Rating: 
Summary: A painless start to learning a new language
Review: There are three things that everybody who has taken a Pimsleur course says about it: 1) It's expensive 2) It works, and 3) I wish there was more. If it didn't work, the other two wouldn't matter (and if you are not sure it will work for you try an 8 lesson Basic set). But since for most it does work, it is worth considering the other two items. You will probably want to continue through Spanish II, possibly Spanish III. This costs real money. And even after the full three volume set you are not going to be able to follow the soaps. But it is amazing how quickly you go from saying "Do you speak English?" to being able to understand and express complex ideas in Spanish within a small, but well chosen, vocabulary.Spanish I covers the present tense, the near future (going to see, etc.), commands, and the present perfect (have seen, etc.; actually more useful than the past tense, if you are only going to learn one), and ends with a brief introduction to the informal (2nd person singular; no 2nd person plural since this is South American Spanish). Plan on doing a lesson every day (even if you just repeat yesterday's lesson). And a small, pocket dictionary is helpful. This is very good. An interesting and painless way to learn a language.
Rating:
Summary: Filling the Gap in the Commute
Review: I have always wanted to learn Spanish. After getting frustrated with other so called 'language programs', boring context and less than expected return for the dollars spent, I purchased an introductory set of 10 CDs by Pimsleurs. I was hooked; I bought the full Spanish I set. I couldn't wait to get in my car for the commute to work knowing that I was learning the language I had so long wanted to speak. Within weeks I was carrying on simple conversations with my spanish speaking employees and they were amazed at the correctness of my grammar and my proper pronunciation of words. I am purchasing set II and when completed will buy III. I don't have time for classes with my busy schedule and I enjoy learning Spanish on my long commute to and from work rather than listening to the prattle on the radio. I highly recomend Pimsleurs courses to any one who wants to learn a language. I found it well worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent way to learn Spanish
Review: First off, you can rent this at recordedbooks dot-com for $15, for the first half of Spanish I; for another $15 you can get the second half, so it would cost you $30 plus shipping to listen to the whole Spanish I course. This cost is for the CDs; they also rent the audio cassette version. This course was at just the right level for me. The first few lessons have quite a bit of repetition in them, which is good if you've never learned any Spanish at all, like me. As the lessons progress, and you are more comfortable with it, it's not quite as repetitive, and the course throws a lot more words at you in each lesson. This worked out well for me. Sometimes, I had to listen to a lesson a second time. Each lesson is 30 minutes long, and if you rent part A of Spanish I, then you're getting 7 CDs, each with two lessons, plus an instruction manual on a separate CD, and a 'reading book' on CD.
Rating:
Summary: Hands down the most effective way to learn a language
Review: For various reasons, I decided a couple of years ago to start learning Spanish. I'd heard of the Pimsleur method and decided to buy the whole thing, all three comprehensive courses. I can say I was not disappointed. This has to be the easiest and most effective way to learn a language ever devised. Dr. Pimsleur really knew what he was doing. After about 45 days I was comfortable enough in Spanish to be conversant and to understand the Spanish news broadcast. It was worth every penny (all 82,500 of them actually). That said, I don't think the Pimsleur course is for everyone. For one, many people will balk at the price. And secondly, it takes discipline. It's absolutely essential that you devote 30 minutes a day without fail to learn the language or you'll be disappointed. It also may not be the best method of learning for some people. If you're more visual oriented than audio oriented, you may get frustrated. I also think it would help if the course included a supplemental book to show things like spelling, sentence structure and conjugation of verbs. But overall, I found this course extremely effective and after 90 days feel that my Spanish is just a step under complete fluency. I'm very satisfied and recommend it to anyone who wants to learn a second language. In fact, I was so satisfied with the Spanish course that I bought the beginner Italian course for my vacation this summer and it was immensely helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for those who don't have time to do this at home!
