Customer Reviews

5001 Spanish Sentences/8 One Hour Audiocassette Tapes/Complete Learning Guide and Tape Script (Spanish Edition)

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

 

 

Don't waste your money on this one.

I completed all four courses of the Pimsleur series(1, 2, 3 & Spanish Plus) and bought this one to add to my knowledge. I love the listen and repeat of the Pimsleur style. However, this tape is like a spanish teacher who invited a friend over to make a take for some friends. He jumps around from vowels to sounds to repeating words to interrupting himself with other odd thoughts thrown in between.

What's worse is that he doesn't give you enough repititions to learn anything.

Then, Mr. Frobose, says that if you don't get it or he is repeating to fast, just rewind the tape. If that's the case and you trying to learn in your car you, would have one hand on the stering wheel, one hand on the rewind button, and ultimately get in an accident. Don't make the same mistake as I did.

When I bought this program, I though it was going to be nothing but sentence pattern or translation drills. At least, that's what I was hoping for.

I was pretty disappointed. It was the voice of Mark Frobose explaining everything. And explaining and explaining... And then occassionally he'd ask his Spanish speaking sidekick to say something for the learner, as if he was a trained seal. And he constantly addresses you and gives you instructions. "Ok, learner. Now say..."

To make matters worse, it began at a very elementary level. He spent way too much time going over the alphabet. And instead of the pattern drills I was hoping for, it was nothing but a bad phrasebook with a lot of idle chatter.

I'm not sure if I learned anything from it, but it almost brainwashed me into thinking my name was "Learner."

This set of tapes purports to be a teaching tool for the Spanish language, but at least half of the material on the tapes is in ENGLISH!! There are tapes, "Practice and Improve Your Spanish," for example, in which the listener hears only the target language on the tapes, since the tapes are accompanied by a book with the Spanish text and English translation. The Living Language series similarly have only Spanish on the tapes. This series of tapes unfortunately exposes the listener's ear to an enormous amount of English. I could understand if the Spanish sentences were preceded by their English meanings, but for some reason the author of this series felt the need to repeatedly say, "Now, learner, don't forget to repeat the sentence after you hear it," or "How do you say in Spanish..." I do not need to be repeatedly told in English to repeat the sentences I am hearing. I already understand English well. It is my native tongue. I found the patronizing tone of the author of these tapes infuriating after a while. I recommend that anyone who wants to get his or her money's worth out of a language tape series consider another purchase, such as those suggested above, or perhaps "Spanish With Ease," another set of tapes and book which are recorded entirely in the language the listener is trying to learn.

Im a former language student and now teach my language to mostly children, while also using that foriegn language daily. I am no professor and I HAVE had the ( exceedingly hard work ) experience of learning a foriegn language.

Every (academic or otherwise ) language course I ever attended ( and there were plenty, in Japanese Chinese and Indonesian..)was in no way even remotely related to the 'literary interests' of the professors.( all of whom spoke at least one language, often up to 6 languages other than their own.)Ive known several REAL diplomats in my time, and none would be dumb enough to make the below mentioned comments, by the 'DIPLOMAT'.

It seems to me, that the diplomat is A ;a non person, B; working for the publisher directly, to C;give a rave review, and D; mislead the book buying public with claptrap. And further that E; we should all be VERY suspicious of this publisher and its 5 star reviews. And lastly F; Amazon should do something about these people.

Several years ago I began searching for an audio Spanish course that would allow me to learn Spanish in the comfort of my home or in my car without having to look at a book. I found what I was looking for in 5001 Spanish Sentences. English is used with this course, and I'm glad it is. You only have two choices, sit and wonder what the heck they (and you if you repeat) are saying, and then TRY to look up the meanings (often with no success and wasting lots of time in the process) or buy a course like Language Dynamics offers where you INSTANTLY KNOW the meanings of what you are learning.
My anxiety level fell through the floor when I started using these 'user friendly' tapes. And the results? Unreal. I just repeated after the Spanish speaker, followed the course instructions and now I speak Spanish.
Let's face it. Most Spanish courses actually 'want' you to suffer through the agony of a traditional 'wonder till you finally figure it out' method.
I left the old fashioned methods behind. I don't use a wood burning stove in my kitchen. I use a microwave. And I don't use Living Language or Berlitz to learn Spanish with their Medieval
methods. I use Language Dynamics. I suggest you update too.
LISA PELLEGRINI

I am a former US diplomat and current international business consultant. I can say that Language Dynamics courses are the only courses I know of that are truly dedicated to effective and immediate communication in the target language. Academic courses often reflect the literary interests of professors, many of whom never had the experience of learning the target language as a second language. With these courses, you can hit the streets after every lesson knowing you can say more than you could yesterday.

I am delighted with the results I am getting with '5001 Spanish Sentences'. As the ad claims, I am learning to speak Spanish quickly and easily. I have tried other language courses including Berlitz, Living Language, Hugo, and Pimsleur to name a few. Most of these courses use only the target language and do not give adequate reinforcement and explanation. In fact, with Living Lanugage I found myself 'parroting' stock phrases in Spanish and not even knowing what it was I was saying. In order to find out I would have to stop the car, look up the meanings in a book (very frustrating and time consuming). This in no way teaches one a language. I have read that at least understanding what it is you are saying and repeating greatly enhances your ability to speak a foreign language quickly.
I am grateful to Language Dynamics for devising an easy and effective method of foreign language instruction that makes the learner as comfortable and 'in the driver's seat' as I have been.

Learning to speak Spanish for the first time in my life has been an 'enjoyable' process because these tapes explain everything, give you the meanings in English and then give you the beautful voice of a native Spanish speaker to practice with. No reasonable person could ask for more.