Mastering Spanish Level Two: Audio CD Package (Mastering Series/Level 2 Compact Disc Packages) [Audio CD]

Foreign Service Institute (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764179772 | ISBN-13: 978-0764179778 | Publication Date: August 1, 2006 | Edition: Com/Har

This updated, high-intensity language learning program is intended to teach students who already have some command of spoken and written Spanish. It's an ideal follow-up program for students who have completed the Mastering Spanish Level One program, also available from Barron's. This new edition of consists of a set of audio compact discs, supplemented with a textbook. The book covers rules of grammar and instructs in the spoken and written language on an intermediate-to-advanced level. Approximately 15 hours of conversational training in Spanish are presented on the compact discs, which replace the previously available cassette tapes. Foreign Service Institute language programs are the same as those used by the U.S. government to train diplomatic personnel. The book and compact discs are packaged in a sturdy vinyl box.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

(box, back panel)
TEXTBOOK AND 13 AUDIO COMPACT DISCS

MASTERING
SPANISH
LEVEL TWO

THIS COMPREHENSIVE INTERMEDIATE LANGUAGE COURSE IS RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WHO HAVE COMPLETED THE FSLI LEVEL ONE SPANISH PROGRAM. IT IS ALSO IDEAL FOR STUDENTS AND TRAVELERS WHO ALREADY HAVE BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH AND WANT TO IMPROVE THEIR FLUENCY.

YOU'LL MASTER GRAMMAR, PRONUNCIATION, AND VOCABULARY AS YOU GAIN COMMAND OF THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE.

BARRON'S MASTERING SPANISH, LEVEL TWO, IS THE SAME COURSE USED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO TRAIN DIPLOMATS.

PACKAGE INCLUDES AN IN-DEPTH TEXTBOOK PLUS 13 COMPACT DISCS USING NATIVE SPEAKERS TO FAMILIARIZE YOU WITH THE SOUND OF CONVERSATIONAL SPANISH.



TEACH YOURSELF TO SPEAK SPANISH FLUENTLY

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; Com/Har edition (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764179772
• ISBN-13: 978-0764179778
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 10 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,111,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mastering Spanish II, May 22, 2008

By 

RoyG (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering Spanish Level Two: Audio CD Package (Mastering Series/Level 2 Compact Disc Packages) (Audio CD)

In general I found this course excellent. I have a few criticisms which in my view reduce it's rating from 4.5/5 to 4 star. They are:

The print size and apparent random font selection. The print is often too small and the font changes are a little irritating.

The quality of the CDs is excellent but it would have been much more convenient to the user if each lesson had a separate CD. This would probably have required only one additional CD.

An "open flat" binding would have made the book easier to use and more durable for frequent and on-going use.

On each page a phonetic rendering of the Spanish text is given which occupies almost 50% of the book. At this level, phonetic support should be unnecessary and by omitting it the size of the book could be much reduced or the freed up space used more productively.

For some reason, only the narrative following lesson 16 is recorded. For little extra CD space all the post-lesson dialogues could have been recorded with considerable benefit to the student.

The quality of the paper could be better to reduce wear and tear.

However, in spite of comments above, a really good course, which motivated me over many months and is excellent value for money, even at the original full price.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mastering Spanish Level Two, February 6, 2007

By 

Jim Lilly "Jim" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering Spanish Level Two: Audio CD Package (Mastering Series/Level 2 Compact Disc Packages) (Audio CD)

GENERAL: This is the continuation of the Level One course. All of the comments to this course apply to level one. The course starts with the introduction of the subjuntive mood via drills.

STRENGTHS: This audio is excellent in terms of verbal drills. The exercises train the mind and body in applying grammatical rules. By replaying sections of the CD, it is possible to train not only the mind, but the tongue and mouth to speak Spanish clearly with minimum English accent.

Being forced to vary sentence structure in the exercises, translate from English to Spanish and build sentences using phrases are exemplary in inculcating Spanish into the subconscious.

The lessons present many nuiances of speaking Spanish, particularly intonation patterns, which are not presented in any other course.

WEAKNESSES: Readers are primarily Mexican and have strong Mexican accents. Voice tones of a couple of the readers are very similar and it is difficult to differentiate which character is speaking. The reading presentations are often stiff; the readers are definately not trained actors. The lack of verbal emotion make contextual understanding a little difficult.

There is no practice in the Vosotros forms. The grammatical explanations of the textbook are weak. This course should be used following or in conjunction with a rigorous grammar training course.

SUMMARY: An essential supplement to rigorous grammar course, but it is not a stand alone course.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a good use of my time, September 14, 2009

By 

rwx "991234xhr" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering Spanish Level Two: Audio CD Package (Mastering Series/Level 2 Compact Disc Packages) (Audio CD)

My Spanish is pretty good but I got the course to try to increase my fluency. I used just the cassettes while biking. I got both levels.

On the positive side, the quality of the sound is excellent.

On the negative side, the course is committed to endless seemingly mindless boring substitution drills that seems to have the effect of short-term rote learning. This strikes me like mostly a waste of time. Has any scholar verified that the method really works?

The much better approach is Pimsleur's, which consists mostly of back and forth translations (model dialogue, then translation from Spanish to English, then Spanish to English translation of the same dialogue). That seems much, much more useful.

So I say: go with the Pimsleur method.