Pimsleur Review

Friday, June 20th

2025 Chinese Lesson Reviews

Pimsleur

• Price: $14.95 for audio-only, $19.95 for audio and text-based exercises
• First week is free
• Discounts available with the annual plan
• Audio lessons can be convenient for multitasking
• Can be used anytime, anywhere
• Syncs progress across all devices
• Multiple account members are allowed
• Offers Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese
• Starts with simple survival phrases and builds up to complex conversations

If you want to learn to speak a new language, Pimsleur thinks the best way to do that is to actually speak the language. In other words, Pimsleur's method relies on interactive speaking practices supported by techniques like Graduated Interval Recall for long-term memory retention, "mini-step challenges" to overcome conversational fear, focusing on core vocabulary to start speaking in as little as 30 days, and intuitive grammar learning through listening. This holistic approach is designed to make learning efficient, natural, and deeply ingrained, mimicking the way we naturally acquire language. After all, you've never seen a baby studying a sentence diagram, so why would you? Pimsleur offers Cantonese Chinese in addition to Mandarin Chinese.

Fit Chinese into your life easily

When you're starting any new habit, it's important that it fits into your lifestyle - the less friction there is, the easier the habit will be to maintain. For people who are short on time but who spend part of their day commuting or doing hands-on household chores, Pimsleur could be a great way to fit in some Chinese practice. The lessons are audio-only and therefore hands-free, meaning you can listen in the car, while you fold laundry, or while you're doing yard work. But it's probably best not to take your Pimsleur lessons at the gym or grocery store, unless you don't mind getting a few funny looks for talking to yourself.

Multiple account members allowed

Whether you're using the Pimsleur app on the move, engaging with Alexa in the comfort of your home, or sitting at your computer, your language learning can happen anytime, anywhere. What's more, your progress is seamlessly synced across all devices. And there's something for the whole household: one main account holder plus up to three additional members can track their individual learning journeys. So, if you're keen on navigating the streets of Beijing solo, or if your family dreams of a cultural deep-dive into the heart of China, each person gets a customized, in-sync learning experience

$19.95 for audio and text-based exercises

The first week of Pimsleur is free. After that, it's $14.95/month for audio-only. If you want the visual tools such as the Speak Easy role-play tool, a vocabulary bank, and flashcards, you have to pay $19.95/month. By paying $20.95 per month, you also get access to all of Pimsleur's language courses. Unfortunately, they don't disclose all of this upfront, only when you start the checkout process. They're likely counting on your credit card already being out to have a better chance of getting more of your money. If you're interested in discounts, consider opting for an annual plan. You can save up to 34% this way - it's $134.95 for Audio Only, $149.95 for Premium, and $164.95 for All Access. You can also cancel your membership or switch from a monthly to an annual subscription at any time.

You won't learn the characters until later

The obvious drawback of using the entirely audio-based plan to learn Chinese is that you won't get practice with the writing systems - neither pinyin nor hanzi. That's why we think to get the most use out of Pimsleur, you'll need the Premium subscription. After signing up and taking the free 30 minute audio lesson, we had a decent grasp on what certain phrases sounded like, but they didn't really click into place until we played the Quick Match review game where we could see the words we'd learned written out. For any written exercise, you can toggle between pinyin and hanzi. However, unless you have a photographic memory, you can't count on retaining much of the hanzi you're shown - at least not early on.

Pronunciation Practice is hit-or-miss

Pimsleur recently introduced a new feature where you listen to a phrase in English, then in Chinese, and then record yourself pronouncing it to be graded. However, we think their system could be a little tougher with its grading. For example, we didn't really know how to say the last word of "wo hui shuo yi dianr” (”I can speak a little”), and while the playback of our best guess sounded wrong to even our untrained ear, the AI still told us it was "Excellent” (just to make sure it doesn't give a positive result every time, we spoke some English into the mic and were appropriately asked if we'd like to try again).

Reading Chinese characters at the end of the course

How far can Pimsleur take you? The great news is that they have 150 of those 30-minute lessons across 5 levels of Mandarin proficiency. That's about 15 hours of audio for each level. You'll start with simple survival phrases and build up to confidently discussing complex topics, including your personal and emotional experiences. By the end, you'll understand fast-paced conversations and be able to express yourself in depth. Alongside speaking and listening, you'll also learn to read. Starting with Hanyu Pinyin, the phonetic system for Mandarin, and progressing to Hanzi, the Chinese characters, by Level 5. You'll finish feeling confident in your ability to communicate and with a deeper insight into the Chinese language and culture.

Great for audio learners, but try it first

We'd say Pimsleur is great - for a specific category of people, namely, the audio learners among us. There are plenty of testimonials from everyday people and celebrities alike to be found on Pimsleur's website for whom the method works great. Lots of users say they never thought they could learn a second language until they found Pimsleur. On the other hand, others who are used to and comfortable with more text-based, go-at-your-own-pace language learning methods might find themselves frustrated by having to ask Ms. Wang how she likes her tea fifteen times, word by word. So, we'd recommend you sign up to try out the free lesson and see if Pimsleur works for you.