Customer Reviews

Spanish II, 3rd Ed. (Compr.)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used the previous edition of Pimsleur Spanish II, but I'm sure this edition is only improved.

Pimsleur's level two Spanish lessons continue the excellence of level one. Each lesson begins with a dialogue in Spanish to sharpen your listening comprehension. Then it proceeds to a combination of techniques. You are given a sentence in English to recite in Spanish, or instructed in Spanish to say something in Spanish, changing the verbs to fit your response. When new words or phrases are introduced, they are repeated and used in different contexts so you can remember them. The tapes give you time to repeat out loud to fix the words, sentences or phrases in your mind. The pauses aren't long enough for you to translate from English to Spanish in your mind; you have to respond somewhat quickly in Spanish, as you would in a conversation with a Spanish speaker.

These lessons make adroit use of repetition. If a word or phrase is introduced at the beginning of a lesson, it will pop up again toward the end. Grammatical points and vocabulary introduced in earlier lessons will come up again in later lessons, to give you a chance to recall them. These techniques make Pimsleur superior to other language self-study programs.

This is a wonderful program, and I highly recommend it.

When I got the three Pimsleur Spanish CD's I thought I'd be very far along with my goal to learn spanish. I have learned a lot via Pimsleur, but it didn't take me as far as I thought it would. It gave a pretty good overview of the basics in Spanish, but nothing more.

I've since switched to Platiquemos and I am just finishing up Level Two. Bottom line for me: Pimsleur is nice way to be introduced to Spanish if you can afford it. Platiquemos will take that introduction and run with it. There is some overlap between Pimsleur Spanish 1-3 and Platiquemos' Level 1, but I recommend starting at Platiquemos' Level 1 once you finish all three Pimsleur's. If you want to go the cheaper route just start with Platiquemos and work your way through Level 1. It may be tough at first, but you'll learn a lot quickly.

Good luck in learning Spanish!

As a resident of Florida, I desire very much to become acquainted with the language, histories, and cultures of my Spanish-speaking neighbors and co-workers. I studied French in high school but as of today cannot speak or understand it.

Because of my work schedule, at this time attending night school or living in a Spanish-speaking country is not practical. I am attempting to learn Spanish on my own. I have bought all three levels of Pimsleur and have no regrets. For anyone who may balk at the price, you should consider that the tuition at a university or a community college may exceed the cost of one level of Pimsleur.

Pimsleur is an excellent start for a beginning Spanish student. Pimsleur effectively teaches you the technique of listening to a sentence in English, translating out loud in Spanish, hearing the phrase in Spanish, and repeating it. The pauses between the sentences are long enough to translate out loud in Spanish. You may have to repeat a lesson several times so that you translate accurately and quickly enough during the pauses. However, the lessons are never dull, and the sound in audio CDs is clear and easy to understand.

I use supplemental grammar materials to read and write Spanish and to learn grammar. But the Pimsleur CDs teach you to speak useful and interesting words, sentences, and phrases for real-life situations - ordering in a restaurant, asking for street directions, asking about one's family and health, and discussing the weather. These CDs are never boring.

In addition, if I have an especially busy day and do not have time or energy to do a reading or writing lesson, I can still find 30 minutes in a day to do a Pimsleur lesson.

Even with the three levels of Pimsleur, you will not be fluent in Spanish. I am starting the FSI Spanish series once I complete Pimsleur. I recommend that for those who are serious about achieving fluency Spanish, they take the multitrack approach - watch Univision, listen to Spanish radio, practice speaking with native speakers, etc.

But for those new to Spanish, I wholeheartedly endorse the Pimsleur series.

You can rent the cassette or CD at recordedbooks dot-com for less than a tenth of the purchase price.

Continues on the excellent track from the first series of CD's. You may have to listen a few times to the CD's, but if it was too easy, you'd probably regret the high price tag. This is my third Pimsleur series and I continue to be impressed.

Might want to pick this one up used to make this on a bit more affordable.

Absent a Spanish speaking pal, Pimsleur is all I have to keep me speaking, and I have become very attached to the two "native" speakers, the man, the woman, who have remained on board thru I and II. Pimselur really works, IMO, because, for one, it uses bi-lingual teaching. My friend, who does not speak any Spanish, teaches ESL, and one of his students was not really learning much English until he had her use the Pimsleur basic ESL. The student jumped ahead of the other students in the class. "It was like magic!" said my friend.

But Pimsleur absolutely must be supplemented with written material so that literate adults can use their most powerful ally in education: literacy. Would you like to learn Spanish from those who merely speak it, or from those who both write/read and speak it? Pimsleur's scripts had long since introduced the "have/had-'past'" forms of hacer--ha hablado-- before I realized these were two words, the first beginning with an "h". And I realized this only after using another course that uses both written and spoken material, so I SAW the words in print, and this provided powerful reinforcement to the Pimsleur audio drills. The audio method is great, friendly,organic, but not enuf by itself. I don't see that a serious learner should set up a contest between Pimsleur and other methods; use any and everything thing you can get.

I've been studying foreign languages for many years. Consequently, I have a great many things in my collection. Pimsleur's system, in my opinion, is the best I've encountered so far. The only drawback, if it should be considered such, is that there is very little in the direction of a written component. You WILL learn how to speak the language, but you may not figure out how to read/write it with Pimsleur. Each lesson is 30 minutes, so if you have a 15 minute (or longer) commute to work and a CD player in your car, you can study Spanish as you drive.

This is the very best language program that money can buy! Even if you have an excellent written understanding of Spanish this makes it become part of you.

Excellent learning tool for students past the beginning stage. Spanish I by Pimsleur is a definite prerequisite. Independent study of written Spanish is also recommended.

I have these lessons on a little inexpensive mp3 player. It worked great while driving on the highway. They give you just enough of a pause before and after giving the answer in spanish. You are prompted to recall the spanish word or phrase by the narrator both in spanish, and sometime in english. It is repetitive, tedious, but effective. What I like most is the clarity of the voice, pronunciation, and the slow gradual exposure to the tenses and commonly used words.