Rating: 
Summary: Michel is great...BUT...
Review: Michel Thomas is an excellent teacher, and I really enjoy his style and his approach to teaching Spanish. It is helping me to learn Spanish, no question about it.BUT, The male on the CDs is INCREDIBLY annoying, often unintelligible, obviously can't even speak English well. He is just incompetent. Just in the first 2 CDs, he gets the same words wrong literally probably over 50 times. You can tell that Michel is getting frustrated with him, and he has to keep correcting him. Does that correcting help me learn? No...anyone with half a brain will soon be able to stop making the mistakes this man makes over and over again. It becomes so annoying that I am writing the company and complaining, again, even though Michel is great...the male student REALLY detracts from the program. Because of him, I don't want to listen to the CDs, but I'm forcing myself. This student apparently isn't an English-native speaker, and his constant mis-pronunciation of words, his stammering, his inability to learn, is incredibly annoying. Regardless of what the other reviews say, you WILL be annoyed with this guy, I guarantee it. Michele has repeated himself over 50 times just trying to get him to put the accent on the right place--on the SAME words over and over again!!! They should have re-recorded it with a student who could speak. The woman student is great...no problem. Michele will have each student alternate the speaking roles...whenever it is the male's turn, I just cringe, because I know he's going to get it so wrong, and be so annoying that I really don't want to hear it. So, unfortunately, I'd say that I'd keep looking for another program, due to the outrageously annoying, distracting guy on these CDs. I'm praying they release a new set with a new male student. In the mean time, keep looking...
Rating: 
Summary: Simple but clever teaching method
Review: This instruction method is very simple, just listening to Mr. Thomas teach 2 students, but it is very clever as well. I think both students did have a bit of Spanish background before they began despite the claim otherwise. I had 3 years of high school Spanish about 20 years ago and this CD course is far more efficient and effective than those 3 years. I'm not sure how difficult this course would be without my background however. But, the following are the points I especially like of the course: 1) Accenting and pronounciation (some of which was new to me) is largely emphasized, so that you avoid speaking like a Gringo as may be case with typical school lessons, 2) Clever methods are given for recalling critical grammar rules, and 3) Rather than emphasize memorization of dozens and dozens of verb conjugations and vocabulary, Mr. Thomas emphasizes structure, accenting, and even how to determine vocabulary on your own based on common word translation methods from English to Spanish. Basically, he gives you the knowledge to communicate respectably. Becoming fluent and learning the vast vocabulary probably cannot be done without being immersed in a Spanish-speaking community. But, this course gives an excellent start.
Rating:
Summary: Everything Your High School Spanish Wasn't
Review: I purchased Spanish by Michel Thomas' 2 cd set(I recommend going for the 8 cd set from the start) in preparation for a trip to Spain dubiously hoping it would help jump start a review of basic, working Spanish. Several pc based "learn Spanish" programs had been just awful for me. Thomas' "sit back and listen" approach sounded appealing since it would also allow me to use time spent in the car.
It has been excellent. Thomas'teaches us through two students, a young woman and man, in a slow, steady,logical process. Some have commented that his students, the man in particular, were annoying. To the contrary, I found the interaction between Thomas and his error, prone students very helpful. Their errors help Thomas' drive home important distinctions in grammar and pronunciation in a way that would not be possible just reading a book. He slowly builds a foundation from one lesson to the next while constantly referring to and reinforcing earlier lessons.
I now feel I have built a solid foundation that can easily grow beyond mispronounced, broken, tourist Spanish.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Teaching Method! Thank you Mr. Thomas
Review: I have been browsing all around Amazon.com for a spanish language course to brush up on my skills. After reviewing the several courses available, I stumbled upon the Michel Thomas language course. I was most impressed with the reviews and decided to buy the 8 CD set. It's true that once you listen to the lessons you're able to retain most of the information learned. I love the idea that Mr. Thomas stresses relaxation and non-memorization. It definitely takes away a lot of the pressures and anxieties off the student to make the learning experience more pleasurable and rewarding. I was not annoyed at all by the male student as in some of the previous reviews. He was very helpful to me because I could relate to some of his mistakes. I give Mr. Michel an A++ because I really enjoy studying with him and I can't wait to buy the french 8 Cd set.
