I tried a lot of Latin American Spanish learning resources for years on and off ( Pimsleur, Babbel, Memrise, Lingq, Rocket Spanish etc….) though they all have their specific strengths and some are very detailed and comprehensive but whatever I learn I forget very soon ….but with Pimsleur, whatever I learn gets stuck in my brain and even in my dreams lol…I don’t forget even months or a year later….strong recall is Pimsleur’s strength…..
I’m working on the last half of level 3. I repeated level 2, I felt I needed the reinforcement. I consistently work on it everyday. Where I used do a lesson in a day I now spend 3 or 4 days on a lesson. I also use other TH-cam programs to help me understand the grammar. That is one area where Pimsleur may fall short, often I’ve found it difficult to understand the conjugations or other grammarical patterns but it’s been easy to find supplimental information. From what I’ve seen of other programs I would recommend Pimsleur. At times I’ve thought the listening part was not very relevant to my life, where am I going to use these words about a business meeting for example, however over the last couple of months I’ve been proven wrong, I’m surprised how often an “irrelevant” word comes up, and I know it! I’m seventy years old and have a slightly bigger leak in my bucket than I did at one time, but It’s working…slowly. I just recently passed using the program for a year, so for some of us the five levels will not be finished in five months, not even close. Enjoyed your review!
I'm still very much a beginner. I do listen to stories and TH-cam videos in Spanish with the Spanish subtitles. It really helps me to see the words. I've joined a Spanish conversation class, but so far there has been little conversation. Some days it's hard to see improvement and other days I feel like I'll get there one day, haha if I live long enough! I'm reading children's books and work on my pronunciation. So... I guess I'm going in the right direction by staying consistent. Gracias por tu interés! @@loistalagrand
I got through all 30 lessons in Level 1 of Latin American Spanish and it worked pretty well for me. It is pricey, though. If you’re serious about learning any language, you need a multi-pronged approach with lessons, reading and writing, and conversation.
I've tried Rosetta Stone and it was too visually-based. I didn't feel I was learning that much. I tried other tapes, Berlitz Self-Teacher books, other books and tapes, etc. I tried Pimsleur and it was challenging, because it forces me to recall a response quickly. This is intimidating, and I admit I gave up after about 18 lessons, being a perfectionist who hated missing the buzzer. But now I'm back, because I feel it is the best way to learn the language on my own. I will just pause or do a lesson over if I cannot get it right after the prompt. I thought that simply memorizing phrases from a recording would work, but that doesn't teach you the building blocks of language, or the conversational prompts-and they often throw sophisticated idioms which make no sense. Only Pimsleur is unique in that it is 100% audio-based and is very professional and structured, introducing you to new words, grammatical concepts etc. as you go. But just don't be too scared to mess up!
I’m currently on Level 4 of Pimsleur Spanish. In addition to the 30 minutes of listening, there are also reading lessons each day, voice coaching which teaches pronunciation and challenges you to translate from English to Spanish and uses voice recognition to assess your answers, and also quizzes to assess your recalI of vocabulary and phrases. I probably spend an hour a day on each lesson and am really enjoying it. I pay £18.99 a month and have access to all languages. I plan to start the German course when I complete the Spanish course.
@@pompem2140I am a different responder but I achieved a C1 fluency through level 4 in German and Spanish, and there are 5 levels. Pretty good app if you ask me.
Louis, I love your "leaking bucket" analogy for forgetting in a new language. The strength of Pimsleur is it’s pragmatic application of learning theory to bring you home, both understanding and speaking the language. I have tried literally dozens of learning methods to acquire new languages; in my opinion Pimsleur is one of the very best! Recently, this week, I purchased a one year subscription for all 51 Pimsleur languages. The cost was less than $ 14 per month!! Currently, I am learning German and Italian. I love the courses and am thrilled with my progress! I would recommend them to anyone. Thank you Louis, for your candid and helpful reviews of different
Very well made video, I just started using Pimsleur and the way you described Spaced Repetition is exactly what I've been experiencing. I'm still on level 1 but I'm using more Spanish conversationally already, with more comfort and rentention than I did taking Spanish classes in university. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I didn't know until this week, that Pimsleur has a monthly subscription. I'm learning French, Spanish and Chinese with this program after I was fed up with Duolingo. Additionally I use a grammar book for every language, read books (very easy ones for Spanish and Chinese 😅) and watch youtube. I tried Rosetta Stone, Duolingo and Babbel, but Pimsleur is the program that suits me best. And 21 Swiss Franks per month for as many languages as I want? For me personally that's a bargain.
