Spanish Verbs 101 [With Listening Guide] (Learn in Your Car) (Spanish Edition) [Audio CD]

Penton Overseas (Author), Stacey Tipton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Learn in Your Car | Publication Date: January 2004

This pack contains 4 audio CDs and a 24-page listening guide. No sentence is complete without that one essential part: the Verb! This is an excellent beginner to intermediate student's verb guide that: demystifies verb conjugations; features an interactive audio format; organises verbs into patterns to simplify learning and recall; and, focuses on learning just the key verbs that must be used in everyday conversation. "Learn in Your Car Verbs 101" presents 101 most used verbs in all conjugations.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Penton Overseas; Com/Bklt edition (January 2004)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 159125423X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591254232
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Effective - but boring, April 22, 2004

By 

Amjra "la tanguera" (Arlington Heights, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Spanish Verbs 101 [With Listening Guide] (Learn in Your Car) (Spanish Edition) (Audio CD)

This is a great CD for those who want to memorize verb tenses. The CD is a little boring, as it is simply one woman who conjugates verbs, and then gives an english translation for each one. Each tense is done in order, then starting with the -ar verbs, then -er verbs then -ir verbs. It is the verbal equivelent of reading the 501 Spanish verbs book outloud! Note: the second person plural form, or the vos form, is not given. This form is mainly used in Spain.

Ex: Hablo - I speak
Hablas - You speak
Habla - He/She/You speak
Hablamos - We speak
Hablan - They speak

They go alphabetically from there. This covers the present, preterite, imperfect, future perfect, and present progressive (I think). There are no phrases, sentences nor context given, only cojugated verbs. This is much better than writing verbs over and over again, and good for learning some new verbs, but take it for what it is. A little maddening to listen to, but a good review if you need some intensive memorization. Better for the more advanced student, who is learning tenses past the present tense. The most annoying part of this CD is that after every conjugation, the english equivalent is given. For example:
"Hablo, I speak, Hablas, you speak" The half english in the forms is really annoying after awhile. The listener does not become immersed in the spanish experience.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Defense...Mimicking 501 Verbs in Audio Form, April 6, 2005

By 

NerdMom "teaching toddlers with technology!" (Anchorage, AK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spanish Verbs 101 [With Listening Guide] (Learn in Your Car) (Spanish Edition) (Audio CD)

As the author I don't pretend to be objective, but allow me to offer a defense to the stucture of the program. Basically I set out to create an audio version of the most popular Spanish book ever written: 501 Spanish Verbs.

Nearly all audio programs attempting to teach you Spanish offer some type of verbs used in sentences or some other context. That was never the goal of the program. In fact, quite the opposite. Part of learning verbs requires memorization - as boring as that may sound. But the program also teaches patterns and encourages the listener to visualize as well - something several of the less than generous reviewers here have failed to mention. I've had hundreds of customers write that my verbs programs have been enormously helpful for them, but I think it's because they didn't expect more from the program than what it offered: a chance to practice and memorize the most important verbs, as well as the patterns related to these verbs, in order to jump start your ability to conjugate new verbs on the fly.

Now the guy who complains about small tidits of humor and suggest there is idle chatter - must be offended quite easily! There is very little chatter indeed - and any tidbits of humor are there because 99% of the students who would use the program find that tidbits of humor make the learning process more fun.

Don't buy this program if you are looking for an immersion experience, or want a presentation of the Spanish language in full context. Rather, if you want verbs and only verbs - and a quick, light way to learn them through audio with a bit of music in between to liven it up - then Spanish Verbs 101 may be for you.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It would work if they made one change, November 2, 2005

By 

W. C. Anders "Spanish Student" (Napa, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spanish Verbs 101 [With Listening Guide] (Learn in Your Car) (Spanish Edition) (Audio CD)

There is one big problem that renders this program worthless (other than just being boring). Namely, it gives you the answer before it asks the question. In all other Spanish tapes and CD's there is an English statement or word followed by the same statement or word in Spanish. That way, you are constantly testing yourself and thinking about the material. This program works in reverse. That is, the Spanish verb form is stated twice, e.g., yo hablo, which is then followed once by the English equivalent, e.g., I speak.

For that reason, there is nothing to think about or try to remember as you go through the program. If you had to think about your answer for even a second before you answered, it would take an awful lot of the monotony out of the program, and you would learn the material a lot faster.

If the author made just this one change and reversed the order of the English and Spanish phrases so the CD's said the English form once, e.g., I speak, followed by the Spanish form twice, e.g., yo hablo, this would have been a very useful and effective program. As it is, the program is pretty worthless.

I would be willing to bet if you injected the author with truth serum that this was a boo-boo made when the CD's were finalized just prior to being put on the shelves. Therefore, perhaps the author could fix it with a second (useful) version, which would be free or discounted in exchange for the current version.