Spanish Complete Course (Living Language Complete Courses. Compact Disc Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for beginners
Review: At first I didn't know if I'd like the fact that there were no translations on the CDs. I thought "How can I learn if I don't know what I'm saying?" So, I devised a method that has proven beneficial for me. I listen to the first CD at home or at the office when I can have the book in front of me. While I'm in the car, I listen to the second or third CD. The CDs get progressively more difficult, so since I didn't know what I was saying anyway, I just used the 2nd and 3rd CDs to practice pronunciation. As an added bonus, I found that when I started reading the book along with the 2nd and 3rd CDs, I picked up the words and phrases much more quickly than I did on the first CD (because I didn't listen to it in the car.) I've been told by MANY Spanish speaking people that my pronunciation is very good. I attribute that to the CDs. The speakers on the audio tracks speak very clearly, and during a "conversation" there will be more than one speaker. The lessons are planned very well and aim at teaching you the phrases you'll need if you take a trip to a Spanish speaking country. If I could change one thing about this program, though, it would be that there is not enough explanation about verb conjugation. You may suddenly come across a verb in, say, the Imperfect Indicative form with no explanation as to what you just read or heard. No problem. I found a book for under $6.00 that does an excellent job of helping get a grasp on ALL of the 14 verb conjugations. It's Barron's "Spanish Verbs" second edition by Christopher Kendris, PH. D. ISBN#0764113577. It has proven to be an excellent helping tool, since verb conjugation has been THE most difficult part of learning Spanish for me. Check it out, and I hope this helps.

Rating:
Summary: Good review but not as intensive as I thought
Review: This was a great review but I was expecting it to cover more advanced material. I enjoyed the dialogues and thought that it taught a lot of vocabulary. However, the print is extremely small in the dictionary so I would buy another.

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book if you want to learn to speak Spanish.
Review: While the dictionary and coursebook are good, buyers should know that the tape has no English on it, and is only good as a pronunciation guide. You must follow in the grammar book very carefully and use the book in conjunction with the tape to get anything out of the tape. Without prior knowledge, using the tape in the car won't teach you very much.