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I think pimsleur is a way to learn a language naturally. As a child you don't learn to write first, you learn to speak while listening to your parents. You don't write, read etc. In the end I would always learn how to write but from scratch pimsleur is the right choice IMHO. Best regards from Germany
I agree 100%! That is what I've been telling my Latino friends. They would be trying to teach me Spanish grammar right off the bat, with me having a very limited Spanish vocabulary, and I would just get so frustrated and overwhelmed that I would give up. Same thing with other language apps I've tried...to heavy on the grammar from the beginning. This scares off new language learners. It can be very intimidating. I've always told my friends I just want to speak Spanish! I want to learn the way we naturally learned our own language...by listening and repeating. Then when we got a little older, we went to school and learned about grammar, spelling and how to write words and sentences. It's just the natural order of things. Everyone has their own learning method that works best for them, but Pimsleur works best for me personally.
Also don’t forget that a lot of US libraries have free access to the Pimsleur audiobooks. They only have the audio portion of the lessons, but really that’s 90% of Pimsleur’s content, anyway.
Thanks for that info. I actually tried lesson Level 1 using my library app. Unfortunately my library only offers Level 1. But I was glad that I was able to try Pimsleur and complete level 1 so I can decide if I wanted to buy a subscription. I love it!
This. I got physical cds from the library that I can play in my car. But on libby and Hoopla, I can get digital copies. You may have to put it on hold for a week or 2 but it's FREE.. my library has all 5 levels physical and 3 levels digital. Punsluer is really amazing for teaching by yourself. Way better than american High School French classes. Which taught me to read French, but not converse.
I love your review...from what you've said, pimsleur is the better option. I want to learn a new language specifically french because I'm looking forward to studying and working in France or French speaking Canada (Quebec province). As a Nigerian, my country is surrounded by a lot of French speaking West African countries and learning French will also make travel and interaction with their citizens a lot easier.
I’m about 10 months into Duolingo for Italian. It’s fun but I want more conversational content. I think I may go with Babbel. This was incredibly helpful, thank you so much!
Duolingo will not really teach you the language, it's designed to hook you on IT AS AN APP! I really like Babbel and Mango Languages which is free via many libraries. Pimsleur is also very good to hear/speak.
Took 4.5 years of Spanish through high school and college. REALLY have a desire to get back into it and become fluent to talk with friends and people in that culture. Thanks for the insight on these two programs!
Thanks for this video. I love Babbel HOWEVER… You just helped me reconsider Pimsleur because I realize I learn even more by listening and having a conversation and learning more sentences
I'm going all in! I recently have been using Babbel for a very short period of time, but I just started using Pimsleur two days ago after another video you did on Pimsleur and then also watching this video. I think Pimsleur is my preferred method to get engaged and get me speaking Spanish (which I have always been too shy to do before). I know I'm retaining more of what I am learning. I'm feeling more confident with pronouncing words and full sentences (correctly) in Spanish. I love the way that Pimsleur has a feature to allow users to slow down the audio to get a better, clearer understanding of the pronunciation of the words. I get frustrated with some of these language apps because some the audio plays so fast, and no matter how many times I replay the audio, I cannot clearly catch the pronunciation of the words. But I do agree, Pimsleur does need to add something to keep users from getting bored and keep users alert. If I feel like I'm losing focus, I just take a break and come back to it in a few minutes or later on the same day. I like to use Pimsleur while I'm driving and also while I'm sitting at my desk working (date entry). But I do also like the visual features in Babbel and when I don't have time for a long lesson, I can take a quick 10-15 minute lesson using Babbel. For now I will use both. Thanks for another great review!
My husband studied German a few years back, using the Pimsleur lessons and really liked it. I hope the Spanish lessons will work in a similar way for me, fingers crossed!
Thank you so much for all your review videos! Today is New Year's Day.. 🎉 One of my goals for this year is to speak perfect German by the end of 2024. That's important to me because I moved to Germany. A lifetime membership with a language app would help me enormously in achieving my goal, so I would like to participate in the raffle. Thanks again & all the best for 2024! ❤
Great review! I have never considered Pimsleur, but I now think this is more suitable for me as I can exercise while learning and I am more focused on conversational skills.
Babbel is usually 80 some dollars a year or you can buy the lifetime pass which you gotta do some digging to find. Access to 14 languages and 100 years to learn them. Usually $500 I believe but I got it for $250 with the New Years sale!
Having a grip on more than one language definitely helps an individual strike a conversation in a new territory or as an ice breaker on a foreign land!
Wow - great comparison of Pimsleur and Babbel. Both seem like very good options. Eduardo likes Pimsleur for the active learning process. I want to learn Italian for my trip next year to the Piedmont wine region of Italy. Thanks!
Hey John! This video was extremely helpful! I was honestly about to download Pimsleur since my mom told me that she was not a fan of Babble. But her and I are on different ends of the spectrum when it comes to learning. So after watching your video I realized that Babble is the right platform for me since I’m more of a visual Learner! Much appreciated brother!
Thank you. I will learn Spanish because I believe learning another language enhances my understanding of the world around me and gives me more opportunities.
Was referred to Babbel and just started doing some research on it and whether it was for me or not. Came across your channel and LOVE the information and comparisons! Thank you.
I’m hoping to learn some Italian before I travel there in the Fall. Thanks for the thoughtful comparison/review, these were the 2 programs I was most considering!
I am in love with my Girlfriend of almost 2 years. She is half Hispanic, and uses only Spanish when hanging out with her dad’s side of the family. We both graduated college only a year ago, so most of our time and money is spent working off our student loans. I would love to be able to communicate with her family without breaking the bank! I love the videos! And fingers crossed I get selected!