Review: I have found this quite good for learning conversational Spanish. I for one do not have the time or patience to sit at home with a book and struggle through grammar lessons. I pop the tapes into my car and learn while I commute to work and back. I had to buy a cheap tape player to use as I was starting to wear out the player's mechanism in my car from constantly stopping and starting the tape while I formulated my responses. They don't bore you with grammar lessons, but instead go right into conversations that help you learn, repeat and then apply basic spanish vocabulary in new situations. Most of the program is geared to giving you an English phrase to then say in Spanish, all in the context of some fairly silly conversations. I have benefitted so much from their method that I have already gone through Spanish II and am purchasing Spanish III. The price for each level is pretty hefty, but it takes me months to go through all 15 speaking lessons in just one series, making it a worthwhile investment. Nothing is perfect and there are a few downsides, however these are more nits than anything else. First, although the series is titled "Speak and Read Essential Spanish", I found the reading lessons virtually useless. The vocabulary you are asked to read has little, if anything, to do with the associated speaking lesson. They include a lot of words or forms of words that are not in the speaking portions. I wound up simply skipping over them. Fortunately, less than 10% of the time is geared towards reading. Second, while the Pimsleur conversational method is quite good, a few more comments as to why things are said a certain way would help (that boring grammar). I might have been a bit lost had I not taken a couple of basic community education classes first. This is never a bad idea anyway to help augment the learning of a new language. Finally, I find it a shame that these types of taped lessons do not exercise you more on listening to Spanish phrases and then being asked what they mean in English. These tapes do have you respond to some Spanish phrases, but I found I could answer some without ever really understanding what the guy said. Again, these downsides are minor in comparison to the value I received from these lessons. I strongly recommend them to anyone who does not have time to sit at home with a book.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best!
Review: Let me first say that I wish I could give the Pimsleur Courses 10 Stars!!!! Man oh man do I wish I would've found out about this course a few years ago. I'd be fluent by now, but I guess better late than never. Anyway, I seriously developed a burning desire to learn how to Speak spanish after a week long vacation that my wife and I had in Puerto Rico about 4 years ago. We were there visiting with some really go friends of ours that live there, and their 2 little boys. Unfortanetly, my wife and I could'nt communicate with the boys because they only knew Spanish (and still do). So our friends acted as translators. Which was okay, but I really had wished I could talk to them on my own accord in Spanish. Well I'm 5 lessons away from completing Level 3 of Pimsleur Spanish. And I can definetly say that this is the best Spanish Program to use if you really want to learn to speak Spanish with no prior knowledge, or some limited knowledge of the language. After about a year of continually studying and progressing through all levels, I can actually carry on conversations with native Spanish speakers, very well. And they themselves are "very surprised and impressed" at my range of vocabulary and accent. They are totally impressed that I have a desire to speak their language, and that I can actually say more than "un pocito"! LOL. Only thing is that this is completely aural, no writing involved. So many times I was left wondering how to spell certain words. But I do have a pocket English/Spanish dictionary handy. Very helpful and I feel essential. Trust me. I own the Barrons Spanish course , and I stopped listening to it after about a week because it was too overwhelming for me as a beginner. However I will go back and finish that as well since I've completed all of these Pimsleur lessons. But Pimsleur will work for anyone. The only problem I have now is not knowing more words to use, which will come with time. But even now when I watch "Univision" or "Telemundo", I can actually hear and understand much of what they're saying. They don't sound like they're talking "too fast" anymore. But a big help for me has been speaking to native speakers. Nothing can replace that for fluency. Don't fool yourself thinking you can speak Spanish by reading a bunch of books. You didn't learn English that way. And you could speak English before you started grade school. So it's more to it than just studying grammar, punctuation, and pronunciation. If that's all it took, then everyone could be fluent in a foreign language. But Pimsleur Spanish will give you a solid foundation for starting. Now when my wife and I travel back to Puerto Rico, we'll both be able to communicate as necessary. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I took French all through high school, and forgot all of it. My wife took Spanish all through high school. Within the first 8 lessons of Pimsleur, I was teaching her Spanish that she didn't know, and she took it for 4 years! That alone convinced her how good this course is as well as for myself.
Rating:
Summary: Spanish I: Pimsleur Comprehensive Program
Review: We have had excellent results with Pimsleur's Spanish course. We tried several curriculums and we were not happy with what our children were learning, nor their retention of it. Many of the programs prices were way above what we could afford. We tried Learnables, Berlitz, and a few others. Our children are remembering and understanding much more with Pimsleur's course. We tried it for a month and then took 2 weeks off, to see if they would remember what they had learned and they remembered almost everthing they had learned. Our children are 6th and 11th grade. My youngest listens along with her brother and is able to keep up with him without any problem. It teaches Spanish conversationally, with some short reading lessons. Check with your public library, that is were we found ours. We borrow the tapes and when it is time for the tapes to go back we check out the CD version. That way we don't have to buy it, but we can use it continuously. If you decide to buy it make sure you get the whole 30 lesson program. We also use Usborne's Internet Linked Latin American Dictionary. It is very colorful and is theme based, and the linked website pronounces the words for you. Our former Spanish teacher, (a retired missionary that lived, and taught, in Argentina for 20 years), recommended it and it has worked well for memorizing everyday words. We are also using Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Verb Tenses and Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions, also recommended by our former Spanish teacher. My youngest is working slower through it than my oldest, but they are both doing very well with them. These workbooks teach the necessary Spanish grammar, reading practice, and help them to put what they are learning into practice. They get practice writing and reading in Spanish and translating both to English and Spanish. It has also been a great refresher course for me. I have learned words that I was never taught in high school Spanish, and I am actually able to speak it and remember it now. A year out of high school I couldn't remember much of what I learned. You don't have to have a back ground in Spanish to teach this either, you can learn as you go along. Both of the workbooks have answer keys in the back of them and the Pimsleur course does the teaching for you and the lessons are short, 30 min. each. My kids made a concentration game, on their own, to study their words, and they converse in Spanish, just for fun.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but know what you're buying...