Personally I was disappointed by Pimsleur Spanish. It does help with pronunciation and speaking more confidently but it is painfully slow and they teach you very little to no vocabulary compared to how long the lessons are. I have no idea how they get to this number of 300 to 500 words per group of 30 lessons. That sounds like a huge lie to me, unless they completely redesigned their course since the time I did it a little while ago. When I did it each lesson introduced me to 3 to 5 new words top. So that's like 100-120 words or so per group of lessons. As a result it barely scratches the surface on many topics... That being said, once you know who Pimsleur was marketed for when it was initially created long ago, it all starts to make sense: business men going on business trips. Basically they just needed a method that would teach them enough vocabulary to get by and do a touch of small talk with their foreign colleagues and/or clients. That's why the course is so expensive and why there's a ton of vocab about work, meetings, colleagues, etc. The kind of stuff 90% of people learning Spanish won't actually need. You'll learn how to ask for dry cleaning your suits before you learn how to say "chicken" or "beef". My opinion is that it's a useful method for people having a long commute to work every day and wanting something better to do than just listen to the radio, but for everyone else, I would not recommend it.
Hmmm. I am not using it for Spanish because I already have a basis. I did Spanish for 4 years in school and speak french fluently. I think that you learn a lot of Spanish if you're a beginner. Like if you already have the basis you probably need to do the grammar alone at home and watch loads of Spanish films and read books. And eventually speak with a native speaker. An app won't get you to actually speak the way you want.
@@YesToLifeAlways I agree that if you're a complete beginner, Pimsleur will definitely help you get started and give you a nice basis to build on. For anyone even just low intermediate, it's mostly useless. For the rest, I don't think there's a single method that will work for everybody when it comes to learning a language, we're all different, but I agree you can't go wrong with watching movies and reading books.
I’m thinking about giving it a try again , I think I got up to lesson 7 and stopped because it was getting boring to me . They kept trying to teach me the phrase “ how much are the conchas?” And after 3 lessons of that I was like okay I get it , can we move on?!? I was so annoyed lol. The positive about pimsleur is when I speak natives say I sound perfect , it will teach you to speak the right way .
It is indeed repetitive. But the repetition is an important part of Pimsleur. Some people on this channel told me (after finishing Pimsleur, not necessarily Spanish) that they could have fluent conversations with Spanish speakers after just doing Pimsleur. This is unheard of for a program that lasts only 5 months.
You're right! The same thing happens to me with pimsleur to learn English, I have made notes in a notebook of each word and I am currently studying lesson 8..
I went into Pimsleur with an open mind. It was recommended to me by an iTalki Italian tutor who thought it was a good way to help with conversation. After going through 15 lessons, it was evident that it wasn't for me. It relies on repetition, but the pace of the spoken language made it VERY difficult to understand to such a degree that I could never understand what was being said to be able to repeat it. I found it to be very unforgiving (and a bit boring). I gave up after two weeks.
Following the instructions, each lesson should be repeated until at least 80% of it is understood, before moving on to the next. If you completed 15 lessons in just 2 weeks, that is very impressive. Initially it took me 7 days to complete a single Mandarin Chinese lesson, studying/listening 30 minutes a day. Starting a new lesson was always a struggle, but it became easy by the time I had finished with that lesson. The effort required was no more than listening and following the directions/instructions.
Take a look here: www.pimsleur.com/learn-spanish-latin-american. The $500+ price gets you lifetime access. With the app, you get the same stuff, but you won't have access to it once your subscription is over.
Would you try to learn 2 languages at the exact same time (start the same day) or would you stagger them? If so, how much time would you let pass before picking up another one?
It's definitely possible, but you'll need a bigger time investment. I made a video showing how long you can expect to reach proficiency in a language: th-cam.com/video/uL95VoLu2Sw/w-d-xo.html
I’m learning a Romance language and Thai at the same time and it’s actually really interesting the complexities between both! Portuguese and Thai, Pimsleur all the way!!!
