Rating: 
Summary: Confidence Builder
Review: I have studied Italian off and on for years but never built up any confidence in the spoken language. So many verbs, tenses, so much vocab - it all became a bit overwhelming. Even when speaking in Italian I never knew if I was constructing the sentences correctly. It all seemed such a slog!
I bought Michel Thomas's Spanish course a few weeks ago and am full of admiration for it. He builds confidence immediately - giving you a solid foundation on which to construct sentences. The sentences also tend to be the ones' containing it, this, that (all the little pronouns that I never really knew what to do with). The imperative is so simple (I got lost in Italian - even though it is no more complex than Spanish). I can thoroughly recommend this course if you want to obtain a solid working foundation in the spoken language. Confidence is everything - particularly in language learning. The only negative thing is that the male student tends to make the same basic mistake of getting the stress wrong (again and again) so I began to be quite irritated by him. If this was a deliberate "teaching device" by Mr Thomas it didn't work for me. However, all in all, it's great! It really makes language learning enjoyable (what a revelation).
Rating: 
Summary: Es bueno, pero no es MUY bueno
Review: I took French in school, and I'm not really sure why since I live in Texas. So I finally decided to learn Spanish, which is spoken by many here. This course is a great start, but it is just a start. I plan to continue with other courses recommended by other reviewers. I spend a lot of time driving, so I intended to listen to the CDs on the road. I did that, but I also listened at home using the method recommended by Michel Thomas. I cannot overemphasize la importancia of pausing the CDs and formulating your own answers before listening to the students' answers. This is crucial to learning. I also typed out the words, phrases and sentences because visualizing the material helps me retain it. My biggest criticism of the course is (you guessed it!!) the male student. He is a complete idiot. His pronunciation of Spanish words es muy terrible throughout the entire course. It is downright painful listening to this dimwit stumble through the course. He is a distraction to the learning process, and Michel Thomas should have realized this and replaced him with another student. Mr. Thomas, re-record this excellent course with a different male student and I will give you five stars instead of four.
Rating:
Summary: Best foreign language confidence booster!
Review: As a homeschooling parent, I was thrilled to find and use this program with my 12yo daughter. I do speak Spanish (not really fluently) so of course this was a snap for me, but I was amazed to see how quickly my daughter caught on. Even after a 3 month break, she remembered everything perfectly! There are 2 students that Michel Thomas teaches on these CDs, a good American female, and a not-so-good British male. (Okay, he's horrible, actually!) So as a student you tend to fall somewhere in between these 2 and I think it's a good strategy. Some reviewers have stated how distracting the male student can be... well, my daughter and I think he's a total hoot and we're often rolling on the floor at his pronunciations. Very entertaining! Do you learn Spanish with this program? Absolutely, yes, and it's worth every penny! You will be conversing - and retaining - Spanish in no time. (Though you will need to continue onto another program for further advancement. We chose Margarita Madrigal's "Magic Key to Spanish" and my daughter is enjoying her studies very much.)
Rating:
Summary: Great course for the beginner
Review: Michel Thomas's, the Pimsleur series, and the Barron's version of the Foreign Service Institute course are the three top-selling courses on Spanish, and I did extensive research on the various high end courses before buying his. I don't have the Pimsleur one but I did buy the U.S. Foreign Service Insitute course in addition to Thomas's, and so I thought I'd make a few comments by way of comparing them in case you find them useful in choosing the right course for you. I have to say Thomas is a gifted teacher and he has a very interesting approach requiring no notes or rote memorization. He also stresses the importance of a natural, stress-free learning environment. Thomas is a savvy guy here as this is probably one of the major stumbling blocks for the new language learner, and so he puts the student at ease right from the very beginning--a nice touch there and I give him points for that. The second cornerstone to Thomas's method is the simulated classroom environment where you work along with two other people in the class, a man and a woman. The third, and perhaps most important aspect of Thomas's course is his memorization and note-free system of learning. Thomas starts with very simple sentences and builds up from there so the student acquires the syntax almost intuitively as he goes along. Thomas also discusses differences in pronunciation as he goes, too. You build vocabulary as you go along also, with Thomas empasizing cognates or words that are almost identical in the two languages initially. Overall, Thomas has done a very nice job here and I can see why people like Woody Allen and others say that his course is the only one that's ever worked for them. The Foreign Service Institute course is more traditional but also very good, and I like it, too. The audio tapes present the sentences and conversations while you follow along with the manual/workbook, which provides the translations. The workbook is very extensive and also has a more detailed discussion of the grammar than you'll get with either the Thomas or Pimsleur courses. There is an advantage to this since, although I think Thomas's method is probably fine for teaching the basic verb conjugations, such as present, past, and future, you're really not going to get a good idea of how the several subjective moods work in Spanish without some systematic study of the grammar there. English has the subjunctive, but it's practical a vestigial construction, but Spanish has it in spades and is a very active part of the language. On a side note, it would be interesting to see how Thomas's approach would work for a language with much simpler grammar than Spanish or French, such as Turkish or Japanese. Turkish has the wonderful distinction of being one of the few languages with no irregular verbs, and Japanese only has two. So at least as far as the verbal systems are concerned, they are much less complex than your typical European language, and the Indo-European languages in general. There are a few other more technical aspects to the two languages, of course, such as the case system in Turkish (which Japanese doesn't have), but verb conjugations are usually the most difficult aspects of the languages in most of the popular European ones because of all the irregular forms. And Spanish has at least 22 common verbs that are irregular in at least the present indicative tense, and many are irregular in several other ways. One other thing the Institute course does is to provide substitution drill sections where you're required to substitute a particular word, and then give the sentence, with any needed changes. This is useful for practicing the verb conjugations and other things. I have a pretty strong background in grammar and linguistics in general so I don't mind slogging through dry discussions of grammar too much, but if you're not someone who enjoys that sort of thing, Thomas's approach may be the one for you. Overall, this is an excellent course from a talented teacher with a unique approach to language learning.
