Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1 (2 volume set)
by Inc. Learning Like Crazy
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Book Summary Information
Author: Inc. Learning Like CrazyEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-06-01
ISBN: 0976666103
Publisher: Learning Like Crazy
Book Reviews of Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1 (2 volume set)
Book Review: "The Absolute Best for Learning Everyday Conversational Spanish for Communicating With Regular Spanish-Speaking Folks"
Summary: 5 Stars
This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog). This course is my favorite Spanish course and I have tried nearly all of them. What I like most about this course is that it focuses on conversational Spanish that you can use with Spanish speaking friends and Spanish speaking family members such as in-laws (or in my case future in-laws).
There are other courses that are designed to teach tourist Spanish such as Pimsleur. And if your reason for learning to Spanish is to just learn enough to be able to say a few canned phrases to taxi drivers, hotel clerks, airport personnel, waiters, etc., on your next vacation then you may want to search elsewhere. The purpose of this course is to give you the tools so that you can confidently communicate in any situation you may found yourself in, as a person who has to communicate with Spanish speakers on a normal, everyday basis as opposed to someone who only has to communicate with Spanish speakers on a vacation trip.
In my case, I am engaged to a native Spanish speaker from Venezuela who does speak some English but she is lot more comfortable speaking Spanish. So I have to be able to confidently communicate with her and my future in-laws in Spanish on any given topic. And this series (level 1 and 2) has given me that confidence.
I also have several Spanish speaking friends who happen to be very close friends. They speak formal English just as well as I do. But when we are watching a ball game or having a cookout, they prefer to speak informal everyday Spanish. And this course has helped me more than any other course when it comes to communicating with regular Spanish speaking folks in informal, everyday situations.
Another great feature of this course is that it is designed for the learner who hopes to one day achieve complete fluency. This is the only course that I have found that was designed for that purpose. The others courses that I have used such as Rossetta Stone only taught Spanish that was incredibly basic.
This method will also help improve pronunciation. Not to the point where someone would confuse you for a native Spanish speaker, but your pronunciation will be good enough so that native Spanish speakers constantly compliment you on your Spanish pronunciation. I have finished both levels of this course and will be buying level 3 when it is released.
And besides constantly being complimented on my pronunciation, native Spanish speakers also compliment me on my grammar. From using this series I am able to communicate in verb tenses that students of other self-study Spanish courses would not be able to.
The Spanish bonuses that you get with this course from getting on their newsletter are awesome. Nearly every week the Founder of the method sends emails that teach colloquial Spanish and other tips and information about Spanish language, culture and life as an American in a Spanish speaking country. You would never find any of these extras in another Spanish course. In fact, just to learn the everyday vocabulary words that he teaches in his email messages, you would definitely have to move to a Spanish speaking country.
So the pluses are as follows:
1. Teaches familiar conversational Spanish as opposed to formal or tourist Spanish
2. Designed for the learner who desires to someday achieve complete fluency
3. This course goes way beyond the basics of Spanish
4. Will help you develop a nearly perfect accent
5. You are exposed to verb tenses and vocabulary words that you are not exposed to in other Spanish courses
6. Lots of learning Spanish bonuses are included at their site to help you learn everyday or colloquial Spanish
So what are the minuses:
1. They keep the learners or the students of this course waiting unreasonably long for the next level of the course to be released
2. I would like to see more review material in the course. A great deal of Spanish is covered. At times, it can be overwhelming. You can somehow compensate for this inefficiency in the course by going back and reviewing previous lessons in the course. But this method would have been more effective if some type of review system had already been incorporated in the method. I hope they take this into consideration if they ever re-do the whole course and come out with a new version of it.
To sum it all it up, if your desire to learn Spanish is to communicate with Spanish speakers on a more intimate basis and not a formal basis, and if you expect to one day become fluent in Spanish, this is a must-have Spanish course.
In closing my review of this product, I'd like to share with you the three Amazon products that I have found most helpful in my pursuit to learn Spanish. If you are truly serious about achieving fluency, I'd recommend getting all 3 of them if you can afford it.
1. Lights, Camera, Spanish (Book + DVD): Learn Conversational Spanish by Watching a Romantic Adventure This is actually a 90 minute movie for Spanish-language learners. It gives the option to watch the movie with subtitles but I'd recommend not using them to improve your Spanish. This "movie" also includes a workbook so that you can reinforce the Spanish vocabulary words and phrases from the film. The workbook also has lots of exercises to keep you engaged in the film. But be prepared to hear Chilean accents. Although pleasant to the ear, the accents from Chile are very different from most Latin American accents.
2. Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) This software replaces the traditional verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an interactive and fun activity. This should be a required resource for anyone who wants to improve their ability to conjugate Spanish verbs. Especially anyone who is challenged by the drudgery of learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and who is looking for a new way to make learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an easy and fun activity
3. Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition) If you are really serious about speaking the language fluently, then at some point you will need to replace your Spanish-English dictionary and get a pure Spanish dictionary with both the vocabulary words and the definitions entirely in Spanish. I use this one mainly because it was highly-recommended by a friend from Spain who teaches Spanish. According to him, this is the "standard" among university level Spanish professors.
Summary of Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1 (2 volume set)
Learning Spanish Like Crazy was developed to teach conversational Latin American Spanish. The course was developed after the Founder of the course realized that the Spanish that Latin American actually speak was different from the Spanish that he had learned from other self-study Spanish courses. Unlike many other Spanish courses, Learning Spanish Like Crazy teaches you how to speak spoken Latin American Spanish as opposed to textbook or formal Spanish. The course is all audio. This is the first in the series of two levels of Spanish. The first level will take the student from beginner to lower intermediate level. As a special bonus gift for Amazon customers, the customers are given access to re-mastered downloadable copies of the complete FSI Spanish Level III and FSI Spanish Level IV. As an additional bonus gift, with your order you will receive a link to download bonus video Spanish lessons.Spanish Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
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