Rating: 
Summary: Excellent follow up to Level I class
Review: I have both the Level I and Level II Foreign Service Institute courses, and since I've already reviewed in detail how the Level I course works and compared it with the other major offerings out there, such as Michel Thomas's, Berlitz, and Instant Immersion, I'll keep this review brief. If you're interested I refer you to my review of the Level I class which I've also posted on Amazon.This is basically the advanced course and continues with the same philosophy and structure as the Level I class. It is intended to get you up to speed conversationally as quickly as possible without getting bogged down in too many formal details of the grammar. The approach here is to teach you the grammar by means of many examples of individual spoken sentences and brief conversations and through substitution drills, along with brief discussions of the grammar which are interspersed occasionally between the audio sections. The big, 600+ page workbook allows you to follow along with the native language speakers, which is very helpful also. This contrasts with Michel Thomas's approach, which is just as pricey, but contains no workbook, drills, exercises, or even any memorization at all. It also emphasizes starting with the most basic sentence structures and then building up slowly from there, so that the principles are acquired almost intuitively. I also have the Thomas course and it is excellent as well, and for many people would also be a good choice. I like having the detailed workbook that this course provides, however, so I still have a preference for this one over the Thomas offering. But if you're looking for the most painless approach possible, without the rigors of any formal grammar, the Thomas course might be your best choice. I have a pretty strong background in structural and comparative grammar and linguistics in general so I don't mind a little formal grammar, but most people don't and just want to get a speaking command of the language as quickly and painlessly as possible. For that purpose this course serves very well and is regarded by many as still the best one out there for that. Someone who masters the 24 tapes in these two courses, which is twice as much material as in most of the other big self-study courses, should have a pretty good command of spoken Spanish and be able to do pretty well conversationally.
Rating: 
Summary: to the point
Review: I purchased both level 1 & 2 of the spanish language series. I also had studied two semesters of Spanish. I believe that with two semesters of college Spanish and using these tapes-for about six more months after your freshman Spanish classes- you can acquire a solid and fundamental grasp of Spanish. The courses are very untilatirian: but you will be able to have conversations in Spanish. I work at an Ct. Casino and it is a polyglot environment, and I am able to speak Spanish with people from all over the central, carribean, and south american world. you will learn standard, no slang, no lazy pronuncements, spanish. People often believe that Spanish spoken by people versus taught in school is radically different. It is not. Spanish has its aints, gottas and all that.
If you wish to read and write in Spanish, you will probably have to study in college as I did, but for general fluency the tapes can work. I do however suggest at least a semester of college Spanish or if you are a high school student two years of study. The tapes teach language in the old fashion way: you either want to learn the language or do not. you will not take this tapes into your car and use them on the way to work.
Rating:
Summary: to the point
Review: I purchased both level 1 & 2 of the spanish language series. I also had studied two semesters of Spanish. I believe that with two semesters of college Spanish and using these tapes-for about six more months after your freshman Spanish classes- you can acquire a solid and fundamental grasp of Spanish. The courses are very untilatirian: but you will be able to have conversations in Spanish. I work at an Ct. Casino and it is a polyglot environment, and I am able to speak Spanish with people from all over the central, carribean, and south american world. you will learn standard, no slang, no lazy pronuncements, spanish. People often believe that Spanish spoken by people versus taught in school is radically different. It is not. Spanish has its aints, gottas and all that.
If you wish to read and write in Spanish, you will probably have to study in college as I did, but for general fluency the tapes can work. I do however suggest at least a semester of college Spanish or if you are a high school student two years of study. The tapes teach language in the old fashion way: you either want to learn the language or do not. you will not take this tapes into your car and use them on the way to work.
Rating:
Summary: I want to read it--see below
Review: I want only the book "Barron's Mastering Spanish" and not the cassettes. Can the book be bought separately or is it the whole package or not all?
Rating:
Summary: Hard to Beat
Review: These cassettes can at first be off-putting: there's almost no English heard, and the Spanish is spoken quickly. But that's the way real Spaniards speak and as your ear gets used to the language as it's really spoken, it is truly exciting. With frequent repetition, your confidence and fluency grow rapidly. These tapes were made by the State Department in the late 50's, and some of the dialogue is hilarious: the men go out to the airforce base to review the bombers, while the women fret about their dresses and clean out the ashtrays. But if some of the social customs are dated, the rigor and clarity of the tapes are classic. For the committed learner, I don't think there's anything out in the market that compares. I didn't start with Barron's. For the first month or two, I worked with the Learn in Your Car series -- excellent for basics. I switched to this for greater fluency -- and found them to be a superb combination.
Rating:
Summary: Very thorough intermediate course; pace just right
Review: This 12-cassette series is a fairly comprehensive course in Spanish grammar and usage for those with a slight familiarity with the language. I spent about 3 months of commuting time, 1-1/2 hrs/day, going through the tapes (at least twice each), and felt it was equivalent to a second or third year high school course. This is not a course for expanding one's vocabulary, although of course some new vocabulary was introduced. For vocabulary, I would recommend the Vocabulearn series of cassettes by Penton Overseas. My only complaint is the accompanying book, which was much bigger than it needed to be, since all of the text was duplicated in a phonetic version which I felt was of little or no use. I have spent about nine months now learning Spanish in my car, and have tried out a number of cassette series, and can certainly rate this as one of the best. The time allowed for the student's response was just right, unlike other series which push one too fast or too slow.
Rating:
Summary: dpakula@infi.net - FSI Basic Spanish course beats Destinos
Review: This is an excellent course. I took the entire four-set course, units 1-55, which covers the all areas of grammar. I would highly recommend taking the entire course, which was produced as "Spanish - Basic Course" by the foreign service institute (not to be confused with the FSI Programmatic Spanish course offered by Audioforum). I've also studied the entire Destinos series, with videos, textbook, workbooks and cassettes. While the Destinos videos are interesting and helpful for listening comprehension, and the textbook is helpful, the cassettes and textbooks of the FSI Basic Spanish course are far better system for learning to speak Spanish.
Rating:
Summary: dpakula@infi.net - FSI Basic Spanish course beats Destinos
Review: This is an excellent course. I took the entire four-set course, units 1-55, which covers the all areas of grammar. I would highly recommend taking the entire course, which was produced as "Spanish - Basic Course" by the foreign service institute (not to be confused with the FSI Programmatic Spanish course offered by Audioforum). I've also studied the entire Destinos series, with videos, textbook, workbooks and cassettes. While the Destinos videos are interesting and helpful for listening comprehension, and the textbook is helpful, the cassettes and textbooks of the FSI Basic Spanish course are far better system for learning to speak Spanish.
Rating:
Summary: Practice makes perfect
Review: Using these tapes made a tremendous difference in my spoken French. If you stick with the program, repeating some tapes if necessary, you will see your French become easier and more fluid.
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