Their First Words vs Little Pim

Little Pim is five-minute immersion videos with a cartoon panda, in twelve languages, for babies, toddlers and pre-K — $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year. Their First Words is pictures and native-voice recordings a parent says with a child, in eight of those languages, for $9.99 once. They share an audience. They disagree about who does the talking.

By the parents who make Their First Words · October 2026 · facts checked October 2, 2026

We make Their First Words, so this is our own comparison — written by the two parents who build it, not by a reviewer. The facts about Little Pim were checked on October 2, 2026 against its store listings and website, and the sources are listed at the end. Prices are US prices and change. Where another app is the better choice for your family, this page says so.

The short version

Which one, in one minute.

Pick Little Pim if…

You want a short, gentle video your toddler can watch in the target language.
You want Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic or Hebrew — four languages we don’t have.
Your public library offers it free through Mango Languages.
You like the structure: themed episodes, printable parent guides, 360 words and phrases per language.

Pick Their First Words if…

You want to be the voice, with a native speaker to copy first.
You want words and the phrases after them — 1,000+ and 500+ — rather than 360 per language.
Your child is under two and the screen stays in your hands.
You want to pay $9.99 once, not $69.99 a year.

At a glance

Side by side, no adjectives.

Fact	Little Pim	Their First Wordsours
What it is	Five-minute immersion videos with a cartoon panda, built around 360 foundational words and phrases per language	Parent-led flashcards: illustrated first words and everyday phrases, each spoken by a female and a male native voice
Ages	Babies, toddlers and pre-K — “under the age of 6,” as the maker puts it	0–5, in three parent-chosen stages (phrases are not split by stage)
Price	Subscription: $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year; free trial	$9.99 once for everything; no subscription
What’s free	The trial. Some US public libraries offer it free through Mango Languages — ask yours	75 words and 35 phrases, forever, in all eight languages with both voices
Languages	12: Spanish, French, English, Mandarin, Italian, German, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Korean, Portuguese	English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Korean and Russian on every card (the app’s own screens are in English)
Who holds the phone	The screen plays; the child watches, with printable parent guides alongside	The parent. You say the word; the app is the prop.
Works offline	Not stated in its listing	Yes, completely — every picture and clip ships inside the app
Ads	None, as the maker states	None, at any tier
Account	Required	Not needed; optional sign-in only syncs progress between devices

Little Pim facts checked October 2, 2026; sources below. “Who holds the phone” is who the app is designed around: a child playing, or a parent holding it and talking.

Credit where it is due

Where Little Pim is better.

Twelve languages. All eight of ours plus Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic and Hebrew.¹
It plays by itself. A five-minute episode runs without a parent operating anything, which on some afternoons is the point. Our cards need a hand.
Episodes with a plan. Themed videos, companion guides and scripts, printable lessons by email — a program, not a deck.¹
Free at some libraries. Many US public libraries offer it through Mango Languages; a library card may get you the whole thing.³
A long-established name. Little Pim has been a known brand among bilingual parents for many years. Their First Words launched in 2026.

And the other way

Where Their First Words is better.

Four times the words, plus the phrases. 1,000+ words and 500+ phrases in every language, against 360 words and phrases per language.¹
Two native voices on every card. A female and a male voice for each word and phrase, in each language, so a parent hears the word in two mouths before saying it.
The parent does the talking. That is what the evidence for babies supports: a vocabulary DVD taught 12-to-18-month-olds no more words than no video, while parents teaching the same words in daily life did; nine-month-olds learned a new language’s sounds from a person and nothing from recordings.^{4, 5}
In step with screen guidance for babies. The WHO recommends no screen time under one and none for sedentary one-year-olds; the AAP says children under eighteen months learn from real-world interaction and asks parents to play alongside.^{6, 7} A card a parent holds and says is the version of an app that guidance allows for.
Price. $9.99 once versus $69.99 a year.^{1, 2} And 75 words and 35 phrases are free forever, with no account.
Fully offline, on Android too. Every clip ships inside the app, on iPhone, iPad and Android. Little Pim’s App Store listing doesn’t say whether it works offline.²

The real difference

Two different ideas of an app.

