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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 |  | |
| Malpheus Newbie United States Joined 7207 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes | Message 17 of 193 05 March 2005 at 4:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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From the platiquemos web-site...
----------------------------------- Please Read: Learning Spanish like Crazy. (Perhaps a more appropriate title than the author might have intended.) Recently there has been a spate of "reviews" in Amazon.com of Platiquemos, Pimsleur, Barron's Mastering Spanish, and others. While ostensibly written by different people, they have some interesting similarities. They all claim to have bought and used all or most of the other programs without much success, until they discovered the miracle of "Learning Spanish Like Crazy". Unfortunately, at least in the case of Platiquemos, internal evidence shows that the "reviewers" not only haven't used Platiquemos, they are totally unfamiliar with its contents. For example, they criticize Platiquemos for archaic military terminology which is NOT in Platiquemos. I have read the website of the person behind "LSLC", he claims to be a perpetual student of Spanish who has finally discovered the secret. I am, unfortunately, not a perpetual student of Spanish--Spanish was my fifth foreign language at the US Government 3 or ACTFL "superior" level. It would be interesting to compare his proficiency in Spanish with mine, although I doubt the opportunity will be forthcoming. As far as I can figure out, "LSLC" is selling the FSI "Programmatic Spanish" (Platiquemos is based on FSI's Basic Course in Spanish). Despite its doubtless many virtues, most of my colleagues in the Foreign Service didn't like the Programmatic version, which among other things is about half as complete as the Basic Course. While I can't be certain without having examined it, LSLC has the distinct smell of a scam to me. I didn't enjoy writing this brief screed, but given the concerted attack of "Learning Spanish Like Crazy", and the fact that they don't sell through Amazon which would provide a different means of response, this seemed the only way to speak some truths. Most of you don't know me, but before being a Foreign Service officer I was a paratrooper. I have still not lost the compulsion to fight back when attacked. Finally, my usual caveat. The foregoing represents my honest opinion, but that doesn't mean I might not be wrong. You'll have to judge for yourselves. ---------------------------------------------- 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| NYC_Trini_Span Diglot Groupie United States Joined 7226 days ago 60 posts - 66 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 18 of 193 09 March 2005 at 11:20am | IP Logged | ||
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Wow- when i started this it took so long to see a post that i gave up- i will add to some of this now that i've had the pragram for a month.
The reason i personally like LSLC over Pimsleur: The informal language. I too thought the reviews were a little far fetched but they aren't lying. Once they run the usted form of the phrase/words, they keep it to the informal the rest of the way. Only one lesson so far dod the usted forms the whole way through. When i was speaking the Pimsluer stuff the respnses i got werent the same. Not saying that it couldnt have been a coincidence but latin speakers hear me and rattle off way more than i really know, and when i tell them i am just studying they say "well, very nice accent, i thought you knew more" Now- on to my LSLC complaints- and i do have some- sometimes the audio cuts short on a word. I have seen this effect on speaker phones, where it seems as if the mic stays off until you talk, and it ends up cutting words on the ends or beginnings. For example, if you said a word like "lunes" but didnt make sure to pronounce the last S clearly- it may sound like "lune" on 3 or 4 times out of the dozen times they utter the word. But really that isnt as bad as it sounds, especially since they sent me all the transcripts. My other complaint was the amount of time it took to geet to the greetings. I learned how to tell some i drive, walk, work, etc. before i learned to say hi or my name is (which came at like the 9th or 10th lesson) but the things they did include taught me how to conjugate better than any school or Pimsleur that i did. I can now see a word i never knew like Hacer and know how and when to turn it into Haciendo, or that iendo even means -ing in elish (hacer= to do/ haciendo= doing) I too rmemmber the old $97 price but my skeptical nature made me hold off until i had to pay the damn $347, but i got a *small dicount becuae i corresponded with them when it was still $97. To be honest i tried the FSI and was a bit confused, but i am awaiting them to send me the FAST and i will review that. (they had to re-press the CD's so i only have LSLC and FSI One so far) I wont say the course is perfect at all or even complete- but its the difference between saying Encantado or Mucho Gusto (No one liked to say encantado with me, but i use Mucho gusto everyday). To sum it up it a good (cheaper) Pimsluer knoock off that throws you more words, speaks less english in every lesson, and will get you by in NYC spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7208 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 19 of 193 12 March 2005 at 11:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Part of the LSLC difference is focusing on the informal
