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108 of 113 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly effective!!!, November 17, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Pimsleur Spanish / English Level II: Full Course 2nd Edition 30 Lessons (Audio Cassette)
I have just completed the first sixty lessons (Spanish I - 30 lessons, Spanish II - 30 lessons) of this 90 lesson course and tonight placed my order for the last 30 lessons (Spanish III). This course follows the teaching method of the late Dr. Paul Pimsleur and is, without a doubt, the most effective method I have found for learning a new language. Having done some preliminary reading on Dr. Pimsleur before ordering the first course, I was struck by the wisdom of his "graduated interval recall" method. What's interesting is that, as you go through the taped lessons, you are actually learning Spanish (or Japanese, German, Italian, etc.) in much the same way you learned your native language. Think about it! We all learned to speak our native language YEARS before we ever learned to write. We learned by listening, watching, and emulating. The advantage you have with these tapes is that, understanding English, you can now be clearly TOLD what each word means, rather than having to learn by watching and associating like we did as small children. Simply by listening, the tapes feed and TEST you on an ever increasing list of phrases, gradually increasing the length of time between testing until, finally, you LEARN. At the same time, you are forced to recombine the words you learn into NEW phrases, further testing and reinforcing your new knowledge. Additionally, as you progress through the tapes, the native speakers gradually increase their speed. Not surprisingly, your ability to understand increases with it! It is already amazing how far I have come. I am now comfortably (if somewhat haltingly) speaking in present, past, AND future tenses, with a large set of commonly used verbs, nouns and adjectives. I am really excited to "dig in" to the last 30 lessons. One final note: This course is only intended to teach you to SPEAK the language. Reading practice is extremely limited. The fact is, I have almost NO IDEA how to write or spell most of the words I'm using (again, just like children). For me, that is not a problem. I am told by native speakers that my pronunciation is EXCELLENT! For now, that feels like a huge success!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great program to begin speaking Spanish, October 27, 2004
This review is from: Pimsleur Spanish / English Level II: Full Course 2nd Edition 30 Lessons (Audio Cassette)
Pimsleur programs may be most valuable for people who are having hard time pronouncing words correctly - and when you're learning languages with which you are completely unfamiliar.
Pimsleur program will make it practically an effortless experience.
I don't know what kind of a problem the previous reviewer had with CDs - mine play perfectly. I did get all three levels of Spanish and am very happy with the entire set.
I also got numerous other programs, but out of the entire variety my favorite additional program was Platiquemos. It is somewhat cheaper and you can learn much more and faster. The truth is I love them both.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent product for teaching everyday Spanish, January 2, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Pimsleur Spanish / English Level II: Full Course 2nd Edition 30 Lessons (Audio Cassette)
This is the first Pimsleur product I've purchased, and I'm very impressed with its quality. The sound quality of the CD version is very high, and the method is very effective for teaching the kind of "everyday" vocabulary a person would need to function at a basic level with Spanish-speaking people. It's very useful for learning how to speak (and understand) Spanish at a realistic speed (ie the speed at which native speakers speak) and with a good accent. I skipped to Spanish II because I had already completed a 2 week immersion course, 2 months of twice-weekly private lessons and self-study (and I find learning grammar easy) - I'm at the level where I've just started to work with the subjunctive tenses. Spanish II is at a more basic level (present tense, some past tense and some future tense), but it is very helpful nonetheless for enabling me to consolidate what I've studied (especially for the practice with pronouns, accent, speaking speed etc).
However, I have some regrets that I didn't take the plunge and start with Level III because I found the first 10 lessons very easy. I haven't had to repeat a lesson yet, and I'm on lesson 15. I was frustrated that I couldn't get any information (from the publisher or the web) on the course syllabus, or even a general explanation of what is covered in each level. I understand that the premise of the system is that you should start at Level 1 and work your way up, and this is a good idea for many people. However, there are some unusual cases where people can start at a higher level - and there should be some information to assist those people in deciding which course to purchase. After all, it's a significant financial investment. The other drawback is that the course doesn't teach you a lot of vocabulary - although you learn very well the basic vocabulary offered. (This isn't really a true criticism, though, because delivering a large vocabulary isn't the primary goal of the Pimsleur Method.) To supplement Pimsleur, I'd strongly recommend the UK's BBC language program, Suenos (book, exercises and tapes, as well as a very short and readable grammar book). It provides a great deal of information (including cultural notes on various regions and practices in the Spanish speaking world), and it introduces a lot of very useful vocabulary and grammar in a very engaging format. You might find it useful to try Suenos (there is a Basic and Intermediate Level), after you've completed Pimsleur Spanish II.
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