Currently, I’m learning both Italian and German from Pimsleur, separated by about three weeks. It is working fine but you have to put in the time. If you can do that, you’re good. Suggest strongly you only attempt doubling up on languages that are NOT similar; avoid doing two Romance languages at once, for instance. Otherwise, you will experience troublesome "cognitive dissonane" = confusion. Good luck! 🍀
The Pimsleur Castilian Spanish course is somewhat okay, but what lets it down is the poor quality control. Notably the male 'native' voice actor, who clearly forgets (or is not bothered) that he is being listened to by non-Spanish speakers. There are constant examples of this actor pronouncing words and phrases too quickly, and slurring them together, which often makes it difficult to figure out what is being said. He also contradicts his pronunciation on some words, which makes me wonder if he's trying to deliberately annoy the listener. Another issue is that the treble frequencies of the audio are diminished, which destroys the clarity of speech. It's like listening to someone talk through a pair of thick blankets! I had to load the files into an audio editor and correct the tonal balance, which takes hours to do! Furthermore, having seen the waveform of the audio files, the recording engineers have failed to apply any audio limiting, which prevents the files being louder and more defined. For what the course costs, there are clearly too many low-grade amateurs involved in the process that produce a substandard product. I did email Simon & Shuster, who owns the brand, but received no response. Says it all.
Please tell the truth. Pimsleur recordings are awful. I used it for Tagalog and nearly worthless. The annunciation by one speaker is too fast and not clear. There are mistakes. The entire program needs to be reworked.
@@timbit827 That's typically the case with language learning apps. The most popular languages tend to get the best treatment when it comes to learning material.
I tried a lot of Latin American Spanish learning resources for years on and off ( Pimsleur, Babbel, Memrise, Lingq, Rocket Spanish etc….) though they all have their specific strengths and some are very detailed and comprehensive but whatever I learn I forget very soon ….but with Pimsleur, whatever I learn gets stuck in my brain and even in my dreams lol…I don’t forget even months or a year later….strong recall is Pimsleur’s strength…..
Agreed
i just pay 14 dollars a month for unlimited languages. If you choose a specific language it costs more.
I’m working on the last half of level 3. I repeated level 2, I felt I needed the reinforcement. I consistently work on it everyday. Where I used do a lesson in a day I now spend 3 or 4 days on a lesson. I also use other TH-cam programs to help me understand the grammar. That is one area where Pimsleur may fall short, often I’ve found it difficult to understand the conjugations or other grammarical patterns but it’s been easy to find supplimental information. From what I’ve seen of other programs I would recommend Pimsleur.
At times I’ve thought the listening part was not very relevant to my life, where am I going to use these
words about a business meeting for example, however over the last couple of months I’ve been proven wrong, I’m surprised how often an “irrelevant” word comes up, and I know it!
I’m seventy years old and have a slightly bigger leak in my bucket than I did at one time, but It’s working…slowly. I just recently passed using the program for a year, so for some of us the five levels will not be finished in five months, not even close.
Enjoyed your review!
Glad to know that Pimsleur is working for you. Where are you in terms of speaking / listening ability?
I'm still very much a beginner. I do listen to stories and TH-cam videos in Spanish with the Spanish subtitles. It really helps me to see the words. I've joined a Spanish conversation class, but so far there has been little conversation. Some days it's hard to see improvement and other days I feel like I'll get there one day, haha if I live long enough!
I'm reading children's books and work on my pronunciation. So... I guess I'm going in the right direction by staying consistent.
Gracias por tu interés!
@@loistalagrand
I used it and now I speak four languages. It will give you an insanely strong base to then converse with.
Which languages have you learned with Pimsleur?
@@loistalagrand No response. How rude.
I got through all 30 lessons in Level 1 of Latin American Spanish and it worked pretty well for me. It is pricey, though. If you’re serious about learning any language, you need a multi-pronged approach with lessons, reading and writing, and conversation.
I've tried Rosetta Stone and it was too visually-based. I didn't feel I was learning that much. I tried other tapes, Berlitz Self-Teacher books, other books and tapes, etc. I tried Pimsleur and it was challenging, because it forces me to recall a response quickly. This is intimidating, and I admit I gave up after about 18 lessons, being a perfectionist who hated missing the buzzer. But now I'm back, because I feel it is the best way to learn the language on my own. I will just pause or do a lesson over if I cannot get it right after the prompt. I thought that simply memorizing phrases from a recording would work, but that doesn't teach you the building blocks of language, or the conversational prompts-and they often throw sophisticated idioms which make no sense. Only Pimsleur is unique in that it is 100% audio-based and is very professional and structured, introducing you to new words, grammatical concepts etc. as you go. But just don't be too scared to mess up!