"tu", rather than "usted". When I bought the course I didn't understand regional variations in the use of tu versus usted as much as I do today. I have an informal lunch meeting with other learners of Spanish once a week. One of the regulars is from Columbia. As I understand it, Columbians tend to be quite formal. For instance, she taught her sons whom she only speaks to in Spanish to address each other as "seņor firstname" (they're brothers). Another fellow whose wife is Costa Rican told the story of the faux pas he made in addressing his Mother-in-Law as "tu". Costa Rica tends towards formal usage as well. Another man who was born in Cuba explained that in the Caribean (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Domincan Republic), usage tends to be much more informal. He explained that in general, depending on where migrants came from would affect whether "tu" or "usted" usage is more common. For instance, Miami, Florida has a large population from Cuba, so usage would tend to be more informal. New York City has a large Puerto Rican and Dominican Republic community, and would also tend towards less formalism. Atlanta Georgia on the other hand has more people from Mexico and South America, so formalism is the norm. We've probably all heard it's safe to be overly formal, and the other person will bring up "switching to tu" if they want to lower the walls. I mention this because the LSLC web site gave me the impression that being overly formal could be the root of not connecting with native Spanish speakers. There may be some truth to that in NYC, which is where the course's creator lives. There are plenty of other reasons why people don't connect though. Edited by luke on 12 March 2005 at 11:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7208 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 20 of 193 12 March 2005 at 11:32am | IP Logged | ||
I hope you enjoy your trip to the DR! The FSI Basic course says "encantado" is like "enchanted" and may have flirtish overtones. They recommend that neither men nor women use "encantado" on men. Edited by luke on 12 March 2005 at 11:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jpking173 Newbie Joined 7197 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 21 of 193 15 March 2005 at 6:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just wanted to share my experience with LearningSpanishLikeCrazy.com. I am applying to the Peace Corp and decided to brush up on my spanish, something I haven't used since college. I e-mailed the support with a question about their product and here is the reply I got.
"Hi. I don't know your concerns. What are your concerns??? Patrick At 10:42 AM 3/8/2005, Saul wrote: >Patrick > >He wants the blessing from the pope > >Delivered-To: learninglikecrazy.com-support@learninglikecrazy.com >Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys >DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; > s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; >b=Ei6mmNwlkyPa3i5Qbd/pPnDQaNn0Obq73KYWUUv7YdZqD31HhCIgGh zeWVpW554qDGOi33VkLg73y7a4TrVhXALaLX9N4IJBwl7poMIuMrgvVs4bWH vPaBoQk6zDZen7hSGD1Zx3b7HYXVeMssn0oZalI1WcwsZEcL4wtFJHXnE= >; >Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 19:27:53 -0800 (PST) >From: John King <jpking173@yahoo.com> >Subject: Questions before buying >To: support@learninglikecrazy.com > >Hello, >The sales pitch is good for this product but I haven't found any >independent reviews. Yes, I saw it mentioned on amazon.com but I am >skeptical of those mentions. I did see the Money Back guarantee, but >again I am skeptical. Can you help me to feel confident purchasing your >product. > >Thank you, > >A potential future consumer > I guess I'll let you all take what you will from this. As a Catholic I was bothered by the language. Thanks for your time 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 22 of 193 16 March 2005 at 1:03am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi jpking173.
Looking objectively at the email message that you posted, I can see where you would be a little turned off. It looks like they might need some customer relationship training at LSLC. It appears as though the original recipient of your inquiry forwarded the message to his boss for a more authoritative reply. Thus the pope reference, which was probably supposed to be edited out instead of forwarded along to you. On the other hand, that was an extremely open-ended question that you asked. I can see where the boss might have been a little confused. Still, he didn't try very hard. Maybe they're very busy at LSLC. In the end, you came to the right place. There are several seemingly objective reviews of LSLC right here in this topic. And if you're still bothered by the customer service shortcomings of LSLC, there are other Spanish language programs that work just fine. Thanks for letting us know about your adventure with the LSLC customer service staff. Edited by heartburn on 16 March 2005 at 1:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Eric Senior Member Australia Joined 7231 days ago 102 posts - 105 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 23 of 193 16 March 2005 at 1:09am | IP Logged | ||
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The site looks unprofessional, I'm not saying his program doesn't work, I'm just saying it looks unprofessional.
I also wonder why he got upset about a couple of women laughing at him at the movie theatre when he said "Yo hablo Castellano", that doesn't mean your language is bad, I could walk up to a couple of women tomorrow and in English say something 'hip' and still get laughed at. Technically what he said was right, what if the movie theatre had of been in Barcelona? Or Bilbao? Or Galacia? etc etc. It sounds like a very self-centred P.O.V which sad to say some Americans have. I think the author should rearrange his site to say simply why he's teaching informal spanish rather than try to use the stories he's using. Edited by Malcolm on 22 March 2005 at 3:46pm 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 24 of 193 16 March 2005 at 2:12am | IP Logged | ||
1 person has voted this message useful |
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