Immersionplus Spanish: The Final Step to Fluency! (Immersionplus(tm) Audio Series) (Spanish Edition) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Inc Penton Overseas (Author)

Book Description

Series: Immersionplus(tm) Audio Series | Publication Date: September 2005

This title includes three 60-minute audio CDs and a listening guide in both English and the target language. Native speakers talk and listeners hear each dialogue three times - at a natural pace, spoken slowly and distinctly, then at a natural pace; incorporates a medley of contexts and regional accents.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is the first tape I've listened to that is actually clever and funny... The regional accents are an education in themselves. I highly recommend this tape."

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Penton Overseas (September 2005)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 159125227X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591252276
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #792,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Building your Spanish ear..., April 2, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Immersionplus Spanish: The Final Step to Fluency! (Immersionplus(tm) Audio Series) (Spanish Edition) (Audio CD)

Learning to read, write, and speak a foreign language is challenging but the hardest step is listening and understanding. Native speakers seem to speak quickly and don't cooperate by using vocabulary words that you know! You can hold a very slow one-on-one conversation but the evening news blows by quickly with you recognizing only words here and there. This CD set is designed to help with this problem. It consists of 7 dialogues (for example, a couple discussing where to go for dinner). Each dialogue is presented 3 time - once at a native rate, once slowly, and again at a native rate (each in its own track). Additionally, a booklet provides the text in both Spanish and English. Each time you listen, you pick up more and more and get basic comprehension (rather than trying to literally translate word-for-word and losing track of the conversation). It's much better than turning on the Spanish channel on cable because you can listen to the dialogues over and over and, if you really get stuck, can look up the text. You need to be comfortable with a variety of verb tenses/moods (e.g., the subjunctive comes up often as it does in real life) so this would be most useful for an intermediate or advanced student.

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is It, March 25, 2006

By 

D. MILLS (Manassas, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Immersionplus Spanish: The Final Step to Fluency! (Immersionplus(tm) Audio Series) (Spanish Edition) (Audio CD)

This is what you've been looking for. An advanced Spanish CD that REALLY IS ADVANCED! This is one step below watching Univision.

A native of Honduras listened to this and told me that no one speaks this way. The speakers on the CD speak too clearly. EXACTLY!!! They speak at a normal speaking pace, but the pronunciation is more clear than native speakers. That is the only difference between this set of CDs and listening to actual conversation of native Spanish speakers.

It has a CD (accompanied by a booklet) with more than a few conversations about every day activities including golf, fishing, buying a house, eating out, etc... Each conversation has three audio tracks. The first is at regular conversation pace. The second is the same conversation but at a much slower pace. The third track is the same as the first.

You listen to the first track, improve your listening skills, but if you miss a few words you can pick them up on track 2 and then go on to track three to perfect your listening skills.

This does NOT teach grammar or vocabulary (although important grammar and vocabulary is used throughout the CD). It assumes that the listener already has studied basic, intermediate and advanced Spanish grammar. This tool is designed to accostom the student to hearing Spanish spoken by native speakers, and it is exactly what I've been looking for.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slower speed tracks a great idea, June 27, 2006

By 

Robert J. Low (Christchurch, NZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Immersionplus Spanish: The Final Step to Fluency! (Immersionplus(tm) Audio Series) (Spanish Edition) (Audio CD)

As the original reviewer has noted, of the four skills of hearing, speaking, reading and writing, the first, i.e. understanding the spoken language is the hardest for most students. Most intermediate/advanced courses present their material at normal native speaking speed - they usually justify this by saying "but that's how they speak, get used to it!" But I say you have to walk before you can run. What is the use of listening to stuff spoken so fast that you consistently fail to understand whole phrases? It is frustrating and discouraging. Here's where Immersionplus Spanish comes in with its repeated fast and slow tracks. You can listen a few times to each fast track and get as much as you can, then play the slow track. I found that this solved virtually all difficulties. With other advanced courses I could only resolve the difficult bits by referring to the transcript. How much better for them to be resolved simply by hearing them spoken more slowly. A simple and obvious idea, but this is where this course wins out over so many others. The dialogues are excellent too, lively, colloquial, everyday language. Great value.