I’m currently on Level 4 of Pimsleur Spanish. In addition to the 30 minutes of listening, there are also reading lessons each day, voice coaching which teaches pronunciation and challenges you to translate from English to Spanish and uses voice recognition to assess your answers, and also quizzes to assess your recalI of vocabulary and phrases. I probably spend an hour a day on each lesson and am really enjoying it. I pay £18.99 a month and have access to all languages. I plan to start the German course when I complete the Spanish course.
Is it helpful? Can you understand and speak Spanish at your level?
@@pompem2140I am a different responder but I achieved a C1 fluency through level 4 in German and Spanish, and there are 5 levels. Pretty good app if you ask me.
I used Pimsleur through audible. Cost was minuscule. 😊
At Audible it is $90 per level, i.e. $450 for all five levels ...
Louis, I love your "leaking bucket" analogy for forgetting in a new language. The strength of Pimsleur is it’s pragmatic application of learning theory to bring you home, both understanding and speaking the language. I have tried literally dozens of learning methods to acquire new languages; in my opinion Pimsleur is one of the very best!
Recently, this week, I purchased a one year subscription for all 51 Pimsleur languages. The cost was less than $ 14 per month!! Currently, I am learning German and Italian. I love the courses and am thrilled with my progress! I would recommend them to anyone.
Thank you Louis, for your candid and helpful reviews of different
Very well made video, I just started using Pimsleur and the way you described Spaced Repetition is exactly what I've been experiencing. I'm still on level 1 but I'm using more Spanish conversationally already, with more comfort and rentention than I did taking Spanish classes in university. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I didn't know until this week, that Pimsleur has a monthly subscription. I'm learning French, Spanish and Chinese with this program after I was fed up with Duolingo. Additionally I use a grammar book for every language, read books (very easy ones for Spanish and Chinese 😅) and watch youtube. I tried Rosetta Stone, Duolingo and Babbel, but Pimsleur is the program that suits me best. And 21 Swiss Franks per month for as many languages as I want? For me personally that's a bargain.
Thank you very much for the information and the link! It's great I get to try it out before deciding if it's for me. So far it's awesome!
Glad it was helpful!
I like your headset - the microphone sounds really good. What is it?
why do I hear a rooster crowing every so often?
Interesting video. May I ask if you were sponsored by Pimsleur to make this video?
Lots of comments on the price here. Seems to have changed to a monthly sub..?
Personally I was disappointed by Pimsleur Spanish. It does help with pronunciation and speaking more confidently but it is painfully slow and they teach you very little to no vocabulary compared to how long the lessons are. I have no idea how they get to this number of 300 to 500 words per group of 30 lessons. That sounds like a huge lie to me, unless they completely redesigned their course since the time I did it a little while ago. When I did it each lesson introduced me to 3 to 5 new words top. So that's like 100-120 words or so per group of lessons. As a result it barely scratches the surface on many topics...
That being said, once you know who Pimsleur was marketed for when it was initially created long ago, it all starts to make sense: business men going on business trips. Basically they just needed a method that would teach them enough vocabulary to get by and do a touch of small talk with their foreign colleagues and/or clients. That's why the course is so expensive and why there's a ton of vocab about work, meetings, colleagues, etc. The kind of stuff 90% of people learning Spanish won't actually need. You'll learn how to ask for dry cleaning your suits before you learn how to say "chicken" or "beef".
My opinion is that it's a useful method for people having a long commute to work every day and wanting something better to do than just listen to the radio, but for everyone else, I would not recommend it.
Hmmm. I am not using it for Spanish because I already have a basis. I did Spanish for 4 years in school and speak french fluently. I think that you learn a lot of Spanish if you're a beginner. Like if you already have the basis you probably need to do the grammar alone at home and watch loads of Spanish films and read books. And eventually speak with a native speaker. An app won't get you to actually speak the way you want.
@@YesToLifeAlways I agree that if you're a complete beginner, Pimsleur will definitely help you get started and give you a nice basis to build on. For anyone even just low intermediate, it's mostly useless.
For the rest, I don't think there's a single method that will work for everybody when it comes to learning a language, we're all different, but I agree you can't go wrong with watching movies and reading books.
I’m thinking about giving it a try again , I think I got up to lesson 7 and stopped because it was getting boring to me . They kept trying to teach me the phrase “ how much are the conchas?” And after 3 lessons of that I was like okay I get it , can we move on?!? I was so annoyed lol. The positive about pimsleur is when I speak natives say I sound perfect , it will teach you to speak the right way .
