Pimsleur Review

Wednesday, December 4th

2024 Arabic Lesson Reviews

Pimsleur

• Pricing from $19.95 to $20.95 per month or $164.95 per year
• Listening approach
• 7-day free trial
• 30-day money-back guarantee
• Eastern Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic
• Can use both online and in the car
• Mobile apps for Android and iOS
• 4.5-star average user rating

Drawing on almost five decades of experience, the Pimsleur Method, crafted by Dr. Pimsleur, has been a trailblazer in self-taught language instruction. While the program started by offering Modern Greek, Pimsleur has expanded to encompass over 50 languages, including Arabic. Pimsleur is celebrated for its focus on learning through listening, a methodology that has evolved from cassettes and CDs to an online subscription model. This evolution enables learners to conveniently and flexibly access the content, marking a significant advancement as Pimsleur jumps to join the more modern language initiatives.

1 lesson free for a preview

Embarking on your Arabic learning journey with Pimsleur is straightforward. First, you have to choose whether you want to learn Eastern Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, or Modern Standard Arabic. Then, you can begin with the free trial. There is also a free lesson offered from the top navigation bar of the main page. However, you can't start anything with Pimsleur without first putting in your personal information or social media account. Once you get on the site, Pimsleur offers a free Level 1 lesson. There were some difficulties on different parts of the site, however, where the listed Arabic options only showed Eastern Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, which was confusing. But, rest assured, there are three dialect options to choose from.

30-minute conversation-style audios

Based on the trial of the Pimsleur process, the structure of the lesson is broken down by skills and activities. You listen to an audio lesson as the main part of the course, and then supplemental activities will be offered on the same page to help you further develop your learning. Each lesson is around 30 minutes and it's centered around multiple Arabic speakers having conversations that you need to listen to, follow, and review. An English speaker will explain the conversation for you, to help you break down and participate in the conversation by the end of the lesson. In the preview lessons, there was no visual content beyond written words (no pictures or videos to study). However, if you upgrade to Premium, there is a "picture this” exercise that allows you to visualize some of your learning. But, students who studied Arabic on Pimsleur said the visual aids were very limited.

Audio lessons any time any place

Pimsleur offers a standout feature by catering to multiple learners in a single household, enabling up to four students to utilize a subscription on unlimited devices. The convenience extends further with a Driving Mode, providing an opportunity to practice Arabic during your commute. As the lessons are primarily audio, this is fairly simple and means that you can use Pimsleur during other activities, helping you fit your Arabic lessons into your busy schedule. Pimsleur does not include speech recognition tools or a game-based approach, yet it remains an attractive choice for individuals who value audio-focused learning methods.

Priced monthly and annually

While most languages on Pimsleur have a monthly and annual payment option, Arabic is a little more complicated since there are three forms of Arabic offered on the site. Pimsleur has Modern Standard Arabic, which is only available in the "All Access” subscriptions. You can either choose All Access Monthly for $20.95 per month or All Access Annual for $164.95 per year. While Pimsleur also offers a Monthly Premium membership which is just paying for the 1 language you want to learn, this is only available for Eastern Arabic or Egyptian Arabic. The Monthly Premium membership is the most cost-effective membership at $19.95 per month, but you will be limited to just one language in this case.

30-day money-back guarantee

Pimsleur demonstrates confidence in its effectiveness by offering a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you buy directly from Pimsleur, you have the option to cancel it within 30 days if you find the lesson materials or teaching style aren't ideal for how you progress as a student. However, according to Pimsleur's terms and conditions, subscriptions with a 7-day free trial might not be eligible for a refund, so you may want to confirm this before subscribing.

Students are enjoying the audio lessons

Overall, Pimsleur maintains a strong reputation, with various language learning blogs and review sites consistently giving the company an average rating of around 4.4 stars. The prevailing opinion is that the program is effective, benefiting from over 50 years of language experience in the industry. The mobile app also reflects a similar rating average on the Google Play store and even higher ratings of 4.7 out of 5 from the Apple Store. Students generally appreciate the effectiveness of the audio lessons, and although some have raised concerns about the voice reader being not "natural sounding”, the majority express satisfaction with their progress using Pimsleur.

Solid service for a busy student

Pimsleur is a solid option for those who prefer learning Arabic without relying on textbooks or formal grammar instruction or who have a knack for listening over writing. It is a particularly good choice if you need to learn on the go, making it ideal for those with busy schedules. While Pimsleur may lack some of the advanced features found on other platforms, bloggers and professional linguists commend the method's success throughout the years. As a result, it receives a solid rating overall, with the absence of certain methodological features preventing it from achieving a higher rating.