I want to learn a new language because I feel sense of accomplishment when I could speak a new language that never got to speak before. I also like how I can learn about the culture that my language comes from while also learning the language.
Thank you. I’m currently a Pimsleur user and never complete the lesson. I get bored or just frustrated about 15-20 minutes. I’m signing up for Babbel today with your link.
I use Pimsleur. I didn't have to do a subscription though. I bought Japanese 1 and 2 without subscription so I didn't have to think about canceling when I wasn't going to be able to focus on learning because of work or travel.
Excellent comparison between the two popular language apps. Choosing the right app is a very difficult task because l want to pick the one that really suitable to me. John, you made our selection a lot easier! Really appreciated!
For a middle school kiddo, we will go with Babbel. It is important to me that he learns to read and write Spanish, especially since Spanish in particular (unlike English and many other languages) is always pronounced exactly as it is spelled, even adding accent marks if the pronunciation differs. This will help immensely with pronunciation, even without any voice recognition, it's a perfect visual of what you are learning and a stepping stone to literacy. I have nothing against keeping him hooked to a computer and headphones during his lessons as it will ensure he is not distracted. For my 5-year-old nephew, we will likely go with the Rosetta Stone method as he is young enough to learn through fun images and immersion, even though he can already read English pretty well, I feel his literacy in a second language can come later, with time. Side note: I feel It is a shame that Babbel doesn't offer more languages or at least plans with multiple languages.
I am interested in Pimsleur, because I like the conversation option. I am wondering if you have to pay continually? Or can you buy the whole course in one shot like you used to with Rosetta Stone?
💜I want to learn Greek. I spent a long time in a belief system that prohibited me, as a woman, from furthering my education. I got myself and my children away from that, and I’ve spent the last few years learning and growing as much as I can. I’ve always been extremely interested in Greek culture and mythology. Greece is at the top of my list for places to visit, possibly even long term. I also love that Greek is an ancient language that has fed so many other languages, so I want to learn. 🙂
Glad we could help! We really like Pimsleur. You should at least try their free 7-day trial and see if you like it: testprepinsight.com/go/pimsleur-review/
Seems like a combination of both of these programs is the move. Double your retention rate. At least that's what I took away from this review. Great job explaining the pros and cons of both.
Excellent review, thank you! I am learning Swedish on my own. I actually started with Babbel, but it progressed rather quickly even if I was still in the Beginner 2 course (too many things I don't understand yet because my foundation isn't so solid). I decided to do Pimsleur to get my pronunciation right, and have a feel of how the basic sentence structures work. It worked very well for my Hungarian years ago, and I was hitting myself on the head for not starting Swedish with Pimsleur first. :) Both really good programs, will recommend to everyone who's learning a language from scratch!
Hi Catalina! Thanks for sharing this detail about your experiences with both. Agree with your take that both are solid programs, but Pimsleur is slightly more effective all-around :)
Jusy watched two of your reviews. They have been extremely helpful to me. I'm going to try Pimsleur first. As I do a lot if driving, and I like that I can learn on the go. But may also join Babbel down the road.
I've been learning Brazilian Portuguese on Pimsleur (almost done with level 4). I really like it. My only complaint would be the random way in which it teaches you grammar. You get small tidbits of grammar spread out over the many lessons. And it often doesn't do a good job of explaining the meanings of the different verb conjugations (like past perfect vs past imperfect). It just gives you examples and expects you to figure it out based on the context of the conversation. This can work to a certain extent but it would be nice if they provided more detailed explanations of the verb conjugations and taught them in a more systematic fashion. Personally, i need a bit more structure and organization in my learning. Maybe some other people prefer less structure, idk....
Thanks for watching and sharing Taco! Agree with your points above. That is one small tweak Pimsleur could likely afford to make. But overall it's a great program.
I do like that there wouldn't be as much review of grammar rules and the like. I've learned enough just listening to Spanish to understand how the grammar works, I think. Thanks for the review!
Thank you so much for this insight! I spend a lot of time in the car so I thought Pimsleur would be a better fit, but I'm really a more visual learner so I think I'm going to go with Babbel and just keep listening to Italian podcasts in the car. Thank you for your help!
ughhh it's a tie! loool I was hoping this video would edge me towards which one to sign up for. it would be nice to win a free language learning subscription. That would ease my decision! 🙌🏾
This video helped me decide. Pimsleur it is, I can always write things down to also learn visually. Plus...51 languages? Absolutely. It has my mother tongue too, Gaeilge, so I want to get better at that. But I mainly want to learn Svenska. Go raibh míle maith agat, a chara. ♥
Pimsleur all the way. I tried Babel and was very disappointed that I was forced to fill in the blanks on conditional conjugation fairly early in the program. To what avail? I’m a firm believer that the best methodology to learn a new language is listening and repetition. Much the way babies learn a new language. I’m on level 4 of Pimsleur and I’m listening to Italian content on RU-vid. About 90 minutes per day. Italiano Automatico is a great channel for this. After about 2 months I understand about 80-90 percent of content in Italian. With Babbel I’d still be trying to remember how to spell the conditional conjugation of verbs. Not particularly effective.
I just started with the Pimsleur German course and it's great,the difference between pimsleur and other apps is that it sticks,you don't need to review anything.It's slow and repetitive and not fun but you remember each word you learn so it does its job.
My take away is that it’s probably best to do the free intro to each program. Love this review, but I’m still torn. I’m also using the paid Duolingo which is helpful, but annoying in that when they introduce a new form of a word, there is no explanation to it.
What would you recommend for someone who grew up in a Spanish-speaking household understands Spanish, but is not comfortable speaking Spanish? I honestly feel like I just don’t have the vocabulary to express myself as well as I can in English and lack of confidence
