the rights in 1997. The company says over 50 languages were recorded in the 20 years after editorial headquarters moved to Concord, Massachusetts, in 1992, and that it donated some 6,000 Haitian Creole courses after the 2010 Haiti earthquake and some 7,000 courses of a special Japanese course for rescue workers in 2011.

Who it suits

Pimsleur suits adults who want to speak a language and can give it about half an hour of focused listening a day, especially on a commute, a drive or a walk, where the hands-free and offline modes help. The All Access plan suits someone sampling several languages, and the lifetime purchase suits a learner who would rather pay once. The site's own goals are ambitious: it promises learners can "Speak at an Intermediate Level in 30 Days."

The method asks for discipline. Lessons are audio first, with no transcripts and a request not to take notes, and reading comes through the separate phonetic Reading Lessons rather than the spoken lessons. A learner who wants grammar laid out on screen will lean on the Premium tools and Minis, and subscribers should note the no-refund rule on subscription charges before the trial ends.