Customer Reviews

Learn in Your Car: Complete Language Course: Spanish

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

These cassettes became my friend --in my car, and in the gym. I had had a week of intensive instruction, about a year earlier, in Latin America, so I wasn't starting from scratch, but mighty close. And I was busy, so I couldn't supplement these tapes with any book study. I found these cassettes -- true to their billing -- were self-sufficient. And I had no technical problems with them at all -- they were well-produced. A sentence or phrase is given in English, and then a pause, in which you have to translate out loud. The answer -- in beautifully enunciated Spanish -- comes a few moments later. Because the time lag is short, you really have to concentrate, and you can keep listening to the tapes over and over, getting quicker and more confident each time. I learned a lot. My only criticism is really a compliment, which is I needed more of the cassettes. I found Spanish Level 3 a little compressed, as if they were rushing to fit in a lot of grammar in not very much time. I understand that more tapes are coming which is good news, because after a while, I'd played the cassettes over so many times, I knew the specific answers by heart. My need for more variety and more advanced cassettes eventually sent me to other recordings, including the excellent Foreign Service Institute tapes. But these Learn in Your Car tapes were my basis -- my springboard -- and I have a special fondness for them. What other product could make me look forward to a traffic jam? or my gym's treadmill?

I strongly recommend this 3 level program. I began the tapes a few months ago with almost no knowledge of Spanish, and have used just the tapes - no book. After about 2 months of using the tapes in my car, I enrolled in a weekly class in beginning conversational Spanish, and found that I was way ahead of the rest of the class due to the tapes. I have continued to augment my classes with the tapes, and have found that the tapes have dramatically accelerated my progress. The lessons are real-life situations with words and phrases that one uses in everyday conversational Spanish. There is just the right amount of time to respond in Spanish before the tape gives the Spanish phrase, and the speed of the Spanish speaking people on the tape increases slightly with each tape, forcing one to think a little more quickly as one progresses. The way the lessons are set up is quite logical, and one lesson flows to the next. I play and respond to each tape over and over until I have really mastered the material before moving on to the next tape, and now, near the end of level 3, I am wishing that there was another level in this series to which I could progress.

I'm a third of the way through Level 2 and am just starting to be able to construct/speak with useful sentences and understand very basic Spanish if they talk slow. My reading is much better. I do not enjoy a natural talent for languages - especially in listening comprehension. I have tried all sorts of media aids, including interactive CD ROMS and several tapes and books. First off I think it is neccesary to learn a language by engaging as many of the faculties of your mind as possible so I do not subsribe to this CD as the sole means of learning the language. Most people will need to do a lot of reading, memorization, listen to Spanish TV shows/movies, writing excercises and if they are lucky some interaction with Spanish speaking people. Find a good text book as the backbone of your studies. Also you will not learn the language in 30 days with this or any other aid - think in terms of months and years depending on how well you want to know the language. Probably 6-12 months and 6 hours a week for a very basic but functional level of conversational skill. So I recommend a good book, something fun and not too academic - for example: Asi Es by Nancy Levy-Konesky, Karren Daggett (this also includes an audio CD - but it is completely inadequate).

For a supplement to the main structure of your course work these CDs are the best audio aid I have come across, particularly assuming that this work will be done in your car where you will not be able to look at a book. The CD is not a massive vocabulary dump without sufficient practice in gramatical structure (such as The Complete Idiots Guide to Learning Spanish on Your Own), rather it slowly builds vocabulary as it trains you to compose simple phrases and sentences, not by gramatical rules, by example. Nor does it have any superfluous introductions to each lesson, "amusing" anecdotes or explanations that will drive you absolutely nuts when you have to play the CD tracks repeatedly to learn the Spanish - another fault of the Idiots Guide. The recordings are done in a studio with good pronunciation so you can clearly hear the words.

It comes with a small book which has the printed dialogue and very succinct explanation of the grammar as it is introduced. You will only need to refer to it occasionally. The Spanish and English are on seperate tracks so you can alternately test your listening comprehension and speaking by turning down the left or right speaker.

