Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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76 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent teach yourself course, November 26, 1999
Barron's Mastering Spanish is terrific! I've studied MANY foreign languages and used a variety of audio tapes to help with my studies. The Barron's series is the best one I've ever encountered. It is true, however, that the course is long and in depth. You will have to devote a lot of time if you want to finish the course. (I've only gotten through the Level 1 course, and it's taken me 2 1/2 months.) I used them in my car, which is the perfect place to listen to them. They require quite a bit of concentration. This series would have rated a solid 5 stars if it weren't for the accompanying book. For some reason, the book presents all of the Spanish in both PHONETIC representation, as well standard Spanish spelling. The phonetics, which are given enormous precedence over the Spanish spellings, are not only useless, they're annoying and distracting! To add insult to injury, the dictionary appendix at the end of the book isn't even in Spanish alphabetical order. It too is in phonetic order, making it nearly worthless! The book aside, however, the tapes (I had the CD's actually.) are great. Other than the fact that I've lived in LA for half my life, and so have heard a LOT of Spanish in my everyday comings and goings, I've never actually studied any Spanish at all. After completing this set, I feel that I've gotten a terrific grounding in the basics of the language.
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54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid But Not Perfect, March 15, 2001
I'm using the two Barron's tape sets along with the video series, Destinos, to teach myself Spanish. Destinos presents a much wider range of vocabulary and situations, but since (if you're using it on your own) you don't speak back to it, a lot of your learning is passive. The Barron's set gets you into a more active mode. The dialogues can be quite sexist--lots of comments about sexy brunettes, fat girls with glasses, etc.-- and you almost never hear a female speaker. Still, they and the drills are effective and well-designed from a language-learning point of view. The guys on the tapes speak at a realistic pace, not in the exaggerated, artificially slow language typical of beginning language courses--and the drills force you to respond quickly, too. The accompanying book is not terribly informative; for grammar issues I've relied on my knowledge of French and Latin. This probably isn't the best choice for a rank beginner, but if you already know another romance language, or if you've taken a little Spanish in school and want to get better, it's a solid course.
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37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Parts 3 and 4, December 4, 2000
By A Customer
Many, mainly positive reviews, have been written about this course. I absolutely agree. This course is old, but the best I have found so far. The only information missing (and Barron's won't tell you) is that part three and four of this course are available from Audioforum... under the titles Advanced Spanish A and B, for 185.- each. There the subjunctive and the rest of the grammar is introduced.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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by Dorothy Richmond
by Dover Publications
by Dorothy Richmond
