What is Pimsleur "premium?"

[kanewai]

For me, Pimsleur isn't perfect but it has it's place. I actually find it useful to revisit the higher levels, IV and V, when they exist.

I just visited their website for the first time in years, and I'm not sure what's going on. It's 90% sales pitch, with offers of free trials & testimonials about how it's so much better than Rosetta Stone and DuoLingo. It's actually short on actual information - every button you click produces a pop-up asking if you want your free trial - but there's mention of "voice coach," "visual tools," "bonus content," etc.

Anyone have any experience with it?

I'm skeptical, based on how irritating the website is. I'm also irked at how so many programs are turning into imitations of every other program, and my first take is Pimsleur is doing the same thing. I'd rather they just update the dialogues & improve on the one thing they do well. But also ... "voice coach" sounds intriguing, and one of my main issues was the lack of printed materials with Pimsleur for the harder languages. Maybe it's a better product now?

I'm not buying anything anytime soon, so this is pure curiosity at this point.

[księżycowy]

I'm afraid I cannot give insight into the "premium" package itself or any of the "extras", but I have used the Pimsleur site and had a sub for a bit within the last 2-3 years. At it's core, it's the same product you've known for years. Just streamed through their website or smartphone app. As far as I could tell, there had not been any updates on the actual content or method used (definitely none on the method). Whether that has changed in since, I cannot say.

I'm trying to remember if they had the booklets available for viewing or not, but I'm foggy on all of the details. I believe they did though. Whether they've expanded on it I couldn't say.

Maybe someone with more recent experience can enlighten us.

[Le Baron]

'Premium' seems to be the entire package with reading and exercises etc and the ordinary one is just the audio.

I went to the site and it wasn't so bad. It's quite well laid-out and logical. There is an amusing set of advertising YouTube videos though where people who are likely paid actors, pretend they are students who 'got hooked by the first lesson' and 'have a native-like accent'. Then proceed to sound like an American speaking Italian. One guy bought the entire Turkish course and would you have it, on his way to film the video he ran into a Turk and they had a chat and became "firm friends"! Okay I won't judge.

For the record I think Pimsleur is better than Rosetta Stone and Duolingo and Memrise, in several respects: it provides a structured lesson which tells you what to do and makes you talk. Many people come to it from different positions, usually as false beginners and inexperienced learners and find that they are actually talking and remembering the structures fed to them. So this is going to feel like progress. It's basically telling you what to learn within a narrow framework, rather than having a contents page or something like it you can look at and know you have far to go. That might be its best strength: that you are only busy with the lesson you're given because it's pure audio.
Although with 'premium Pimsleur' that will likely be different.

[Elsa Maria]

I have had the Pimsleur app for quite some time, and I love it.

Not all of the languages have a Premium version, but many do. The wonderful thing about Premium is that you get a written version of the lesson. Not a transcript, but a robust list of phrases, flashcards, and conversations. There are some other features that I have not used.

I am going to finish Level 2 of Norwegian today, and then I will pick another Premium course. I doubt that I will ever relisten to Norwegian, but I will keep the flashcards in review if necessary.

[kanewai]

I went to the site and it wasn't so bad. It's quite well laid-out and logical. There is an amusing set of advertising YouTube videos though where people who are likely paid actors, pretend they are students who 'got hooked by the first lesson' and 'have a native-like accent'. Then proceed to sound like an American speaking Italian. One guy bought the entire Turkish course and would you have it, on his way to film the video he ran into a Turk and they had a chat and became "firm friends"! Okay I won't judge.

Judge away!

Turkish was actually the language I was looking for, and the reason I grew frustrated with the site. I just wanted to find out if they had a Turkish Level 2 yet (they don't), and take a look at what all the new extra features were, without starting a seven-day trial or having to hunt for the information. I'll probably stick with my old approach of buying the Pimsleur course on Audible when I'm ready.

For the record I think Pimsleur is better than Rosetta Stone and Duolingo and Memrise ...

I do roll my eyes at the claims they are better than those courses - those are pretty much bottom of the barrel. Memrise at least seems to be improving some of its content.

[iguanamon]

I think Pimsleur is very good at what it does and not very good at what learners' expectations may be. Hence the discord. Despite the cover hype and advertising, in my experience, Pimsleur is not a complete course. The reading supplements do not make it a complete course.

I don't expect Pimsleur to be a complete course. I do expect it to teach me a good number of useful phrases and help my language skills to be more conversational. I expect it to develop "automatcity" with the language for me and give me a decent chance at a decent accent.

Other courses and grammar, will teach me the language. Pimsleur will be a good, useful part of my multi-track approach.

[Diomedes]

In my experience, Pimsleur is great to listen in your car when you wish to start a language (or more than one) from scratch, don't have the time to sit in front of a book every day, and must spend some hours in traffic.

Also in my experience, when I did them, there were no Premium levels, only I-III. And I found out they're more than enough to allow you engage in very simple conversations with some panache, and to make you feel capable of starting a more demanding course "with ease" (which you should, IMO).

So I see no need to "premium" or levels beyond III for this kind of course.

[Elsa Maria]

I agree about it being great for the car - I only use it in the car or while doing housework. But I couldn’t stand not learning the written form. I’ll only use Pimsleur if there is a Premium version.

I don’t have that problem with Language Transfer if I use it after Pimsleur.

[Deinonysus]

I have Pimsleur Unlimited (full catalog subscription) which includes premium, so I tried out the voice coach for Hebrew and it was abysmal. It was failing me on half the sentences on lesson one and there were some when I couldn't figure out any sort of pronunciation that it would accept, correct or otherwise. My Hebrew accent is fine, I grew up hearing native speakers all the time and I have a good ear. I'll stick to talking to Pimsleur without it listening.

[kanewai]

In my experience, Pimsleur is great to listen in your car when you wish to start a language (or more than one) from scratch, don't have the time to sit in front of a book every day, and must spend some hours in traffic.

Also in my experience, when I did them, there were no Premium levels, only I-III. And I found out they're more than enough to allow you engage in very simple conversations with some panache, and to make you feel capable of starting a more demanding course "with ease" (which you should, IMO).

So I see no need to "premium" or levels beyond III for this kind of course.

I use it while walking, so it's the same general idea.

I do like the Levels IV and V when they have them. For me Levels I-III are very useful, but I only use them once. I've re-done Levels IV and V once or twice when I want to re-activate a language I haven't spoken in awhile.