tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch
| Message 1 of 9 13 July 2010 at 6:02am | IP Logged |
Has anyone subscribed to the online "Think Spanish" magazine service? A few days ago I was in Virginia at a bookstore and happened to see a book from the makers of "Think Spanish" magazine titled something such as "Think and Read Spanish." Basically, the book was comprised of dozens of cultural articles about Spanish-speaking countries and the more difficult words were glossed, so that one could understand the articles and increase vocabulary without struggling. The book even had a CD containing some of the articles, but in the end I didn't buy the book as it was a bit shop worn.
Tonight I searched for "Think Spanish" magazine and was a bit disappointed to discover it was an online service, as I much prefer having paper magazines to online stuff. The subscription price was $99 I believe for a year, and with the high price and non-print format, I began to wonder if this tool was any good. Has anyone used "Think Spanish"? Either way, I will probably grab the book as I enjoy learning about the culture, but am undecided on the online service.
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Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7131 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
| Message 2 of 9 13 July 2010 at 8:42am | IP Logged |
There's a short review of it compared to Puerta del Sol at the bottom of this thread here. I'm not sure if Katie still subscribes to it or not - maybe leave her a PM.
If you want hard copy for an audio magazine, then you could try punto y coma. I don't subscribe but buy odd issues now and again. This is a magazine with audio rather than an audio magazine since not all articles have audio. The artciles are graded according to their CEF level. You can get digital copies of the magazine as well and there is a free sample digital issue available on the website. Back in 2006 (when I first took a look), I was also able to get them to send me a hard copy version of that same issue as well - a grovelling email in Spanish did the trick.
Website's here. The only problem might be shipping charges to the US since they're based in Madrid.
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jplain Newbie United States Joined 5325 days ago 23 posts - 34 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 3 of 9 13 July 2010 at 4:01pm | IP Logged |
I too am tempted by Think Spanish.
It appears that the company that published Puerta del Sol has shut down: Champs-Elysees Audio Magazines.
I recently found a link (perhaps here?) to a free online audio/text magazine in Spanish: VeinteMundos.
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Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7131 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
| Message 4 of 9 13 July 2010 at 4:31pm | IP Logged |
jplain wrote:
It appears that the company that published Puerta del Sol has shut down: |
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If the legal case ever gets finally settled it might come back to life....
...but I'm not holding my breath as it's been going on a while.
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tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch
| Message 5 of 9 13 July 2010 at 7:53pm | IP Logged |
Yeah I used to subscribe to Schau ins Land, which is basically the German equivalent of Puerta del Sol, made by the same company. Good product, but I know that even if they were still around, or revive themselves, my Spanish is no where near good enough to start in with that.
@jplain: That website looks interesting, I might start with that since it is free. Think Spanish still intriques me a bit though, since it has the audio and everything, which I would find to be very useful. If I spring for it, I'll post my comments about it.
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psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5619 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French
| Message 6 of 9 15 July 2010 at 3:51am | IP Logged |
I had subscribed to it for a few years.It was interesting with a nice variety of articles on various topics.The format was nice:article, selected vocabulary in a side bar, and an audio to use in the car or for shadowing. I did not like when it switched, without any warning, to an online format. I had signed on for the print version and was unhappy at the sudden switch over that took me by surprise. True, my subscription was continued, but I did not want a new format. I liked the convenience of taking the paper magazine with me, to read or study throughout the day. I even used it with my tutor.
I think it is quite pricey for an online format. As far as the book, I had read a number of reviews that claimed it had many typos. I can't say if that is true or not; the magazine itself did not have typos.
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spinpdx Newbie United States Joined 5854 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese
| Message 7 of 9 21 July 2010 at 4:09am | IP Logged |
If you want to try Think Spanish in print format, you might look on ebay. Right now there are a couple listings by the same seller for sets of 3 or 4 issues from 2009 - they average out to about $5.00 per issue, including the audio CDs. I bought a few lots like this a year or so ago and felt that it was a pretty good deal.
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tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch
| Message 8 of 9 21 July 2010 at 3:37pm | IP Logged |
spinpdx wrote:
If you want to try Think Spanish in print format, you might look on ebay. Right now there are a couple listings by the same seller for sets of 3 or 4 issues from 2009 - they average out to about $5.00 per issue, including the audio CDs. I bought a few lots like this a year or so ago and felt that it was a pretty good deal. |
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Thanks for the idea. Whan I get home from vacation, I think I will do that.
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