Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This did not add to my knowledge of Spanish, (and I don't know that much), 19 Jun 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This package comes in 3 out of 4 parts; 2 CDs, 1 book with the 4th part being accessed via the Internet.
CD1 entitled "Use me with the book" - containing 99 tracks, based on the 10 sections in the book.
CD2 entitled "Listen to me anywhere" - containing 73 tracks, again based on the book.
1 multi-coloured book
(The book contains the website address).
Those are the physical properties, now for the product itself; first I have to disagree with the previous 4 + 5 star reviews - this is NOT a 'language' learning package, it's a 'noun' learning one.
I started off with CD2 as it says it can be listened to anytime, independently from the book so I popped it in the car and listened while I drove to work and discovered that claim is nonsense. If you're new to Spanish and haven't already used the book, this CD won't help much as it primarily provides lists of nouns in Spanish without giving their English equivalents. It gives little in the way of explanations so I thought that information must be stored on CD1.
After a few days I tried CD1, and found it gives even less information, but even more lists of nouns! (For clarity, that's the same nouns repeated, not lists of new nouns). This CD works ONLY in conjunction with the book. Even though there are 99 tracks here, they're not that great, e.g. some tracks are only 2 words long.
The book has 10 themed sections spread out over 208 multi-coloured pages with large colourful writing; this may well be a useful learning aid but it also helps to disguise the fact there's not a whole lot of information on each page. In all, it has the overall feel of an infant school book.
And this brings us to the crux, this course feels more about promoting Mind Maps (Trademarked by Tony Buzan, who claims he invented them but what he really invented was the name - now that's crafty marketing for you!). However, Mind Maps for me aren't the be all and end all of learning techniques - to be frank - I find Tony's style of Mind Map to be quite garish and so don't work so well for me as other less colourful, more simplified spider diagrams.
Nonetheless, I still hadn't tried out the internet link, which I thought was a neat twist to make the learning genuinely more interactive but sadly is was just more of the same; in digital instead of on paper.
It's a shame because this package seemed to offer something special but in the end it's not much better than a rehash of other, better done work by others.
This book gives no information on Tony's own language ability, which is interesting as I'd like to know how many languages he's managed to learn using his 'revolutionary technique'. I suspect not as many as he'd like us to believe. I also suspect Carmen Garcia del Rio, who's named briefly inside the book but not on either the book cover or outer box, is the real Spanish brains behind the text in this book.
I've given this 2 stars instead of 1 because it tries to be inventive with a multimedia approach.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Consider your learning style first, 9 Mar 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
My in-laws moved to Spain two years ago and since then it's been on my mind that I should learn the language. I finally signed up to a course and this language pack seemed a good tool to give me a bit of inside information and a head start before I started.
It's hard to review it fairly because it didn't take me long to realise that the style of learning is not for me. However, that is not to say that it won't work for an awful lot of people - I'm sure it will. So with that in mind, I will try and give a summary of the materials and the learning style, rather than how effective they were for me personally.
Firstly, the book... it's a nice 'handbag' size so good to take with you on the bus or train. It's bright, lots of pictures and not too much text being rammed down your throat. In short, it's very visual. I am not a 'visual' person when it comes to learning. For example, to remember 'Two = Dos' it suggests thinking of something like 'Two lazy boys dossing in a barn'. My addled brain can't take this and I get so caught up in trying to remember the image that I can't recall the Spanish word. So I find it much easier to just learn the word. That's something to be aware of. By the time I was only a few pages in, I was fed up of trying to think of little 'links' for every word and began just memorising the actual words instead.
It also suggests using mind maps. I am happy to use mind maps and often did when learning German. It does provide some mind maps online as well which is very useful. But again, the visual theme is very much in force here and I did not have the patience to be putting together maps with pictures of trains, buses and cars or tea, coffee and beer every few days. I usually ended up just writing the words to memorise and I suspect this is the missing the point!
However, it does include a nice range of vocabulary and exercises and it develops nicely as the 'course' progresses.
The book is also complimented by the CDs. There is one to use with the book for exercises and so on, therefore providing lots of audio to go with your visual cues. I was pleased with this as I find listening to a language extremely helpful. Even more of a bonus was a CD to listen to independently of the book. Again, this is great for public transport or in the car. From the point of view of developing listening skills and pronunciation, I will probably still continue to use this.
Finally there is the website, including a 'learning style' questionnaire (I'm not quite sure how accurate it is as it told me I would learn best with visual (?!) and auditory learning. There are downloads on the website and links but I did find it hard to navigate and did have pop up messages asking me to download add-ons so in the end I gave up.
I think for anyone who uses images, either on paper or imagined, to learn languages, this will be a really good tool. But if you prefer to do more written exercises or tests to help it sink in, I would recommend a different tool. I'll be recommending this to a friend who I know will find it a fun way to learn. But I'll only be using it for pronunication and listening practice myself.
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15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great way to learn a new language, 8 Mar 2008
I am already a fairly fluent Spanish speaker and run a Spanish club at my school. I have looked at this pack with a view to using it with some of the older girls (11-16 year olds) who are keen to learn. I have to say, what a fantastic introduction to a new language! It's attractively presented, colourful, bright and cheerful and the very presentation encourages you to want to learn!
On opening the box, you find there are 2 CDs - one to be used with the book, providing invaluable listening and converstaion practice; and the other to be used 'anywhere', helping with the trickier words and phrases and providing extra listening and conversation practice.
There is also a wonderfully colourful book, filled with hints and drawings to help us to learn a foreign language.
These include:
* mental images - to help you to remember tricky words and phrases - e.g. a cat - think of a cat sitting on a gateau - gato = cat! There are a great many of these scattered through the book.
* hints and useful tips to help you if you want to 'fit in'.
* tips - one very useful one is on page 27 of the book, and shows how to fix your learning into your long term memory by using the 'repeat and succeed' method.
* Mental gymnastic activities to help fix what you've learnt.
* Cartoon strip stories, putting the vocabulary into context.
* Quick puzzles and exercises to help you practice your new skills and new vocabulary.
In addition, there are Tony's wonderful mind maps. For anyone who has never previously encountered mind maps, these may look a little unusual - but they are being used more and more in teaching and in revision. Their bright, cheerful imagery helps to fix ideas and words into the long term memory.
Then there are the 2 CDs
The first CD is great - leading you straight into learning.
The 2nd CD has a longer introduction, which may appear tedious to some, but which contains some very useful hints; so I would encourage you to listen to it the first time you play the CD.
In addition, there is a link to a website which provides extra practise exercises and answers to the exercises in the book.
My only criticism with the pack is that the CDs would benefit from longer pauses to allow the learner to repeat the phrases and words that they have learnt - or to allow thinking time. This is the reason why I only gave it 4 stars rather than the full 5 - as it is really the only complaint I have with the whole pack!
Well worth a try if you want to learn some basic Spanish in preparation for your next holiday!
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