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Barron's Mastering Spanish Level I:
This is Barron's packaging of the old FSI Spanish program. The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) branch of the US government was charged several decades ago with developing a simple, effective, and repeatable language-learning method to train the US government's cadre of up-and-coming foreign service workers, including diplomats and those serving overseas in various consular capacities. Naturally, these overseas posts required a deep understanding of the native language but for many of these languages, there was an extreme shortage of native teachers. Thus an alternative method of teaching these languages, Spanish included, was required.
More Bang For Your Buck
Enter FSI Spanish: the US government's Spanish learning method of choice. As expected, the FSI Spanish program is very, very effective: some even say it's better than Pimsleur. While I'm not quite ready to go that far, I will say it's pretty close and definitely a lot less expensive. In fact, the old FSI programs are the cornerstone on which Pimsleur is built. You will get no pretty packaging or helpful narrators here, however. This is the raw deal. Barron's program stretches 30 units over two volumes. Each volume comes with 15 audio CDs for a total of 35 hours of audio instruction. By comparison, Pimsleur contains 45 hours.
Comparison To Pimsleur And Rosetta Stone
The main advantage (or disadvantage depending on whom you ask) of this program is that it comes with a book. While this means you can't do your lessons on the way to work every morning like you can with Pimsleur, it does mean a lot more information can be included. As far as grammar goes, FSI Spanish rules. Each unit contains a comprehensive (and somewhat technical) grammar section. FSI Spanish is also far more drill-oriented than Pimsleur, which focuses more on conversational skill. Each unit of Barron's Mastering Spanish will open with a dialog between two or more characters followed by a grammar overview. After that, it's straight to the drills. Each unit contains substitution drills, vocabulary drills, conversion drills, response drills, and translation drills. This time-honored kill-and-drill approach may be a bit dry and boring at times, but it is very effective. If you follow the program day in and day out and follow the suggestions in my Spanish Learning Guide, you will read, write, and speak at an advanced level by the time you're done. In fact, I would go so far as to say you could safely visit any Spanish-speaking country you wanted without fear of communication issues. That's probably the highest praise I could give to any Spanish learning program.
Best Value In Town
Because of this focus on constant repetition, FSI Spanish definitely feels a lot more like work than Pimsleur. It will definitely take more time and will-power to get through but the potential reward is, I think, far greater. As a final comparison, I would have to say that Pimsleur is the better program over-all, but not by much. Barron's FSI Spanish, at barely one tenth the cost of the complete Pimsleur program, certainly represents a better value for the money and so will probably be the best choice for most Spanish learners on a budget.Buy Barron's Mastering Spanish, Level 1 (with Audio CDs)
If you liked the FSI Spanish program, you might also want to try Dorothy Richmond's superb Spanish grammar workbooks: Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses
