Pimsleur Quick & Simple Latin American Spanish [Abridged, Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0743523555 | ISBN-13: 978-0743523554 | Publication Date: October 1, 2002 | Edition: Unabridged

Quick & Simple Spanish includes the first 8 lessons from the Pimsleur Spanish I, 30-Unit program. 4 hours. Effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed The Pimsleur Method based on two key principles:  the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.”  This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; Unabridged edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743523555
• ISBN-13: 978-0743523554
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Books on CD > Languages
  • #20 in Books > Books on CD > Reference
  • #51 in Books > Books on CD > Nonfiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

191 of 193 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Start Here Before Spending the Big $$$, June 20, 2003

By 

David H. Peterzell "Ph.D., Ph.D." (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pimsleur Quick & Simple Latin American Spanish (Audio CD)

I think that this "Quick and Simple" set of CDs is the best way to get started with Pimsleur products, rather than buying the more expensive, more comprehensive products right away. You'll get a sense of whether this is the route you want to go if you want to learn more Spanish. At the same time, it is worth knowing that there are other high-quality competing approaches (e.g. Platiquemos Spanish).

The Quick and Easy CDs will expose you to the heart of what makes Pimsleur unique. The approach is based on (1) The Principle of Anticipation (a mastery technique that is different than rote recall), (2) Graduated Interval Recall (an approach that provides new stuff to memorize at optimal intervals), (3) Core Vocabulary (an efficient, optimal selection of a small number of key words that you need to know, as opposed to an extensive vocabulary), (4) and "Organic Learning" (learn speech, eg sound, rhythm, intonations, as opposed to a bunch of textbook gramatical rules). I should add that there's something subtly humorous about the content of the CDs, so if you have a sarcastic or wicked sense of humor, you won't be totally bored.

Like many, I find the approach efficient and useful, and I have had lots of fun with the CDs as I drive around town blathering away in Spanish. But it really isn't the only game in town. For instance, if you are going to speak in Mexico, then Platiquemos has some advantages.

Don't be fooled by the $50 coupon that comes with the CDs. In my experience, a much better price can be found using Amazon.com.

78 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For getting a taste to see if you like it, March 19, 2004

By 

Stephen McHenry (Olney, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pimsleur Quick & Simple Latin American Spanish (Audio CD)

I like the Pimsleur system. I have used it with Traveler's Spanish, the Spanish I, and for French. I prefer the cassettes to the CDs becasue of they are easier back up so as to retrace areas. The concept of listen/repeat in your car on the way to work without alot of book-study at the lower levels is effective, easy, fun.
The purpose of this particular set of 4 cassettes is to provide an introduction into the Pimsleur system to see if you like the system and want to move directly up to the larger Level I set.
If you are planning to use this set to get ready for a trip to Spain or Central/South America, this may not be the correct set for you. If you will only be there for a short trip, this might be OK. But if you are going to be there longer, or if you want to brush up on your high school Spanish, then pass over this set and go for the Traveler's Edition set, which is specifically designed for those purposes.
It works, its fun, get the right one.
If you are not sure if you have any aptitude for Spanish or if you want to go further, this is a good set to sample. If you know you want to go more deeply into the language, this will not be enough.

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exactly that: quick and simple., April 12, 2005

By 

Dr. Leslie Brown "Doc Brown" (Tenerife, Spain, Canary Islands.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pimsleur Quick & Simple Latin American Spanish (Audio CD)

The rate of learning is slow enought that you won't really need to press the pause button... contrary to what the back cover says, there is a lot of repetition of the same words involved - Pimsleur calls it "saturation". But they substitute words around where possible so you don't repeat the exact same phrase more than a few times in a row.

The first CD is very simple indeed. The whole 60 minutes is taken up with just a handful of phrases (english equivalent):

Do you speak? / do you understand? / I speak / a little / I speak a little spanish / you speak a little spanish / I don't speak / you don't speak english / no señorita / are you North American? / Yes señor / thankyou / how are you? / very good / good thanks / you speak spanish very well / good day...

That's about all the content there is on the first CD, but there are several variations of the theme -word substitution- so it is a very slow rate of learning.

In comparison, there is ~10 times as much content on virtually any of the other spanish audio CDs I have reviewed. According to the 3 CD set "Learn in your car spanish", that product conatins 600+ words. Whereas "Pimsleur quick & simple spanish" contains only 75 words.

The good news is- I don't think I'll *ever* forget these phrases now, I believe they've been firmly etched in my brain. I.e. permanently! But I had already been exposed to these words previously, so I found it all rather boring.

At this rate, I don't think I'll learn much more new information from the remaining CDs. Thus, I can only recommend this for people that know practically no spanish to begin with. Start here and follow up with other spanish audio products.

**UPDATE** OK I am half way through now, and I realise I am enjoying this course more than the all the others I have trialled --- for the simple reason that it is INTERACTIVE. It's like having a language teacher right there. The speaker asks you to compose new sentances based on the phrases taught previously. I think it is a very effective method.

Sure it is slow, but I think you can only learn & retain so many new words per day..... the good news is that Pimsleur makes sure they are CORE words. When I try to learn more words with other programs, I tend to forget them all too quickly. I am tempted to buy the full Pimsleur course, even though I already have 35+ hours of otehr spanish CDs to get through!!

--- I'D GIVE IT FIVE STARS NOW ---

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INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING:
I was *extremely impressed* with Amazon's "Priority International Courier" shipping option. I ordered several spanish books + CDs and wanted them here so that I could start learning spanish ASAP, as my trip to Tenerife + South America is in a month's time. I placed the order on thursday night; it was well after midnight here in Australia (local time). I got both parcels on Monday afternoon! Absolutely Incredible!! I order stuff from the USA all the time, and this is definitely the speediest service I have ever encountered. Thanks Amazon!