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Learning Spanish Like Crazy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| sky Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6496 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 22 20 August 2006 at 8:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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I deliberately put this as my subject title so that other beginner forum users can find this in a search if need be, if they're not familiar with the acronymn LSLC which I wasn't at first.
I haven't found any detailed or useful threads of FMs who have used this product, course content & what their experiences have been with it. The very long thread which I looked at was just simply one boring marathon of an argument which told me nothing. Basically I have just completed Shortcut to Spanish with Marcus Santamaria which is a very basic course but provided me with a real good introduction to the Spanish language and am now considering if I should purchase LSLC (the downloaded one)or should I go & get Spanish with Michel Thomas (Advanced). I am more of an audio learner than a visual learner & do appreciate courses with lots of audio content & I don't have time to studying large amounts of grammar. I did French with Michel Thomas (beginner) and learnt more French in 2 weeks than I ever did with my 5 years studying at school. So I am a fan of his CD's. I like the fact that I learnt quite a lot without having to write or do drills. So what I am asking is, does the downloaded LSLC come with text which I will appreciate if it does and which of these 2 courses is better at taking my level further? On completion of either of these courses, will I be at an intermediate level or advanced? Even though I know both advertise theirs as reaching advanced level - this isn't always the truth with language courses, is it? I would appreciate hearing from anyone who've used LSLC & perhaps completed it to find out what you consider your Spanish level to now be. I am more inclined to purchase LSLC than the Michel Thomas CD but still am undecided at this present time. Edited by sky on 24 February 2008 at 4:10am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6909 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 2 of 22 21 August 2006 at 5:06am | IP Logged | ||
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I notice that you're in the UK. Doesn't your local library offer the Michel Thomas courses?
I know mine does and so you could take an "off-site security backup" of the CDs for the Spanish course. *Personal Opinion* - the LSLC course will take you a lot further and be more challenging than Michel Thomas. Whether you will enjoy it as much I don't know. Why not also take a look here at the FSI programmatic course (FSI Basic is coming on-line but only Unit 1 is available as I write this). Andy. Edited by Andy E on 21 August 2006 at 7:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sky Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6496 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 22 21 August 2006 at 10:23am | IP Logged | ||
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Andy, none of the libraries in my city offer MT Spanish with the exception of 2 libraries offering the introductory 2 hours course which I am not interested in.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7011 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 22 21 August 2006 at 11:23am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know how the Michel Thomas French courses are, but I spent a lot of time on the 8 hour Spanish course and have listened to about 1 CD each from language builder and the advanced Spanish courses. Although I felt like I got a good bit out of the first MT course, I wasn't so impressed with Language Builder or Advanced. I think the beginner and advanced Spanish courses would have been better without students. For Language Builder, it would have been better if the CD had proper pauses for repeating, rather than "just hit the pause on your CD player until you come up with the answer". I was already reasonably advanced when I listened to the LB and advanced courses. My experience may have been different if I had just completed the first MT course.
So, although I like the MT method, the execution of the Spanish materials seems weak. I did about the first 20 or so lessons from LSLC and in general think it's better than MT. Having said that, I'd echo what Andy said and head down the FSI path, although it isn't perfect either.
What's an FM? Edited by luke on 21 August 2006 at 5:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Polyglot2005 Senior Member United States Joined 6994 days ago 184 posts - 185 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 22 21 August 2006 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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FM = Forum Member, I think.
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| sky Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6496 days ago 15 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 22 21 August 2006 at 8:30pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes sorry for the abbreviation - I thought this was common knowledge. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bob Greaves Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6485 days ago 86 posts - 91 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 7 of 22 22 August 2006 at 3:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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On the subject of LSLC:
I have just finished Pimsleur Spanish Comprehensive, including the Plus part, and am looking for the next course to continue. I saw LSLC course advertised on both their own site and Amazon and asked LSLC for an analysis of the differences between what they were offering and what Amazon were offering. Amazon's simply boiled down to Level 1 and Level 2, but I could not figure out how the LSLC offering related since it was not stated that clearly and was different in price. After unsaitifactory email exchanges it transpired that LSLC are not yet offering Level 2 and seemed unaware that Amazon are offering it. It was at this stage my confidence in the LSLC set up started to evaporate. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Will Senior Member United States Joined 6744 days ago 165 posts - 165 votes | Message 8 of 22 22 August 2006 at 6:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Bob,
I know nothing about the program Learning Spanish Like Crazy but just for clarification could it be it was Level Two of their version of the FSI Programmatic course that you saw on Amazon, and not their regular course?
You must have heard/read some good things about the Learning Spanish Like Crazy course to limit your present choices to it or Michel Thomas' offering. FM Luke can correct me if I am wrong but I think in one of his past post he gave a short post on the style used by Learning Spanish Like Crazy to teach Spanish. I'm not about to search for that post but I don't remember Luke writing anything negative. If it wasn't Luke it was somebody that wrote the post. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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