23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
not just restaurant Spanish, December 15, 2006
This review is from: SmartSpanish CDs Beginner - The smart way to learn spanish (Audio CDs) (CD-ROM)
Smart Spanish is a collection of interviews with native Spanish speakers (some Latin American, some from Spain), who talk in a natural way about real-life topics -- photojournalism, relocation of a historic house, starting up a baguette business. There is no donde esta the library.
You hear each interview once at normal speed, and the teacher repeats it four or five times at slower speed. The CDs are formatted so you can skip a repetition if you don't need it. Because the interviews are unscripted, grammar points are explained as they come up (first interview jumps straight into past tense -- "This is how it happened..."). For this reason, you may want to have a "basics of Spanish" textbook for reference.
After six weeks with this course I saw a very satisfying improvement in my ability to "hear" phrases and everyday expressions, which seemed a blur before. I've since gone on to Behind The Wheel Spanish, which provides the sentence-building practice needed for speaking as well as understanding.
The real-life quality becomes a source of enjoyment as you go through the interviews -- the unfinished sentences, the noises in the background, the ways people tell their stories. ("You left your children with the coyotes?" gasps the interviewer. In reply, the woman manages to say, without actually saying it, "I'm not a bad mother.") It's like reading Studs Terkel's Working.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SmartSpanish CDs, September 16, 2007
This review is from: SmartSpanish CDs Beginner - The smart way to learn spanish (Audio CDs) (CD-ROM)
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 guystalking 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 your cds were the key. What a great product. I wish I had them years ago. -Greg
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun and useful, July 18, 2006
This review is from: SmartSpanish CDs Beginner - The smart way to learn spanish (Audio CDs) (CD-ROM)
I've tried a few other Spanish cd's that focus more on grammar, and they have their uses, but it gets boring just repeating words and phrases in isolation. That's why I really like this system--you hear actual native speakers and really get a feel for the language--it's rhythms, idiosyncrasies, intonation, etc. So it gives me more of an appreciation for the language, keeps me interested, and motivates me to keep on learning.
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