Rating:
Summary: Best high-end audio Spanish program on the market
Review: I purchased the introductory 2 CD set of this program after trying several others (Pimsleur, Learn Spanish in your car, etc etc...) I had been so disappointed in previous programs, but I decided to try this one. WOW! I finished the first 2 CDs, gave them to a friend, and went out and bought the full 8 CD program. One might be hesitant to learn Spanish from a native German-speaker with an obvious German accent. DON'T BE! His teaching methods are amazingly easy to follow. I had a basic understanding of Spanish verb conjugation and vocabulary from high school Spanish. My husband had NO background in Spanish at all. We listened together in the car, and after the first CD were constructing basic sentences, and understanding basic conversation on the Spanish radio station! Other reviews have valid points about the male student. It is quite obvious he is trying to sound stupid. Nobody could be THAT slow! The female is fine. It took me a bit of time to get used to Michel Thomas' salivary speech. It actually sounds like he is eating his lunch on the second CD. But this program is SO GOOD, that even I, who have an aversion to loud chewing sounds, could overlook it. I highly recommend this program to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Best and Easiest Method around
Review: The language learning system that Michel Thomas has put together is perhaps one of the easiest methods to learn a foreign language. Not quite as easy as one would be lead to believe from the cover, it is still one of the easiest methods I have ever had the pleasure of using. And pleasure is the operative word, just listening to the CDs is all that is required. No note taking, no study of vocabulary lists, nothing in the mode of traditional language learning. Instead of going straight through the complete system I listened to each CD twice before going on to the next one. The end result was that I could watch the Spanish channels and understand what is going on. After finishing six of the eight CDs I was at a local tourist attraction with a friend who had just completed a thirteen week course at a local college. A Latin woman approached us seeking help and he was totally useless while I was able to work through her conversation and provide her the answers that she needed. How long did it take? I just listened to it in my car instead of the stereo for two weeks. Will you be totally conversant after completing the course? No. But you will have a good strong background in basic conversational Spanish and be able to carry on basic conversations with others. The best way to learn conversational Spanish on the market today.
Rating:
Summary: Great Learning Experience......However.......
Review: I cannot express how easy it was to pick up basic conversational abilities using this language program. This is by far the easiest method of learning the Spanish language I have ever tried. Mr. Thomas' method of teaching languages is second to none. There is one thing that should be changed. The male student MUST go! His repeated mispronunciations and general mistakes make the program almost not worth it at times. If you are stuck in traffic, the male student is guaranteed to annoy the most patient of listeners. Other than the above listed complaint, the program really is excellent. I only wish an intermediate and advanced course were available.
Rating:
Summary: Just as Advertised
Review: I am absolutely thrilled to have attained such a vocabulary in Spanish after just completing Discs 1 & 2 of this eight disc set. The way Mr. Thomas utilizes his classroom students is a marvelous approach. The no books, no paper, no memorizing add is for real. I let my two sons check it out. Both take Spanish II in school and they were also impressed and amused by the learning technique. Certainly worth the time and money.
Rating: 
Summary: decent
Review: There's been a lot of talk in the reviews about the male in the recordings. Frankly I didn't find him that very annoying. He doesn't pronounce some of the accents (like 'r' for example) as well as the girl. And, he does seem a tad slower than the girl too. But that's the way the recording is supposed to be - two novices slugging it out on the material with no prior orchestration. It didn't distract me. In fact I could identify with the learning process happening. Au Contraire - when I first started the recording I found the salivary voice of Michel Thomas more bothersome. Eventually though I got used to ignoring it. The learning material itself seems educatedly organized - not a random haphazard exercise. I have finished the introductory 2 CDs and like it thus far. Ofcourse, any course can only guide and me thinks in that sense no particular course can be complete in itself. One feels the same when thru this one. Need to go talk to native speakers and consolidate!
Rating:
Summary: Really easy method
Review: After growing up in the Southwest and 4 years of highschool Spanish, I decided to brush up on Spanish. I had used the French CD set quite successfully and thought I'd breeze through this set. For the most part, I did as I remembered a lot more than I thought I did. The easy method of learning is the same, but I have to agree with some of the other reviewers here about the male speaker whose voice sounds very much like the "better" French speaker. I found him totally distracting and much of the time lost the flow of what was supposed to be said because of his attempts. For me too, the pronouncation was a little different than what I had been taught and what I had heard all my life, but that may be the difference between Spanish Spanish and Mexican Spanish, like American English and English English. All that said, it's still the most excellent way of learning a language quickly for immediate use I've ever run across. Would highly recommend any of Michel's CD sets!
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