Spanish Verbs Skill Builder : The Conversational Verb Program

Rating:
Summary: I was spoiled by Pimsleur
Review: After finishing Pimsleur Spanish I and Spanish II (the gold standard for language learning), I thought I would take a break and build more verb vocabulary before begining Pimsleur III. I am being generous with two stars. The main instructor on the tape is also the main Spanish speaker and is a non-native speaker with rapid, pressured speech and everything is said dramatically. The male native speaker I swear is a Hispanic Bella Lagosi, his voice has so much bass it is difficult to understand. These tapes are definiteley low budget. "Master All the Tenses and Speake Fluently" all in four tapes! I should have known better. I am now on Pimsleur III. I think Marcel Danesi needs to listen to them and see how it is done. The idea of verb vocab building is a great idea but this isn't it.

Rating:
Summary: I was spoiled by Pimsleur
Review: After finishing Pimsleur Spanish I and Spanish II (the gold standard for language learning), I thought I would take a break and build more verb vocabulary before begining Pimsleur III. I am being generous with two stars. The main instructor on the tape is also the main Spanish speaker and is a non-native speaker with rapid, pressured speech and everything is said dramatically. The male native speaker I swear is a Hispanic Bella Lagosi, his voice has so much bass it is difficult to understand. These tapes are definiteley low budget. "Master All the Tenses and Speake Fluently" all in four tapes! I should have known better. I am now on Pimsleur III. I think Marcel Danesi needs to listen to them and see how it is done. The idea of verb vocab building is a great idea but this isn't it.

Rating:
Summary: Great for review or for Beginners!
Review: I absolutely loved this set. I've tried other cassettes before, but none I ever tried were quite what I was looking for. Most tapes I've come across were mainly focused on teaching phrases, but they did not fully explain all the different conjugations of the verbs. This set explains them in an easy way, and the lessons are good. I have had Spanish in highschool and some in college, and the primary problem I've had was remembering all the verb tenses. It gave me a wonderful review of the language. This set is also good for people who want to begin to learn Spanish. There is English on this tape, but you are still able to develop a decent amount of listening skills. However, it will not help someone build an extensive vocabulary. What it will do is teach the basic foundations of the language, which is important to learning a language fluently. If you buy a Spanish/English dictionary there really should be no problem. Anyone who is beginning or just wants to brush up their Spanish should have this set!

Rating:
Summary: Great for review or for Beginners!
Review: I absolutely loved this set. I've tried other cassettes before, but none I ever tried were quite what I was looking for. Most tapes I've come across were mainly focused on teaching phrases, but they did not fully explain all the different conjugations of the verbs. This set explains them in an easy way, and the lessons are good. I have had Spanish in highschool and some in college, and the primary problem I've had was remembering all the verb tenses. It gave me a wonderful review of the language. This set is also good for people who want to begin to learn Spanish. There is English on this tape, but you are still able to develop a decent amount of listening skills. However, it will not help someone build an extensive vocabulary. What it will do is teach the basic foundations of the language, which is important to learning a language fluently. If you buy a Spanish/English dictionary there really should be no problem. Anyone who is beginning or just wants to brush up their Spanish should have this set!

Rating:
Summary: Great for Intermediate/Advanced Review
Review: I loved this set so much, I bought it twice. The first time it was actually stolen from my car. I was thinking I might try something else, but I ended up purchasing this set again, and I'm glad I did. I have 4+ years of Spanish instruction and can't seem to get past proficiency to the fluency level. My major problem is conjugating verbs quickly (along with vocab). This set really reviewed all the tenses, slowly and quickly to get me to conjugate quickly. It uses the vosotros form--which is new to me. It doesn't introduce a lot of new vocab, however. I wish it did, but then again the set itself never claimed that vocabulary would be their emphasis.

Rating:
Summary: how to learn english in your spare time
Review: This book and set of 4 tapes is billed as a way to hear Spanish verbs in conversation. However, as soon as the listener puts in the first tape, he hears mostly ENGLISH! There is no warning on the outer label that the tapes consist not of Spanish alone, but of English alternating with Spanish. There are English explanations of all verb forms, English translations preceding each utterance, and the result is that you hear more English than Spanish. I already speak English well. It is my native tongue. I do not need to hear it again. There are many fine language instruction tapes that have the target language and ONLY the target language. If you are one of those people who do not want to hear English when you are trying to learn Spanish, avoid this set of tapes as if it were covered with anthrax spores. Purchase instead "Practice and Improve Your Spanish" which has realistic Spanish conversations and not a word of English. The infuriating thing is that the cover of the tape set does not tell the purchaser that it is full of English; the purchaser does not find this out until too late. If you need practice hearing English, on the other hand, this tape set may be just the thing you need.

Rating:
Summary: IT DOES WHAT IT SAYS
Review: This is a verb skill builder, and that's exactly what it does. It exposes you to different verbs, and their verb tenses, using various situations. It is not intended to be a Spanish course, but a complement to a course. It definitely helped me become more proficient in the use of verbs, and I have finished Pimsleur Levels 1,2 & 3, and Pimsleur Plus. (Pimsleur is an excellent course.)While it is true that there is much spoken English, I felt it helped to solidify the meaning of the Spanish. And, yes, some of the people were rather dramatic in their speech, but some real-life people are also. Such is life! I would enjoy a Skill Builder Two, with exposure to many additional verbs in the different tenses integrated with the use of pronouns. (But, please, not another book! It's unnecessary and the type size is too tiny.)