Behind the Wheel - Spanish 1 Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B001G8MA2G | Format: EPUB
Behind the Wheel - Spanish 1 Description
Behind the Wheel - Spanish Level 1 covers beginner to intermediate level Spanish, providing a flexible, solid, and universal foundation in speaking, understanding, and creatively expressing yourself in Spanish. The program features an English-speaking instructor to guide you through the lessons and two native Latin American Spanish-speakers to aid with your pronunciation.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 9 hours and 53 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: September 15, 2008
- Language: English
- ASIN: B001G8MA2G
If, like me, you took Spanish many years ago, wish to relearn it, and have time to devote to it in the car, this product is wonderful. I could not be more pleased that I purchased it, but I did want to review it because I think how perfect it will be for you depends on your needs and expectations.
1. I do find this most useful in the car but less so around the house. I tried using it while I cooked but found I ended up just mindlessly repeating what the speaker was saying without thinking about the words being woven together. My mind was on cooking, not on learning Spanish. It's probably why this is called "Behind the Wheel Spanish" and not "Over the Stove Spanish!"
2. If you've previously studied Spanish in written form - even if it was years ago - I think you'll love these CDs. The course dives right into conversational Spanish, and as the speakers introduce Spanish words, I so clearly "see" the words in my mind and have been delighted to find that I even recall some words before the speaker pronounces them, but I know this only happens compliments of the high school Spanish I learned years ago.
3. If this is your first exposure to Spanish, I think the course will probably still be great, but I think you'll have to hit the accompanying book first. The CDs dive right in and do NOT teach the Spanish alphabet or letter sounds, but they are covered in the accompanying book. There's also a transcript of the CDs at the back of the book, too. Boring, right? NO - fabulous! You can go there and see exactly what the sentences look like in Spanish.
4. The native speakers are terrific, especially Luis. Just the right amount of pause is given for you to practice pronunciations.
Knowing that I wouldn't really have time to sit down and study Spanish at home or on the computer, I was looking for a CD-base program that could make my learning largely happen during my commutes.
I made it through the first 6 CDs before I left for Costa Rica. Ok, I did survive there, and was even identified by locals as the translator on our serving team, but little thanks to this CD program (the pocket dictionary with concise grammar section had a lot more to do with that success!)...
These CDs may work for somebody like me who has already learned a language before and knows how to apply the concepts learned before to the bits and pieces that this program throws at you - but I pity the learner who does not have that prerequisite knowledge.
The program is thoroughly disorganized and jumps around like crazy, rather than teaching a concept sufficiently before moving on to the next.
There are lots of times when just the words are thrown at you without the concept being explained, other times when a concept is explained without examples given to practice the concept.
The learning is very fractured, just for the sake of avoiding to admit that conjugations exist.
Basically all you do is memorize words, without being pointed in the right direction for how to apply what you're learning to other words or sentences.
The only reason I am giving this program 2 stars instead of 1 is because of the extremely useful very first section, which introduces the phrases "I want...", "I have to...", "I like...". That was awesome, but afterwards it really went downhill in usefulness.
The accompanying book is even worse.
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