Customer Reviews

SmartSpanish Audio CDs Int/Adv - Learning Spanish the Smart Way

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I started studying Spanish 20 years ago when I was a union organizer for the Roofers. I took some college correspondence courses. A few years later I left that job to work as a pipefitter.

When I quit organizing, I decided to continue to study Spanish on my own. I bought all the typical educational tapes, the ones where you repeat a
sentence after the voice on the tape. I started reading Spanish nearly every night, to increase my vocabulary. I read one or two Spanish novels a month, depending on how much time I have.

I recently started to work on big, overtime constructions jobs. The past
year I have been on big jobs in Texas, where at least half the workers on
the job speak Spanish. Some speak both English and Spanish, but a lot of the workers speak only Spanish.

I quickly discovered a few things:
One, I had a great Spanish vocabulary. I am like a walking Spanish
dictionary. I'd say I've a bigger vocabulary than 80% of the Spanish
speaking guys on the job. Spanish speaking guys often ask me for the most
correct Spanish word for certain things.
Secondly, I discovered I couldn't understand anything spoken in spanish. There is a lot of slang, but that wasn't the problem. When somebody said something, or when I listened to someone talking on a spanish TV program, a spoken sentence or paragraph sounded like one long, hundred sylable word. It all ran together, I pick up a work here or there, it sounded like it always did before I learned any spanish.
And thirdly, when I spoke spanish to anyone, it was as if I were looking words up in the spanish dictionary and talking, slowly, haltingly.

These cds were like the missing piece of my spanish education. I'm not even done with the first set yet, since I am working 7 days a week, 10 or 12 hours a day. But shortly after starting listening to the cds, playing them over a few times, my listening comprehension increase dramatically. This is really a major turning point for me. The more I can understand by listening,the more spanish idioms and slang I learn. Now, turning on the TV and watching a spanish movie is a learning experience for me. Listening to guys talking at work is a learning experience, since I can understand them. I am now conversing much more on the job, with much more confidence.

Again, I believe these cds were the key. What a great product. I wish I had them years ago. -Greg

The package of 3 CDs consists of a series of oral texts--conversations or interviews--read with excellent diction by native speakers, slowly, phrase by phrase--as well as in their original form--i.e. with slurring, poor enunciation, rapid bursts and pauses, as conversations actually go. The student is invited to repeat each phrase without attempting to translate and without consulting the visual text in the book. Then, to attempt the naturalistic conversations. As you progress from one conversation to the next, the instructors add explanations for colloquial expressions and grammatical challenges.

The idea is to become familiar with the sounds and rhythms of actual spoken Spanish. As you listen to these oral texts over and over and practice repeating what you hear, the natural intonations of Spanish become more and more comfortable for you. The conversations are not typical tourist Spanish, but are actually quite interesting. A bread baking business in Argentina. The beautiful women of Venezuela. Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy, and other topics.

I have enjoyed these CDs and plan to continue using them. They do require some previous knowledge of Spanish and can't be used in isolation. They also demand a lot of work. I have not experienced the miraculous results reported by some of the reviewers, but I can still recommend this series as another useful tool for adding to your command of Spanish. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

Thanks to these CDs, I have developed an ability to listen to Spanish at real speed. It has given me a lot of confidence. It's a must have, especially if you already study Spanish or if you have studied Spanish and you can't have a regular conversation.

These CDs are set up so you hear a conversation spoken at normal speeds, then it is repeated several times, broken into small pieces so you have an opportunity to repeat it. It is enjoyable to hear real conversations and from that standpoint I'd rate these CDs very highly.

However, the technical details are quite annoying. The sound quality is just dreadful at times. It sounds like they were recording right next to a very busy highway and the roar of the traffic really makes it difficult to hear the words on the CDs. With several of the conversations the people being interviewed are running water or chopping food or working in a kitchen, so there is an enormous amount of background noise that makes it impossible at times to hear the Spanish.

Close to half of the voices on the CD are from Spain and not Latin America, so you hear Spanish with the huge lisp typical of Spain. So the verb hacer sounds like "hather" and there are many words that just leave you scratching your head as to what they mean. Then you look in the little translation book and find it is a word you know, but with the horrible lisp changing c to th, you won't recognize the word. I would have greatly preferred an all Latin American Spanish CD.

