Customer Reviews

Standard Deviants: Habla Espanol? Learning Spanish The Basics and Beyond the Basics

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

 

 

I'm not impressed with these videos. I've been a Spanish teacher for 17 years so I've seen lots of materials. There's too much boring narration in English... "Pato means Duck...Abogado means Lawyer..." Why have video if they're not going to use it? Just show us the picture and say the word in Spanish!

Ok, and here are some more gripes...the Spanish that is heard in the video is often spoken with a less-than-authentic accent. The written Spanish had errors within the first two minutes of the video. And worst sin of all..mixing Spanish and English in the same sentence! and why spend all that time on capitalization rules? in the very first lesson?

All in all it's pretty boring and repetitive in a way that's really not very effective. I was disappointed. Hoped to use the videos for beginning students, but I doubt very much that I'll subject anyone to them. I haven't even mentioned the dopey stereotypes..but I should have been ready for them given the title of the video. Sorry I put out the dough for this one.

Let me say, first of all, that the DVD itself is nicely done. You can skip ahead to different sections, as well as to reviews. The DVDs contain practice tests that you can take with your remote control. Test taking was never so state-of-the-art. My one complaint with the tests is that everytime you get a question correct, it says "muy bien". Just a simple "correcto" or a "santa vaca!" would have sufficed.

What the DVDs contain may be of great or little value, depending on what you are seeking. The DVDs offer solid, entertaining lessons on the basics of the Spanish language. The mildly amusing, educational DVDs provide instructions on simple things, like the verbs ser and estar, as well as numbers, pronunciation, etc. The actors present the information in an untraditional way, with the belief that if the lessons are enjoyable, people will remember them more. Not surprisingly, they are correct.

However, if you are thinking these DVDs might be suitable aids when you are trying to learn more advanced Spanish, I am sorry to say that they are not. These DVDs offer suitable learning assistance for a Spanish 1 class, but beyond that your struggles and frustrations with the language are between you and your textbook

The DVD could be a great medium to teach spanish basics, but this is just plain silly. Even as a beginner, I spotted mistakes like in incorrectly accenting "esta". Who knows how they chose the vocabulary -- some words are presented that you really wouldn't ever use. They start to teach ser and estar, and then go into why it's OK to leave out the subject pronouns. Aside from my specific gripes, it's all too silly, aiming for a 4th or 5th grade slapsick level. DVD is 99% english (and even most of that is unneeded and a waste of time) and 1% spanish. Perhaps people would enjoy the silly images, but I'm sure that there's no spanish language teaching here.

Though the DVDs cover a lot of good material for the beginner, it is riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes. Actors will say one phrase and the corresponding text doesn't exactly match. If you are not an absolute beginner at Spanish, you may realize these mistakes. It indicates to me that the creators/marketers didn't think enough of us to do a professional review of their material before releasing it.

The Standard Deviants' Spanish 1 and 2 are really helping me get the language and deal with my immersion course. Every example, whether it is a vocabulary word, a sentence, a number, or WHATEVER, is given with the utmost hilarity. And, the funnier the subject, the better we all remember it! This program deals primarily with Latin-American Spanish, so if you are looking for Spanish-Spanish, look elsewhere; it does deal some with this dialect, but certainly not much. This program really helps me keep up my Spanish between class periods, something about which I had been very very concerned.

Everything is presented in such a hilarious manner that it makes the program not only good watching but highly educational. It's also a treat the whole family can enjoy: my middle-aged parents like it as much as my decade-old brothers.

I gave this program 5 stars because it heps me so much with my Spanish. I find parts of this language -- such as the r's -- to be very challenging, and this is really very helpful. Viewers see verbs conjugated, sentences constructed, and more.

The Standard Deviants DID NOT DESIGN THIS PROGRAM SO YOU COULD SKIP CLASS. This is an excellent program and, if you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing already, it REALLY helps. But it's not a replacement of your class; it's an excellent SUPPLIMENT. ALWAYS GO TO YOUR CLASSES AND LISTEN TO YOUR TEACHERS!!!!!

Normally I would have given a 5 star rating BUT I first bought Advanced Spanish - Beyond the Basics. I liked it so much I bought Advanced Spanish - Verbs, Spanish 1&2 and ¿Habla Español?. My tape of Advanced Spanish - Verbs is IDENTICAL to Advanced Spanish - Beyong the Basics. In fact it had that as the title for the video when you view the tape. The DVD of ¿Habla Español? is IDENTICAL to the Spanish 1 tape except for some quizzes. I wrote the company with this complaint and got no answer. If you go to their site you will find about 20 Advanced Spanish DVDs that have descriptions that all appear to be the same DVD with different titles. I would definitely not buy Spanish 1. Instead buy the ¿Habla Español? DVD. Other than this, I would be very careful buying from this company.

I recently picked up the Standard Deviants Spanish 1&2 on a lark. I took Spanish in High School (far too long ago for me to remember anything, not that I was all that good at it anyway). I thought the tapes covered the basics in a way that kept my attention, without being too juvenile or silly. Unlike the previous reviewer, I LIKED the use of English and Spanish... it helped me pair the words and their meaning more easily. I fscholl had been more like this, I probably would've paid more attention (and remembered more today)!

I was struggling with Spanish, but these DVD's rock. They really slowed it down for me, and it was useful hearing other English speakers and Spanish speakers do it at the same time. Besides, the video parts are really funny. It's like Saturday Night Live decided to teach Spanish.

and he doesn't even give his name ("A Viewer"). I would have to guess that he is someone with a personal interest in the rating, because these DVD's do Not rock -- they rot.

All the other one star reviews are correct, so I will not repeat their observations. What made a 14 year old beg to turn this off? This production (besides its errors, corny humor, unrelated vocabulary words, and 99% English) is actually OFFENSIVE. My daughter had tears in her eyes by the second lesson.

Examples: The blond, blue-eyed man imitating (with thick accented English) a Latin guerrilla soldier; a man riding around South America on an animated taco; the only Latina-looking actress is the one depicted with horrible table manners, food falling out of her mouth, picking lice out of a guy's hair, and other gross behaviors; the word "salsa-riffic"; and the disgusting animation (toes with diseases on each one.)

This was a waste of money. It's too awful to donate. I am going to throw it away.