It is indeed repetitive. But the repetition is an important part of Pimsleur. Some people on this channel told me (after finishing Pimsleur, not necessarily Spanish) that they could have fluent conversations with Spanish speakers after just doing Pimsleur. This is unheard of for a program that lasts only 5 months.
You're right! The same thing happens to me with pimsleur to learn English, I have made notes in a notebook of each word and I am currently studying lesson 8..
The concha bit is a joke of course. I have learned several languages with the Pimsleur method through the years, and I swear by it.!
@@loistalagrand It's also almost certainly an exaggeration on their part. Plus, it is not unhead of at all.
If I pay the 21 dollars, can i download the lessons? How does it work? Only download lessons you complete or everything?
You will be able to download all the lessons through the mobile application for offline listening.
I went into Pimsleur with an open mind. It was recommended to me by an iTalki Italian tutor who thought it was a good way to help with conversation. After going through 15 lessons, it was evident that it wasn't for me. It relies on repetition, but the pace of the spoken language made it VERY difficult to understand to such a degree that I could never understand what was being said to be able to repeat it. I found it to be very unforgiving (and a bit boring). I gave up after two weeks.
Following the instructions, each lesson should be repeated until at least 80% of it is understood, before moving on to the next. If you completed 15 lessons in just 2 weeks, that is very impressive.
Initially it took me 7 days to complete a single Mandarin Chinese lesson, studying/listening 30 minutes a day. Starting a new lesson was always a struggle, but it became easy by the time I had finished with that lesson. The effort required was no more than listening and following the directions/instructions.
Cant seem to find that $500+ in their website. Whats the difference of $21/mo for 5 mos vs $500?
Take a look here: www.pimsleur.com/learn-spanish-latin-american.
The $500+ price gets you lifetime access. With the app, you get the same stuff, but you won't have access to it once your subscription is over.
@@loistalagrand It's not there anymore
Hi! Thanks for the video. I'm not seeing any link for $20/month!
You will get it once you go through the free trial
@@loistalagrand Thank you
I am very new with not a lot of experience at all. Would this be good for me?
Yes, Pimsleur is effective and straightforward to use.
Would you try to learn 2 languages at the exact same time (start the same day) or would you stagger them? If so, how much time would you let pass before picking up another one?
It's definitely possible, but you'll need a bigger time investment. I made a video showing how long you can expect to reach proficiency in a language: th-cam.com/video/uL95VoLu2Sw/w-d-xo.html
I’m learning a Romance language and Thai at the same time and it’s actually really interesting the complexities between both! Portuguese and Thai, Pimsleur all the way!!!
Currently, I’m learning both Italian and German from Pimsleur, separated by about three weeks. It is working fine but you have to put in the time. If you can do that, you’re good.
Suggest strongly you only attempt doubling up on languages that are NOT similar;
avoid doing two Romance languages at once, for instance. Otherwise, you will experience troublesome "cognitive dissonane" = confusion.
Good luck! 🍀
The Pimsleur Castilian Spanish course is somewhat okay, but what lets it down is the poor quality control. Notably the male 'native' voice actor, who clearly forgets (or is not bothered) that he is being listened to by non-Spanish speakers. There are constant examples of this actor pronouncing words and phrases too quickly, and slurring them together, which often makes it difficult to figure out what is being said. He also contradicts his pronunciation on some words, which makes me wonder if he's trying to deliberately annoy the listener.
Another issue is that the treble frequencies of the audio are diminished, which destroys the clarity of speech. It's like listening to someone talk through a pair of thick blankets! I had to load the files into an audio editor and correct the tonal balance, which takes hours to do! Furthermore, having seen the waveform of the audio files, the recording engineers have failed to apply any audio limiting, which prevents the files being louder and more defined. For what the course costs, there are clearly too many low-grade amateurs involved in the process that produce a substandard product. I did email Simon & Shuster, who owns the brand, but received no response. Says it all.
Good video
Thanks
Have you looked at rocket language?
Yes. In fact, I've reviewed Rocket Spanish here: th-cam.com/video/5h4JDGh60jU/w-d-xo.html
Please tell the truth.
Pimsleur recordings are awful. I used it for Tagalog and nearly worthless. The annunciation by one speaker is too fast and not clear. There are mistakes. The entire program needs to be reworked.
Well, I'm not sure about Tagalog, but the Spanish recordings are very high quality.
Unfortunately, less popular languages are lower quality. Similar experience with Twi
@@timbit827 That's typically the case with language learning apps. The most popular languages tend to get the best treatment when it comes to learning material.