72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best value in its price range, August 15, 2005
This review is from: Complete Spanish: The Basics (CD) (Complete Basic Courses) (Audio CD)
This is a great value product for a beginner. With a coursebook, 3 cd's or cassettes and a dictionary, the beginner will have an easy time settling in to the new language, and there is ample vocabulary and phrases to keep them moving forward. For a package so complete the price is outstanding.
The coursebook eases the learner into the language with several lessons on pronunciation, the alphabet, the vocabulary that is most useful (like numbers) or that is easy to remember or associate with (like days of the week, months of the year etc), and lots of cognates.
The course then gets into common sayings, dialogues, greetings and useful phrases before slowly tackling the grammar. Each of the 40 lessons has a few exercises that put to use the vocabulary, phrases and grammar covered in the lesson. Verb conjugations, tenses, word order and other rules of grammar and syntax are all demonstrated in small batches throughout the course. Never in great depth (hence the word Basic in the title) but everything that is essential in everyday speech (hence the word Complete).
The audio portion contained on the 3 cd's are coordinated with the coursebook. Bold text vocabulary and phrases in the coursebook are pronounced on the cd's. The early lessons are heavy in audio as the student needs to hear the sounds of the language to begin to develop their pronunciation skills.
The third part of this package is the dictionary, invaluable during and after finishing the course. The learner can begin to use vocabulary most relevant to their own needs, and apply them with the basic knowledge gained from the course.
The combination of a basic but able coursebook designed for the beginner, the all-important audio, and the dictionary for continued self-study make this a very well-rounded course for the beginner. The low price is simply unequalled. This package has better value than a comparably priced Teach Yourself course, and is more complete than Pimsleur Quick and Simple or Instant Conversation. This course will give someone a good foundation with the right tools to build upon, if worked through to the end diligently. In my opinion it is the best value course for a beginner in it's price range.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good basic introduction, November 25, 2007
This review is from: Complete Spanish: The Basics (CD) (Complete Basic Courses) (Audio CD)
If you view this cd course as ONE in several that you may need to learn Spanish, it is a good value for its price point. This is because the set includes CDs, a textbook (this is not an audio alone course), and a dictionary.
However, this series generally does not include enough grammar explanations within the lessons (the French one has a grammar section at the back). Therefore, you may spend a lot of time imitating phrases instead of fully understanding why they are structured that way.
Nevertheless, it is a great way to be introduced to the language, and afterwards (or in conjunction with this one), you may want to include more immersion type courses.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
far better than most, June 3, 2009
I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO BECOME LEVEL ONE FLUENT IN SPANISN FOR MORE YEARS THAN I CARE TO TELL -- I'VE LISTENED TO LOTS OF TAPES AND CD'S IN MY CAR -- THIS IS WAY UP THERE -- VERY EASY TO HEAR AND UNDERSTAND -- THE BOOK IS GREAT TOO -- IT'S NOT PRETENCIOUS -- IT MAY EVEN BE A BIT FUNKY SOMEHOW -- BUT IT'S VERY GOOD BELEAVE ME -- IT'S LIKE FINDING A GREAT LITTLE CHEAP RETAURANT
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