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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Keesjansma3 Newbie Netherlands Joined 5235 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 1 of 10 27 August 2010 at 6:28pm | IP Logged |
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I have a short, clear question.
If we take FSI and Platiquemos out of the equation, which Spanish course takes you the furthest? The above two are what I would call "complete courses". Are there any more? Edited by meramarina on 11 September 2010 at 8:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Faraday Senior Member United States Joined 6146 days ago 129 posts - 256 votes  Speaks: German* | Message 2 of 10 27 August 2010 at 7:20pm | IP Logged |
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Furthest in what - speaking, reading, writing, or aural comprehension? Or perhaps all of the above? I am currently working through Assimil's program in Spanish and like it a lot. I believe I will be more or less ready to start using native materials to further my Spanish when I finish the program. Edited by Faraday on 27 August 2010 at 7:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Keesjansma3 Newbie Netherlands Joined 5235 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 3 of 10 27 August 2010 at 7:44pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for your reply.
That´s good point you´re making. I would say all of the above but speaking and listening would be top priority. Assimil, I believe, focusses more on the Spanish from Spain. I want to learn Latin American Spanish. All those Vosotros verb conjugations could make things unnessarily more complicated. Therefore I´m looking for the most thorough course that is not FSI or Platiquemos. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hypersport Senior Member United States Joined 5909 days ago 216 posts - 307 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 10 28 August 2010 at 7:15am | IP Logged |
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Learning Spanish Like Crazy is Latin American Spanish.
The course is very good and covers a lot of ground. I recommend it just as high as FSI. I've done both several times. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5403 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 5 of 10 28 August 2010 at 1:58pm | IP Logged |
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I am more interested in Latin American Spanish than "Spain Spanish", but I am currently taking the Assimil route due to the fact that it seems to go further than any of the other courses. The two Assimil courses, if taken together, are quite comprehensive and go further than any other approach I looked at. Another option that would not be "Spain Spanish" would be the two levels of Living Language Ultimate which look like good programs. I don't know much about Linguaphone offerings, but many here seem to really like them and they have advanced courses as well.
Hypersport, you seem to know more about LSLC than anyone else so I am interested if you know anything about the new "Learn Conversational Spanish" being offered by LSLC. It appears to be somewhat of a copy of the Assimil approach, but in Latin American Spanish and without substantive content (other than the dialogues and translations). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hypersport Senior Member United States Joined 5909 days ago 216 posts - 307 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 10 28 August 2010 at 6:04pm | IP Logged |
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I don't have any experience with Learn Conversational Spanish but a guy who's opinion I respect does. This is what he had to say about it...
Just in case you don't know, this product is also produced by LSLC, and you can find it at Amazon. It has a total of 60 converstions, plus 4 bounus dialogs, and the corresponding transcripts for each dialog. The transcripts are in 3 PDF files, one containing dialogs 1-40, one with 41 - 60, and one for the bonus dialogs. I haven't read them all completely, but they have a few errors in the English translations. Some of them are typos, some have a word or two left out, nothing major, but you'd think they would've done a better job editing the transcripts. I didn't look at the Spanish close enough to see if there were any typos. I get the feeling the transcripts were just thrown together in a hurry. Despite all that, I don't think the lack of quality editing will make the transcripts any less useful. The lessons vary in length from 30 seconds to 2-3 minutes, and the audio quality is very good. The spoken pace of the dialogs is good for learning. All the lessons are delivered at the same steady pace and very well enunciated making it easy to distinguish the words and keep up with what's being said. Regarding the pace of the dialogs, as I stated above, it's great for learning. However, in real life, many Spanish speakers speak at a faster rate than what you'll find in the dialogs, and with varying accents that make understanding what's being said a real challenge. These dialogs won't help you with that. I don't think they were intended to, but I just thought you should know. As for the content of the dialogs, they are advertised as real Spanish conversations you are likely to have with Spanish speakers. I think that claim is very true. I heard a lot of common everyday conversations that you will find useful if you spend any significant amount of time interacting with Spanish speakers. That brings me to the next item of discussion, what audience are these dialogs for? If you already spend a lot of time around Spanish speakers on a day in and day out basis, and have little to no problems communicating about day-to-day activities - making plans, talking on the phone, shopping, etc, these conversations are not for you. You've already got this stuff down. However, if you're just opposite, then you'll really benefit from these dialogs. They really do cover a wide range of topics that will tremendously help your ability to communicate. It's a bit difficult for me to evaluate the dialogs from an academic standpoint, but I'd say the dialogs mainly use up to intermediate level grammatical structures, maybe a little higher. But I wouldn't let than concern you if you're afraid that it may be too much (or even to little) for you based on your academic level of Spanish. I think you really need to judge the usefulness of these dialogs based on your ability to communicate effectively in spoken Spanish. For $25, I'd say it's not a bad buy al all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6039 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 7 of 10 28 August 2010 at 7:51pm | IP Logged |
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Who's the guy, and why should anyone other than yourself trust him?
It's enough of a stretch trusting an unknown pseudonymous poster on the internet*, but trusting someone that he trusts is too much of a stretch for me. * Yes, I'm well aware this applies to me too. But I don't want to be trusted unquestioningly anyway. That would be creepy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Faraday Senior Member United States Joined 6146 days ago 129 posts - 256 votes Speaks: German* | Message 8 of 10 28 August 2010 at 10:10pm | IP Logged |
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Why so ornery, Cainntear? That the program is $25 for 60 recorded dialogues with transcripts is useful info, in my opinion.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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