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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
OK, but not great, January 8, 2011
This review is from: Michel Thomas Method™ Spanish For Beginners, 10-CD Program (Michel Thomas Series) (Audio CD)
I ordered these CDs here at Amazon and as usual the order arrived on time and in excellent condition. Although I was very pleased with the service from Amazon I did not like this course. It just wasn't what I had expected based on some of the reviews. It may work for some but not for me. I guess because the hardest part about learning Spanish for me is understanding Spanish speakers. I can express myself better than I can understand speakers when they talk. And this course will not help in the are of understanding Spanish speakers when they speak common everyday Spanish. Mainly because Michel Thomas does not speak Spanish well. Even though I am not a native speaker of the language I could easily tell from his pronunciation that he also was not a native Spanish speaker. I would imagine that his French course is excellent. (I believe French is his first language or one of his first languages). But speaking Spanish is certainly not his area of expertise.
The two students are also not native Spanish speakers and they speak Spanish very poorly so listening to them also did not help improve my listening comprehension. In fact, listening to them could actually hurt my pronunciation because my Spanish pronunciation is so much better than theirs. I finally decided to return these CDs to Amazon and get a full refund which they promptly issued to me.
This course may work for some people. But definitely not for me or anyone else who is concerned with developing an authentic sounding accent and definitely not anyone who wants to understand native Spanish speakers when they speak common everyday Spanish.
Some other products that I recommend for Spanish language learners are Rosetta Stone Spanish. Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1,2,3,4 & 5 Set with Audio Companion. Rather expensive but not bad for the visual learner like myself and great for kids or anyone who does not need a lot of Spanish grammar explanations. You won't achieve fluency with this course but it is a nice introduction to the language. But if you need a lot of grammatical explanations Fluenz Version F2: Spanish 1+2+3+4+5 with supplemental Audio CDs and Podcasts may be better for you.
In order to speak Spanish fluently, you must also learn lots of new words. A resource that highly recommend for adding new words to your Spanish vocabulary is Quick Study-Spanish Vocabulary Flash Cards-1000 cards It is a tremendous bargain for the price since you get 1,000 of these cards.
For learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs, the best product is the Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) software. This Verbarrator actually replaces the boring Spanish verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs one of the most fun parts of learning Spanish. And, of course, the more you use the tool the quicker that you will learn how to conjugate Spanish verbs and reach fluency. It is one of the best investments you can make in your learning-Spanish studies. Another feature that I like about this interactive software is that it really helped improve my pronunciation.
The last product that I recommend for anyone who is really serious about learning Spanish is The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice w/CD-ROM (UItimate Review & Reference Series). This Spanish grammar book covers every aspect of Spanish grammar imaginable. To get the equivalent learning-Spanish value of this one book you would have to buy 3 or 4 books in the Practice Makes Perfect series.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Michel Thomas Method Spanish For Beginners Review by James, May 2, 2010
This review is from: Michel Thomas Method™ Spanish For Beginners, 10-CD Program (Michel Thomas Series) (Audio CD)
This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog). Michel Thomas is renowned for being one of the most successful and influential language teachers in the world. His method has helped thousands of people master a new language, and his courses are known for their high quality and in depth coverage of a language.
Key to the Michel Thomas method is that learning should be natural and intuitive, and should not rely on artificial exercises such as drills in order for you to remember words. You do, however, have to repeat each word or phrase as it is presented, so while this audio course is excellent for while you are in your own car, you won't want to try to listen to it at work or in a public place where talking to yourself could draw some strange looks!
Designed for beginners, this course covers basic sentence structure and grammar as well as some essential vocabulary. It provides a good foundation of the Spanish language in just a few hours, and best of all the relaxed teaching method means that you will be speaking with confidence and in a relaxed manner, rather than feeling nervous as you fumble for words. This confidence is invaluable when it comes to practicing your Spanish and will help immensely when you move on to more advanced Spanish language learning.
As with most Michel Thomas courses, you are guided through the lesson along with two other students. Often, one student is heard to struggle with a particular word or phrase, while the other completes it easily. In this way you never feel as though you are alone or not keeping up. It also allows you to learn from their mistakes and not feel frustrating by your own. Rather than providing a set phrase and asking you to repeat it, the lessons provide the basic building blocks and you are then challenged to put them together in a sentence. This kind of independent learning encourages your brain to really digest and use the information given rather than just memorize it to be repeated.
Correct pronunciation is also stressed in this course, with a large amount of time dedicated to making sure you are pronouncing the words with just the right emphasis or sound to help you sound more like a native speaker.
All in all, this is one of the best audio courses for beginner Spanish students, and offers a solid platform on which to grow conversational skills.
In closing my review of this product, I'd like to share with you the three Amazon products that I have found most helpful in my pursuit to learn Spanish. If you are truly serious about achieving fluency, I'd recommend getting all 3 of them if you can afford it.
1. Lights, Camera, Spanish (Book + DVD): Learn Conversational Spanish by Watching a Romantic Adventure This is actually a 90 minute movie for Spanish-language learners. It gives the option to watch the movie with subtitles but I'd recommend not using them to improve your Spanish. This "movie" also includes a workbook so that you can reinforce the Spanish vocabulary words and phrases from the film. The workbook also has lots of exercises to keep you engaged in the film. But be prepared to hear Chilean accents. Although pleasant to the ear, the accents from Chile are very different from most Latin American accents.
2. Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) This software replaces the traditional verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an interactive and fun activity. This should be a required resource for anyone who wants to improve their ability to conjugate Spanish verbs. Especially anyone who is challenged by the drudgery of learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and who is looking for a new way to make learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an easy and fun activity
3. Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition) If you are really serious about speaking the language fluently, then at some point you will need to replace your Spanish-English dictionary and get a pure Spanish dictionary with both the vocabulary words and the definitions entirely in Spanish. I use this one mainly because it was highly-recommended by a friend from Spain who teaches Spanish. According to him, this is the "standard" among university level Spanish professors.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Will give you confidence, October 16, 2009
This review is from: Michel Thomas Method™ Spanish For Beginners, 10-CD Program (Michel Thomas Series) (Audio CD)
I took Spanish in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades, but have never used it since. Junior high was many moons ago. Enter a daughter whom I wished to teach spanish to and I had to dust off my Spanish skills. And trust me, they were quite dusty and non-impressive. One of my problems was the intimidation of all those dang verb tenses. Then enter Michel Thomas and I am so much more confident. The verbs are presented in a manner that was easy to understand. And his "feminine river in the woods" tip for the "would" tense is a thing of beauty. And point of interest in case it has not been mentioned previously here, he is the one that taught Doris Day her famous Qué Será Será. The student he addressed the comment to had supposedly heard the song, but did not know the name Doris Day -- sad. Bottom line, this is a must-have. The only thing I don't understand is why the next level course is apparently no longer produced. You can only purchase it used. I would love to have it, but prefer to buy things new.
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