Talking Brazilian: A Brazilian Portugese Pronunciation Workbook

Rating:
Summary: Horrible CDs
Review: The CDs that come with the book are horrible. Each lesson starts with up to 40 seconds of guitar music. Each time you want to review the lesson (which is the whole point of having the CDs), you have to listen to the stupid guitar music. Again and again and again.

Next, each track starts with an annoying woman commanding you to "Listen!" That gets real old real fast. What else would you do BUT listen? Between the idiot music and the annoying woman, you want to toss the CDs into the trash. And yet without the CDs the book is almost worthless.

The only way to fix this problem is to spend yet another $30 on audio editing software, and remove the useless and annoying junk from every track, and burn new actually useful CDs.

Why the author thought that we are all MTV-generation morons, who needed to be "entertained," instead of educated, is a mystery. Thus, instead of a $45 book, you really have to pay $75, if you want a useful product.

Rating:
Summary: Top quality
Review: There is one problem with this book: the price. I don't own it, but I used it last summer while studying Brazil. One of my teacher's had a copy and it is excellent. It's very clear and my Portuguese pronunciation is so much better thanks to this book. You could not ask for a better guide, a cheaper one, yes, but a better one, no. If it comes down in price, I will surely be purchasing a copy.