Thanks!

I think it is. I'm on level 4. During level 1 and part of level 2 I would listen and repeat, just like they said to do. But I started to hate the repetitiveness of the program and got super frustrated with myself if I couldn't remember how to say something they told me to say, so I took a break and thankfully found LingQ. When I went back to Pimsleur, I used it more as a listening tool. I am far from conversational from using Pimsleur but I've definitely learned words and numerous phrases. I listen while I'm driving or walking the dogs. Since I'm not always 100% present with it I usually listen to a lesson 3 or so times.

I think it is excellent early on in the process because it helps you identify the sounds and learn to speak with less of an access (as long as you don't try to find out how the words are spelled while you're doing it). I did all 5 levels of German before going to Germany and several native German speakers said I had only a slight American accent.

I really love Pimsleur. I accumulated all the CD's from eBay over time. I went through to level 5 twice. After the first time, I think that's when Covid hit, and I thought I'd never be able to travel again, I just stopped. Then I picked it up again in June, and started in at level 3. About when I got to level 4, I decided to test out their app. That made all the difference. I never tried the CD's again. For one thing, the App is totally up to date with newer slang, more practice sessions using the familiar (tutiando). Plus all the reading lessons are embedded so I don't have to look for them and print them out. There are several drills, and just lately they introduced (albeit still in Beta) a thing that hears you speak and rates how well you pronounce the words. It's not perfect yet. It can't hear me say a "P", hear an "F". Once I started with the Pimsleur app, I never missed a day. I quite often spent two or three days on a lesson, but always studied. I can now carry on a conversation with a Spanish speaking person; and getting over that fear is, in my opinion, about 80% of being able to learn. And on a Meetup Zoom meeting that has people from all over Latin America as well as the US, one person (from Colombia?) said he thought my accent was the best he'd heard on the calls. Which shocked me. But, alas, I've completed Level 5 once again, learning so much more this time, probably because I'm also studying grammar now. I'd keep going if they had more. There's a Spanish language talk show here in the SF Bay area on an AM station (but you can get it through Alexa. I listen to that when I'm in my car and I can understand about 80% of what's being said. My goal to become fluent enough to be able to move to Latin America in about two years, and I've heard really good things about LingQ, so here I am.

I would say no. I went did Pimsleur Levels 1-4 (there was no level five at the time) in order to feel like i was having a conversation with someone with the prompts, etc. It put me in the mood, but didn't actually help with my learning.

If you're just starting out and want something simple to listen and repeat while in the car, and you can get Pimsleur for free, it's okay. now that I have found LingQ and become fluent from it, I could never imagine ever using Pimsleur again all the way through.