Little Pim’s method is immersion: a child watches short videos in the target language, narrated by native speakers, and absorbs words through repetition.¹ It is a pleasant idea, the videos are gentle, and for a three-year-old watching with a parent who repeats the words afterwards it can be part of a bilingual home.

For babies, the research is not kind to video. In the largest controlled test of a best-selling baby vocabulary DVD, children of 12 to 18 months who watched it for a month learned no more of its words than children who never saw it; the children who learned the most were the ones whose parents taught the same words during everyday activities. The parents who liked the DVD most were also the ones who most overestimated what their child had learned from it.⁴ Nine-month-olds learned the sounds of Mandarin from a person in the room and nothing measurable from identical video or audio.⁵ That is why the WHO and the AAP say what they say about screens in the first eighteen months.^{6, 7}

Their First Words is built on the other side of that result. It never tries to teach the child. It gives the parent a picture and a native voice — in Korean, say, when your own Korean is rusty — and gets out of the way so you can say the word to your child. The app is a prompt. You are the program.

Which one for your family

Four straight answers.

A nine-month-old with Korean grandparents. Their First Words, plus video calls with the grandparents — which the AAP counts as relationship time, not screen time.⁷ You name things in Korean at the table; the app makes sure you say them right.
A four-year-old starting Mandarin. Little Pim. We don’t have Mandarin.
Under eighteen months, and you would rather no screen at all. Neither — paper and your voice. If you want ours as a prompt book, use it like one: the flashcard guide explains how.
A library card. Ask whether your library offers Little Pim through Mango Languages and try it free first.³ Our free set costs nothing either.

Questions

What parents ask us.

Is Little Pim good for babies?

Its videos are made for them. Whether a baby learns words from video is the question, and the controlled research says little or nothing in the first eighteen months, while a parent saying the same words in daily life works.^{4, 5} Used as something to watch together and repeat, it can be part of a home; on its own, we wouldn’t expect it to teach a baby a language.

Does Little Pim have Korean, Russian, German, Italian and Portuguese?

Yes — all twelve of its languages are Spanish, French, English, Mandarin, Italian, German, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, Korean and Portuguese.¹

Can I get Little Pim free?

Some public libraries offer it through Mango Languages; ask yours.³ Otherwise it is a subscription with a free trial.^{1, 2}

Which has more words?

Little Pim builds each language around 360 foundational words and phrases.¹ Their First Words has 1,000+ words and 500+ phrases in each of its eight languages, 75 words and 35 phrases of them free.

Looking at it the other way round? Read Little Pim alternatives, or see who each app suits in the best-for guides.

What this is based on

Sources

Little Pim, home page — the twelve languages, the method, 360 words and phrases per language, prices, ad-free. littlepim.com
Apple App Store, Little Pim Video — subscription prices, age band, privacy label, last update. apps.apple.com
Mango Languages support, Little Pim — library access. support.mangolanguages.com
DeLoache, J. S., Chiong, C., Sharp, K., Vanderborght, M., Troseth, G. L., Strouse, G. A. & O’Doherty, K. (2010). Do babies learn from baby media? Psychological Science, 21(11), 1570–1574. doi:10.1177/0956797610384145
Kuhl, P. K., Tsao, F.-M. & Liu, H.-M. (2003). Foreign-language experience in infancy: effects of short-term exposure and social interaction on phonetic learning. PNAS, 100(15), 9096–9101. pnas.org
World Health Organization (2019). To grow up healthy, children need to sit less and play more — no screen time under one; none recommended for sedentary one-year-olds. who.int
American Academy of Pediatrics (2026). Helping kids thrive in a digital world: the AAP policy explained — under 18 months learn from real-world interaction; play alongside; video chat with family is relationship time. healthychildren.org

Facts about other apps were checked on October 2, 2026 against the sources above. Store prices are US prices on that day; they change, and the store is the authority for today’s price.

Keep comparing

Other head-to-heads.

Simple Words, Special Moments

Start with one word.

75 words and 35 phrases are free, forever, with both voices. One $9.99 purchase opens the rest of the 1,000+ words and 500+ phrases, in all eight languages at once. No subscription, nothing renews.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

No ads, ever Private by design Works offline No account needed Up to 4 children