Rating:
Summary: A huge boost to my learning curve
Review: Put very simply, I believe the 8-cd series was the best preparation I could have had. It was far more helpful than the coaching I received from people who spoke Spanish. Having had no Spanish - not a word in my life - I traveled to Costa Rica on relatively short notice, only working through the cds one time in about a week (didn't even have time for the last one) and immersed myself in Spanish for five weeks. As I progressed to conversational levels of speaking, I found myself blessing Michel over and over again. I probably learned twice as fast as I otherwise would have.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent start to learning spanish!
Review: I am half way through this set up CD's, and I am very impressed. I would highly reccomend this to anyone who is just starting out in the spanish language or looking for a review of the spanish they learned years ago. I took 3 years of spanish in high school about 10 years ago and learned very little. I feel as if I have learned more in the first 4 cd's than I did in my entire 3 years of high school spanish. This CD definetly gives you a great start in the spanish language.
Why not 5 stars? Yes the male student is a bit annoying. There is a little too much time spent on pronuciation, and not enough spent on expanding your vocabulary. I also think there should be some work on comprehension. I hope that Michel Thomas does some follow-on lessons to this one, if so I will be the first in line to buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Habla espanol pronto!
Review: An fun and easy way to learn Spanish. I'm using my commute time to learn this language. Even though I'm a visual learner, I've been able to use this method and highly recommend it. After only the first CD I was able to speak under understand a few simple phrases.
Rating:
Summary: I didn't know it could be this easy
Review: Having been through the Pimsleur French level one course, I thought I had found Mecca--but at 250 bucks a level...yikes! Then I stumbled onto Michel Thomas' course. I bought the Spanish--a language I have absolutely no knowledge of, and I have to say that I like it much better than Pimsleur, and the price is right! The only downside is the male student. I didn't mind him at first, because I was stumbling along with him, but as the course progressed, I got better and he didn't. At the very least, his stumbling should have been edited out, and just leave us with his final, correct sentences in tact. I would love to take the French and Italian as well. I hope they found a different pupil for those courses! Now if he would only do a Japanese course...
Rating:
Summary: An excellent clear course
Review: This is by no means a perfect course, but it is very effective. My wife, who speaks Spanish fluently, points out that it's a very good course if you want to speak Spanish like a Swiss, and there's truth to that. Mr. Thomas's pronunciation is quite stilted, even to the untutored ear. (And oh yes, that male student is a bummer!) But having said that, the course is amazingly effective. I've made many attempts to learn Spanish in the past, but this is the first one that kept me going and got me excited. My suggestion is to take this course first, then take one that has tapes recorded by Spaniards. Use Mr. Thomas for the learning technique, and use another course (like Linguaphone or The Learning Company) for the native pronunciation. But I still give this five stars.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Language Course I've Experienced
Review: I took two years of Spanish in college, and living in Texas, I am exposed daily to a certain amount of Spanish. But I am planning a trip to Mexico next month and needed a brush-up. I looked at a number of products available on Amazon and selected the Michel Thomas CD's. Some years ago I had used a Pimsleur tape course with little success. This course is a real breakthrough. From the very first segment, all pressure is lifted with a stress on relaxed learning. The CD format easily allows you to play the individual five-to-six minute segments as often as you wish. You learn along with two other students on the CD. In several reviews, people have mentioned the male student negatively. I did not experience his miscues in the same way. All words and phrases are repeated until correct. I found it comforting that one of the students was progessing more slowly, especially given my ability to repeat and review the tracks. The Michel Thomas concept is based on stringing words together quickly into meaningful conversational phrases. After the first lessons you will be putting things together. There is no magic bullet for quickly, painlessly learning a foreign language, but the Thomas method, for me at least, really is something to rave about. This is a system that you can use for 15 minutes a night and feel very real progress. Next, I will buy the 8 CD French course.
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