Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I like it but..., March 26, 2007
It obviously mimics the Pimsleur technique, but it covers more ground and explains most things much better than Pimsleur does. Having done the whole three levels of Pimsleur, I'd say it was better, and given that it's cheaper, there's just no question about which one you should get (this one). There's only one thing that Pimsleur does better and that's keep you off balance. Since Learning Spanish Like Crazy approaches subjects thematically, it's pretty easy for your brain to get into a rhythm on a particular topic (say, for instance, forming commands with AR verbs). Since you just stay on one topic your short-term memory kicks in and you find yourself just zombie-ing it through). I went back to a previous topic a few weeks later and asked myself "did I really learn this?" Pimsleur, on the other hand, is *constantly* reintroducing past learned material and constantly trying to keep you off balance so you always have to reuse things you've learned in the past. In this way, I think Pimsleur may allow you to digest things a bit better. Still, there's more here than in Pimsleur and I think it's more useful for people who want to chit-chat with new friends than who want to learn stuff for a Business setting. Pimsleur is far too business-centric for me and far too formal-occasion oriented because of it. My only other little gripe is tiny and applies only to a small fraction of those wanting to learn Spanish and is a problem with all Spanish learning products. I did this series because I knew that I would be spending a good deal of time in Argentina. The first day I was there someone said "vos sos" to me and I was like "Is this Spanish?" Well, it turns out that in Argentina you don't really use the "tu" form except with small children and cuddly animals. "Vos sos" is the basic equivalent of "tu eres," but if you say that to an adult, they might get offended. But anyway, buy this, it's probably the best product out there.
|
|
|
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
¡Qué Bueno!, December 1, 2007
I've been studying Spanish on my own for the past two years and have found the reviews on Amazon to be ever so helpful in both the quality of learning materials I have purchased here as well as avoiding many pitfalls for courses that don't offer much. And so I felt I needed to contribute also since the reviews have been so helpful to me.
On this particular product: It's exactly what I needed for the stage that I currently am in my learning... I would call the stage 'TRUE intermediate' with the continued desire to continue on into true advanced Spanish. En otras palabras, I understand much more than I can speak but need more conversational audio for the subjunctive mood tenses. As others have already stated here, this course is terrific for continuing on in the subjunctive. I also liked how they did the conditional tense, commands, etc. Oh, before I forget: The audio is crisp and clear!
As an aside: The FSI course has been the main thread for me during these past 2 years, pushing me closer and closer to true fluency... but the FSI audio cds are NOT clear audio. The FSI manuals are indispensable and are terrific. I just wish someone would redo ALL the audio on the FSI CDs because it's such a great course!
Back to the subject at hand: I'm happy to report that the Learning Spanish Like Crazy Vol 2 is exactly what I needed for a little variation on the listening end of things due to the above-stated reasons. This product is terrific but please make a note (as others have already stated)this isn't for the beginner. The only downside to this package is that there were no transcripts. Let me repeat: NO TRANSCRIPTS CAME WITH THE AUDIO COURSE. (Usually, I'd be pretty upset, but, believe it or not, I'm not too disappointed because the audio is just that clear and also because I am not a stranger to the mood tenses, etc.) What it does contain: 14 audio CDs, as well as a bonus lesson package of 4 audio CDs (which I haven't yet listened to since I just received everything 2 days ago); also a really well done video interactive DVD. You get a lot of material with this one, folks.
Hope I may have helped someone up here just a little, because many of you have helped me without ever knowing it by taking the time to post a review. ¡Sigan adelante y que Dios les bendiga!
|
|
|
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great product, April 7, 2007
I agree with the comments above that say you learn conversational spanish that you will actually hear and use. My only disagreement is that if you travel outside the US, or live in the US, you will certainly hear more than a Mexican accent, and it is very important to learn different accents since, as the person who went to Argentina pointed out, native speakers speak spanish differently from one another. You don't want to get stuck. I live in NYC, but grew up in a small town in NJ - even in the small town, I knew people from Spain, who obviously speak very different from Mexicans. I now know Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Colombians, Argentineans, Venezuelans, and Ecuadorians. I am so glad I can not only understand their accents but also I usually have a sense of where someone is from by their manner of speaking. So, I actually appreciated the different accents.
I also purchased their FSI spanish which was a bit more archaic and the print-outs they provide are difficult to use. This product seems better.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Dover Publications
by Dorothy Richmond
by Seymour Resnick
by Dorothy Richmond
