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LearningSpanishLikeCrazy (LSLC) w/ FSI | ||
Tags: Fake Reviews | LSLC | Platiquemos | Pimsleur | Reading | FSI | Book | Grammar | English | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Platiquemos Hexaglot Language Program Publisher Senior Member Panama platiquemos-letstalk Joined 7165 days ago 126 posts - 141 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish | Message 89 of 193 29 April 2005 at 11:58am | IP Logged | ||
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Ratcatcher (I mean heartburn)--(I hope my levity doesn't offend Francois, but us gringos, especially of the Confederate persuasion, can't help throwing in a quip or two--it's our culture! And all cultures are to be respected (I think that's an official EU policy).
At least he didin't call you a liar, just outrageous. Now if I can bait him into calling me an outrageous liar, I'll have you outranked! After reading Mr J the bigshot lawyer's missive above I did a little counting. (the names aren't complete, but should be identifiable from your post) Karen Dallas; 10 reviews, 7 with Crazy; Mr. R, 6 reviews, 4 with Crazy; Goldberg 1 and 1; Tommy 2 of 3; Donald the Reader 2 of 4. I think that's enough to prove a point. Your mention of Stacey got me to look at her reviews of her own products which had apparently been the subject of the same tactic as mine and others. Stacey (Tipton) is a friend/acquaintance. She doesn't claim her products are complete Spanish learning programs. As a matter of fact, she is a reseller of Platiquemos and I think is working on trying to sell ipods with Platiquemos pre-loaded. Multilingual Books, Platiquemos's distributor, offers Stacey's Musical Spanish as a premium with multi-level purchases of Platiquemos in hard copy. I also wonder when PJ will sue Amazon for removing reviews favorable to this product for absolutely no reason! Perhaps we shouldn't be too hard on Patrick. He's probably a victim of his culture just as I am of mine. It's just that us rednecks stab from the front. (Please, Francois and Malcolm, cut me some slack here.) Edited by administrator on 29 April 2005 at 5:00pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7224 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 90 of 193 29 April 2005 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am not sure of the rest of the world but North American marketing a lot of it is controversy sells and any publicity is good publicity. Apparently LSLC runs on the excessively aggressive marketing.
I am sure LSLC has its' strengths but to say it is the best with no back up on studies and unbiased reviews is questionable. Time will tell. Who knows I might buy it in the future it is a possibility but 95+% probabability that I won't. Personal opinion if it works use it. I personally will stick with the ones that have a proven track record. The tried and true Pimsleur and FSI courses that includes Platiquemos. This is why I find this forum commendable for the invaluable information. Ignorance is not bliss when time, money and energy is wasted. Edited by alang on 29 April 2005 at 4:08pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7318 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 91 of 193 29 April 2005 at 12:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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I visited the links that Heartburn posted and I think they speak for themselves. What makes it really obvious is that all the supposedly real reviewers only wrote their reviews between September 2004 and October 2004, with a few reviews occurring in November 2004. How could all these supposedly different people have written reviews in the same short time period, with nothing occurring before or after?
Mr. Jackson mentioned that the reviewers on Amazon reviewed other products as well. This is true. However, all the non-Spanish reviews also occurred within the same short time period. I saw reviews of some books related to business and law(!), as well as a few movies. Check out the following: Two non-LSLC reviews from This Reviewer, whose reviews seem to have vanished. Reviews Written by Learning-Spanish Fiend "Learning-Spanish Fiend" (D.C.) The Nevada Corporation Handbook by Derek G. Rowley Informative and user-friendly , October 5, 2004 This book, apparently written for lawyers, simplifies and clarifies legal terms so that even a lay-person can understand. If you have a Nevada corp, you will want to read this. And if you are thinking about starting a corp in Nevada, you will still want to read this book. Bulletproof Asset Protection by William S. Reed A Must Read in this Litigation Driven Society , October 5, 2004 We live in a society that encourages people to sue for virtually everything. If you have any assets or if you think that you will be coming into anything of value. I strongly encourage you to read this book. It covers topics that even my attorney did not about. For example, how favorable the State of Nevada is to shareholders of corporations. As opposed to a state such as Delaware that favors the corporation's management. And another one by: Reviewer "Tommy" (Long Beach, CA) Starting an eBay Business for Dummies The Only Book You'll Ever Need To Start an Ebay Biz, October 9, 2004 This is a very comprehensive book that covers everything that you will ever need to know to start your own business on Ebay. She even covers how to set up your company as a legal entity. I'd also like to add that only about 25% of the reviews from the LSLC reviewers do not mention Learning Spanish Like Crazy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7210 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 92 of 193 29 April 2005 at 12:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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mtwalker & Malcom, great observation on the dates! Would you say my count is accurate? Edited by heartburn on 29 April 2005 at 1:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7210 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 93 of 193 29 April 2005 at 11:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I did a recount. It turns out that I'm also somewhat numerically challenged. I missed one. Red Dog had three, not two. So that's a total of 56, not 55.
I should point out that I'm being extremely generous here. I've only included the exact phrase "Learning Spanish Like Crazy" with or without spaces. I'm not counting multiple mentions within a review, and I'm not even counting mentions that are very close, like this one
And remember, those are just the ones that I found. There may be some that I didn't find. I also noticed that google has begun caching the new empty pages, overwriting the cached pages that I posted here. This is unfortunate, but I knew it would happen. So, I saved all of the cached pages and created a little website of all of them along with the complete text of this thread. I'm very tempted to host it on the web. In any case, it makes a great souvenir! Edited by heartburn on 30 April 2005 at 12:11am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7210 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 94 of 193 29 April 2005 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here's eight more, just to show that there are more. El Hombre Caliente "FM" (Philly, PA), and Googlized. That makes 64. Edited by heartburn on 29 April 2005 at 11:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7210 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 95 of 193 30 April 2005 at 12:22am | IP Logged | ||
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So far, we have 64 reviews that plug LearningSpanishLikeCrazy. Nearly all of them are mild to raving, except for those on the Platiquemos and Pimsleur product pages, arguably LearningSpanishLikeCrazy's two biggest competitors. And almost all were written within a two month period.
I wonder if there's any relationship between the reviewers and Mr. Jackson. Edited by heartburn on 30 April 2005 at 12:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7318 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 96 of 193 30 April 2005 at 12:37am | IP Logged | ||
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Heartburn: Nice detective work. Your count seems a little lower than I expected, but I'm sure it's accurate as a minimum. Right now I'd be happy to drop the whole amazon thing and just focus this thread on the actual product. I think we've made our point, so there's no need to rub it in further. Of course, I won't censer your posts if you want to continue.
Does anyone know how far LSLC goes in terms of vocabulary and grammar? How about total hours of audio? Edited by Malcolm on 30 April 2005 at 12:41am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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