The 3 levels of the course will give you all the basic elements of the language so it is indeed a reasonably comprehensive audio course in basic Spanish. The total vocabulary is limited but you will pick up many more words in a text you should buy and will get lots of practice from these CDs putting together properly structured sentences. It can only help to listen to other audio aids (Idiot's Guide tape does have lots of vocabulary) to add variety of structure, accents and rhythm, but I recommend this as the main audio learning tool.

Note: You can buy these CDs one Level at a time. If you choose to do this, of course you will get Level 1 first. But after you complete Level 1 you should buy both Level 2 and 3 because at this point you may need to skip between Levels to use the material that complements your main course of study, in particular to work on the same verb tenses you are studying in your text.

This series of tapes begins with the simplest words in Spanish and progresses quickly, combining already-learned words and phrases into longer, more complex structures. There is time to repeat the words and phrases after the Spanish speaker has spoken them. At first the pace seems fast, but as you, the student, become more fluent, the pace feels more realistic.

These tapes are a great help to me in addition to my own private reading and study of the Spanish language. Since I do not use Spanish on a daily basis, listening and re-listening (while I walk the dog) helps me recall words and put them into long term memory.

It is essential to refer to the written words, the booklets enclosed with the tapes. The Spanish speaker elides vowells, as any native speaker will do. To be absolutely clear while learning, it is good to see the written words.

I bought this audiotape program based on the recommendations of other reviewers on amazon.com and I wanted to share my experience after using the program for several months. First, I began studying Spanish with NO prior knowledge or experience of the language. I began learning it due to a sudden influx of Latin-Americans into my area.

All of the criticisms leveled by earlier reviewers are valid at some point in the program. I found a point where the volumn of the Spanish portion was too low. I also found a point in the second tape where the delivery is entirely too fast and some slightly inconsistent translations. However, these programs were limited to relatively small sections of the tape.

This program requires basic familiarity with Spanish pronunciation and grammar. I had to back up for about a month and study pronunciation with a computer program (Success In Spanish by Syracuse Language, which is excellent for absolute beginners) and a workbook (Spanish the Easy Way by Barrons Language). However, once I had the very basics, I loved this audio program because it allowed me to use the several hours per day I spend in my car in my work for a useful purpose. I would listen to the program once while reading along with the book, and then I was able to rehearse in my car without difficulty.

In summary, I believe this program serves it's purpose very effectively, and I would recommend it highly as A PART OF A LARGER PROGRAM OF STUDY.

I have been using this series during a 45-mile commute. I have not learned Spanish before. I found the lesson delivery generally good but inconsistent. The volume level of English and Spanish phrases is sometimes different. The pacing of the Spanish phrases and rephrases are often too fast--not enough of a pause between the phrase and rephrase for the new learners. Enunciation needs to be reinforced by looking at text in the script books since it is often not clear enough on the tapes. I am going to look at other products.

All you do is pop the tape in the player in your car, and then repeat after the orator. This is a great way to maximize the efficiency of your learning. I just wish I had these tapes back while I was taking Spanish in a formal setting.

Besides the 6 cassettes, the books provided also spell out everything spoken on the cassettes. This way there is no confusion of what is being told and what you are trying to pronounce.

I have really increased my ability to understand spoken Spanish as well as increased my confidence to speak it myself. And I am not quite yet half way through.

Remember, after going thru these tapes again and again, you get to keep them, meaning if you forget, you can just listen to them again!

Makes learning a new language easy while at the same time not having to consume any more time. That is what I love best, the efficient use of my time.

I ordered the CD version of this book, and the audio problem mentioned by A. Prechtl was fixed.

This program is exactly what I wanted. A system that works just with the CD. Others I've tried require you to refer to a book, which is dangerous when you're driving.

This system works great. The volume problem mentioned by another reviewer doesn't exist. Each language is on a separate channel. Turning the balance knob on your cassette player will adjust the volume however you like it. This enables you to play just the Spanish or just the English if you like.

Although I feel that the concept and lessons were good, the quality of male's voice wasn't clear enough for me. I found myself rewinding a lot to pick up the missing sentence or word. I also think that it could have been translated into Spanish a little slower for me even at my intermediate level. Once you hear the full enunciation of the word or words, you then with repition can speak and understand more fluently.