The instructor who speaks Spanish from Spain speaks very, very heavily accented English so it is very hard to understand what he is saying at times. It's surprising to me they would not have hired someone with better English. A final annoyance is the translation book they include. Some of the conversations are skipped entirely. Others have translations that are just weird and so literal it is hard to figure out what they really mean.

Since these CD's are less than $20, it is worth it to buy them, but be prepared for many quite amateur features.

Jan Dahlin Geiger Get Your Assets in Gear! Smart Money Strategies

bought the beginner and the intermediate/advanced versions of this CD set because it's been a while since I practiced Spanish and I originally learned by the textbook method. I really needed both. The method used is so different from the one I was used to that it actually made me work on total different skills, like listening, which I had never done before, and that happened to be extremely useful. This is a step by step repetition process. I have to say that it's helped a lot. Both the beginner and the intermediate/advanced versions have. And the more times you listen the better you get and the easier it gets to understand. The content of the conversations is actually pretty interesting too: The lessons are based on people interviews that are interesting. For the first time since studying a language I've actually learned from the syntax AND the content of the lessons. I made progress, I enjoyed Smart Spanish and I recommend it.

If you are interested in learning Spanish the way it's spoken in Spain as well as in South America, this is the language program for you.

It is an interesting program that if the steps are followed, that is, variations in hearing and repeating the monologs or dialogs with annotated notes on pronounciation or grammar, one can actually begin to understand what is spoken. The monologs/dialogs are spoken by a variety of people in different professions, and from different countries like Spain, Mexico, which makes the CD much more interesting than most language tapes.

I am really glad I purchased Smart Spanish and look daily to studying Spanish. Having had high school Spanish almost 20 years ago I also feel confident that I will be able to finally speak Spanish soon. I will be comfortable with my Spanish understanding and speaking because of Smart Spanish.

If you want to learn spanish through grammar or other conventional methods, this is not for you. But if you want to be able to converse in Spanish as naturally as the natives, this SmartSpanish course will ease your way to the mastering of the Spanish language. I chose to really follow the instruction to repeat the dialogs several times. The steps, which you may choose to skip, are actually logically built for maximum retaintion. I wholeheartedly recommend SmartSpanish.

Spanish courses at an advanced level are somewhat scarce, and the few that I have tried seemed a little too basic. But SmartSpanish Audio CDs Int/Adv is right on the mark.

The course uses repetition (the core of learning) in an entirely different and very effective way. You hear authentic conversations with "real" people from different countries. These are accompanied by a narrator who guides you through each conversation several times, occasionally pausing to explain certain usage or idioms. it's almost like having your personal tutor!

The people at SmartSpanish are also very customer service oriented. I contacted them about my purchase and they responded promptly and in a very courteous manner.

It was my intention to purchase a Spanish CD set to be a companion while making long commutes. However, these CDs require the accompaniment of reading the text while listening. While that is certainly useful in ordinary circumstances, it simply wasn't what I was looking for.

When using this CDs at home, I could tell that I was improving. The only challenge is that most users simply do not have a half an hour a day (or more) to spend sitting and following an auditory and literary Spanish guide. For the multi-tasker, this isn't the product for me. For those with time set aside each day for improving their Spanish reading, listening, and speaking skills, this is a good resource.

Ive been using the whole range of SmartSpanish products for some months now and am sure it is the best language course available.
I would recommend starting with the introduction cd's before tackling the beginner version.The introduction cd's need repeated listening ,usually this is where it all falls apart. i have listened to the smartspanish cd's some 11 or 12 times and still find them quite fresh.
Having worked on verbs,numbers and vocabulary from the introduction cd's i find i can express most of the things i want to say without a struggle. I am now working on the beginner conversations which are similarly fascinating (peopled by a former CIA agent, a photojournalist, a surgeon, and various other real people ,boring it is'nt ) the emphasis being on listening and speaking rather than reading.
The cd rom is extremely easy to navigate around.
I find the main difference with the Smart Language series is that i practise every day and don't resent it one bit ,and yes ive found it relly sticks and tenses seem easy .
So all in all a really great product which will teach you how to speak Spanish the way real people speak with the correct vocabulary as it has been compiled using recorded conversations .Unique and practcal ,well done Smart Language.