Review: First, re the review below by "joedge39" who said, "Good, but don't get ripped," and "I bought mine at B&N for under $50", well, unless that reviewer got a highly unusual "closeout-sale" item (in which case congratulations are in order!), then MOST LIKELY what they ACTUALLY purchased was merely the abbreviated, "retail" version that only includes the first few (not all 30) thirty-minute lessons. Those "abbreviated" sets are woefully incomplete and are obviously sold as mere "enticements" to encourage the buyer to (subsequently) shell out the requisite big bucks for the FULL (30-lesson) edition(s).
Moreover, to really begin to achieve fluency at the (so-called) "intermediate-plus" level, you will ALSO need, eventually, to purchase Pimsleur's "Spanish II" and "Spanish III" sets (each of which comprise 30 additional thirty-minute lessons). And EVEN THEN you will be FAR from "fully fluent" in Spanish.
Having said this, let me add that I've tried virtually ALL the available Spanish audio, video, and software products that are "mass marketed," and the Pimsleur series (albeit costly!) is, by far, the best single item of them all. This is because you can really "interact" with realistic dialogues, AND the material is very, very carefully and strategically sequenced. I must add, however, that because the Pimsleur approach teaches you (essentially) NO *written* words, well, if you're like me, you'll find yourself wanting to occasionally "pause" the current tape to go look up a newly introduced word in a Spanish dictionary, just to be sure you've heard the native speaker's intonation correctly and are repeating the proper consonants/vowels. (For this purpose, you could do worse than to employ the "Word Ace" (speaking-dictionary/verb-conjugator) software by Transparent Language, makers of the well-known "Spanish Now!" software "bundles" that often have a "Word Ace" CD included "free"). But even a mere paperback Spanish dictionary could be a useful supplement to the Pimsleur "audio-only" approach. After all, even though it's true that SPOKEN language is "primary", sooner or later you obviously will also need to be able to READ some basic words and expressions.
Finally, as a significant "second-best" program (to the excellent Pimsleur "audio-only" series), The Rosetta Stone software is worthy of your consideration, provided (again) that you opt for the FULL set of discs, not merely an "introductory" disc containing the first few lessons.
In my opinion, almost all OTHER "audio/visual/software" foreign-language-learning products on the market--despite their impressive "bells and whistles"--are *chiefly* useful as "supplemental" (not your "primary") learning media.
Rating:
Summary: good, but don't get ripped
Review: I've gone through 6 days of the course and have made good progress. It is actually fun. BUT, I bought mine at B&N for under $50!. I could not believe the prices I was seeing here. (If they allow this to be posted I will be very surprised.)
Rating:
Summary: Best way to learn spanish
Review: This is an outstanding program, and if you use it on your commute like I did than it takes no time out of your day. I also was lucky enough to be able to get it from a local library so it didn't cost me anything. I just wish I had gotten started with it a year ago. I tend to learn best by reading, so moving to a program without a visual reference was a little bit unsettling, but after using the program for a month I am a believer. This is the way to begin learning a language, or to use in conjunction with your class room study. What I like best is that the tapes are so varied, even though you spend a lot of time repeating words and sentences you have already learned they keep coming in a different order, different person or different plurality so you are constantly thinking. This has never felt like studying to me, its more like a game. In terms of background, I had about 45 hours of intensive spanish lessons and two months of travel in latin america as a prep for this (followed by a six months break with no spanish practice). For me level one was just right, I didn't have to really struggle with the first part of the course but it was still a challenge to get the pronouciation just right. Don't wait, get started with this program now.
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