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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, practical, and helpful,
By Dr. Zack Cernovsky (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Latin American Spanish Complete Course for Beginners with Book (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses) (Spanish Edition) (Audio Cassette)
As you may know, some words that are common and acceptable in European Spanish settings happen to have a vulgar meaning in some regions of Latin America. For example, "coger" (a very common word in Spain, used very extensively in every textbook of the European Spanish) has an extremely embarrassing sexual meaning in countries such as Argentina and can be considered a taboo word. Since most Spanish speakers in North-America (and in the world) are native Hispano-Americans, it is crucial for us to learn their particular language. This book and audiotapes contain practically useful information on the variations in the Latin-American Spanish vocabulary and pronunciation. The book and tapes will teach you how the pronunciation and the meaning of some words differ from country to country on our American continent. It covers some of the basic unique features of the Argentinian and Chilean Spanish as well as some salient features of the Mexican Spanish, Venezuelan, Carribean, Peruvian, and Columbian Spanish. I have much enjoyed the audio-tapes. They are made with the native speakers from these various countries and will help you to comprehend some of the regional dialects of Latin-American Spanish. The tapes deal with practical situations that most tourists are likely to face in these countries. These tapes are well suited for those who want to learn while commuting to work. There is more emphasis in the audio-tapes on teaching you to understand spoken Latin-American Spanish than on the grammar. The dialogues on the tapes indirectly provide much information about many of these Latin-American countries, the lifestyle, and some of the problems that may be encountered by travelers, as well as about enjoyable places to visit or the special types of delightful food you may enjoy while traveling in some of these countries. I have studied Spanish from other audio-tapes and textbooks for several months before starting this particular textbook and tapes. However, I have always wanted to know about the regional differences in Latin-American Spanish and this textbook and tapes were more helpful for me in this respect than any other course so far. The book is written in a refreshing, tactful, and likeable modern style that is pedagogically superior to and more practical than the outdated language textbooks and tapes commonly seen in urban bookstores that have not been properly revised since early 1960s (with boring repetitive references to household items or class-room equipment used 50 years ago). I have enjoyed reading this book. It is an introductory book. If you have never studied Spanish before, this course will teach you to communicate fairly well in most basic situations and in the most basic ways. If you wish to engage in complex conversations or in business negotiations in Spanish, you may need to use another course or textbook and tapes later on to practice using the Spanish grammar in more detail and also to expand your vocabulary as the next step. However, if you have to speak in Spanish with Latin-Americans or would travel in Latin-America, this book and tapes definitely give precious help in areas not covered by other sets of books and tapes. This particular book and the tapes are enjoyable and helpful. You may actually fall in love with Latin-America while reading this textbook and listening to the tapes.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
¡Different accents!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Latin American Spanish Complete Course for Beginners with Book (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses) (Spanish Edition) (Audio Cassette)
Although I am Brazilian, what makes Spanish easier to learn, I found the method quite efficient and the different accents are a must, its main feature. Congratulations to the author! Worth the price!
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
not for beginners,
This review is from: Latin American Spanish Complete Course for Beginners with Book (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses) (Spanish Edition) (Audio Cassette)
I bought the book first, because it used the conversational method, and thought it was great -- all it needed was the cassette tape to go with it. So I bought the tape, and it's a big disappointment. It has one fatal flaw: the spoken phrases and conversations begin at rapid-fire rate from the very beginning. There's no pause between sentences, no pause between speakers, no time to listen. There's no way a complete beginner can listen to something like this on a cassette player without constantly pausing, pausing, pausing, desperately trying to hear what these people are saying. It defeats the whole purpose of a language tape. I notice that the two reviewers who liked this tape both have previous Spanish language experience. If you don't know a word of Spanish, find something else.
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