Jul 26, 2024, 14:44 pm
Pimsleur is a language learning app that is generally lauded as the best way to learn a language. I tend to agree. Their audio-first approach rapidly develops the listening comprehension needed to actually speak and understand the language. In contrast with Duolingo which just teaches you how to read it.
However, great as the Pimsleur program may be: the app is a hot mess. First off: it's just a glorified podcast app, and it can't even do that right. Nothing outside the audio lessons is implemented in any useful way. Bluetooth controls don't work correctly, progress regularly fails to sync. Any other audio program would release the transcripts of their lessons, possibly in a format that autoscrolls with the audio. But not Pimsleur. This is a barebones minimum functionality. Because the money-grubbing boomers at Simon&Schuster are better at acquisition and IP litigation than they are at creating a valuable product.
Some guy 60 years ago invented the perfect method to learn a language and these capitalistic fucks secured the rights and have done nothing to improve it for the modern day. Want to use their program? $20/month for a shitty app. You can't pause the audio and if you navigate away, fuck you, your progress is gone. Want some supplementary materials for review? Each lessons comes with 12 flash cards that can only be reviewed in alphabetical order. Need spaced repetition to acquire new vocabulary? Fuck you.
Complain in a bad review? Some underpaid PR rep always asks "have you tried the premium plan?" as if that isn't the only product they offer. Of course I've tried the premium plan! It's the only one you have!
Honestly, if you ~somehow~ acquired all their audio lessons as MP3s, you could load them into any podcast or audiobook app and have a better user experience. And if you ~somehow~ acquired all the accompanying vocabulary, you could load it into the Anki flashcard app and have a better user experience. It's often said that the best way to avoid pirated content is to make your products more accessible. But at this point, even if they made their app completely free, I would still torrent, because that's how bad their user experience is.
However, great as the Pimsleur program may be: the app is a hot mess. First off: it's just a glorified podcast app, and it can't even do that right. Nothing outside the audio lessons is implemented in any useful way. Bluetooth controls don't work correctly, progress regularly fails to sync. Any other audio program would release the transcripts of their lessons, possibly in a format that autoscrolls with the audio. But not Pimsleur. This is a barebones minimum functionality. Because the money-grubbing boomers at Simon&Schuster are better at acquisition and IP litigation than they are at creating a valuable product.
Some guy 60 years ago invented the perfect method to learn a language and these capitalistic fucks secured the rights and have done nothing to improve it for the modern day. Want to use their program? $20/month for a shitty app. You can't pause the audio and if you navigate away, fuck you, your progress is gone. Want some supplementary materials for review? Each lessons comes with 12 flash cards that can only be reviewed in alphabetical order. Need spaced repetition to acquire new vocabulary? Fuck you.
Complain in a bad review? Some underpaid PR rep always asks "have you tried the premium plan?" as if that isn't the only product they offer. Of course I've tried the premium plan! It's the only one you have!
Honestly, if you ~somehow~ acquired all their audio lessons as MP3s, you could load them into any podcast or audiobook app and have a better user experience. And if you ~somehow~ acquired all the accompanying vocabulary, you could load it into the Anki flashcard app and have a better user experience. It's often said that the best way to avoid pirated content is to make your products more accessible. But at this point, even if they made their app completely free, I would still torrent, because that's how bad their user experience is.