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Pimsleur Spanish I: Pimsleur is considered by many to be the
holy grail of language-learning programs. It uses a technique called
"Graduated Interval Recall" to teach a large volume of material very
quickly. GIR is essentially just a technique for determining when to
remind the student of a previously-learned point. For example, say
that you've learned the word for "street" in Spanish. Unless you hear
and use the word again, you aren't likely to remember it for very long.
Pimsleur waits until JUST before you're about to forget it and then brings
it back to the forefront through another example or exercise. This
time, having a bit more experience with the word, you remember it a bit
longer before you need another reminder. As this interval becomes
longer and longer, the word, phrase, or grammar point becomes more and more
deeply ingrained and soon, you won't need a reminder at all. In this
way, Pimsleur is able to maximize the benefits of each 30-minute lesson.
And because each lesson is so short, they are much more pleasant and less
overwhelming than almost any other program out there and because it is
all-audio, it is perfect for use in your car, where there are typically
fewer distractions. While Pimsleur recommends you do no more than 1
lesson per day, I have found that doing two a day works best for me:
each day, I first redo yesterday's lesson and then do a new one. This
way, I do every lesson twice and finish each volume in 30 days. It is
VERY important that you don't skip any days, not even weekends or holidays.
If you have no choice, you should go back and do the last two lessons again.
Because of the way each lessons builds on the last, you will quickly fall
behind if you haven't completely mastered all the material in any of the
lessons. Similarly, you shouldn't mix-and-match programs with Pimsleur.
If you start with Pimsleur I, you should also do II and III. Stopping
halfway or starting in the middle will get you nowhere. But by the end
of the 90th lesson (each volume has thirty 30-minute lessons), you will be
able to speak clearly, intelligently, and with a good accent. What's
more, you will be able to understand everyday speech at a normal rate.
The main drawback of this program is, of course, the price. But if you
can afford it, I remind you that you get what you pay for.
You should also check out
Pimsleur Spanish II and
Pimsleur Spanish III on Amazon. Barron's Mastering Spanish Level I: This is Barron's packaging of the old Spanish FSI program. I won't tell FSI's story here but suffice it to say that this is an excellent program: some even say it's better than Pimsleur. While I'm not quite ready to say that, I will say it's pretty close and definitely a lot cheaper. Actually, the old FSI programs are the cornerstone on which Pimsleur is built. You will get no pretty packaging or helpful narrators here, though. This is the raw deal. Barron's program stretches 30 units over two volumes. Each volume comes with about 15 audio CDs for about 35 hours of audio. By comparison, Pimsleur contains 45 hours. 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 learn on your way to work every day, it does mean that a lot more information can be included. As far as grammar goes, FSI rules. Each unit contains a comprehensive (and somewhat technical) grammar section as opposed to Pimsleur, which basically expects you to infer the rules yourself from the exercises. However, FSI is also very drill-oriented whereas Pimsleur is geared more towards conversation. 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. Because of this focus on constant repetition, FSI 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. FSI also introduces more vocabulary than does Pimsleur. As a final comparison, I would have to say that Pimsleur is the best program over-all, but not by much. Barron's, at less than 1/4 the price, definitely carries the best bang for the buck and so will probably be the best choice for most people on a budget. You should also check out Barron's Mastering Spanish Level II on Amazon. Platiquemos FSI Basic Course: Platiquemos is
actually just an update of the original FSI course found in Barron's
version. There are a number of changes but other than the updated
vocabulary, I personally don't think they are worth the higher price.
I haven't used Platiquemos but it is FSI and so is probably quite good.
There seems to be a bit of a feud going on in the Amazon user reviews
section about which is better, Platiquemos or Barron's. Decide for
yourself. Living Language Ultimate Spanish Basic-Intermediate:
This program is the equivalent of about 2 years of college study, or so they
say. It's true that the dialogs are excellently done and the
vocabulary extremely useful, but there are no drills: just a few short
end-of-the-chapter questions. That said, it is a perfectly decent
product and I would have no trouble recommending it except for the fact that
it costs the same as Barron's. I see no reason to purchase this
product unless you used to know Spanish quite well and just need to brush
up. In that case, FSI is probably overkill and this will provide you
with a solid review. Living Language Ultimate Spanish Advanced: See
my comments on the Basic-Intermediate level above. This would be
perfect if there were just more drills. Combining these two products
with Dorothy Richmond's Practice Makes Perfect workbooks would probably
yield excellent results. That said, I see little reason to use the Living Lanuguage products when the FSI courses are more or less the same price. Living Language All-Audio Spanish: I haven't
used this program but it's quite popular so I felt I should mention it.
Living Language usually makes decent products and there is a glowing review
for it at Amazon. It might be worth a look due to its low price. Living Language Spanish Complete Course
Basic-Intermediate: This is a stripped-down version of Ultimate
Spanish Basic-Intermediate above. It basically boils down to a listen
and repeat program. If you're a tourist and just want enough to get by
this is brilliant. Those aspiring for eventual fluency should look
elsewhere. However, if you're thinking about learning Spanish but not
yet sure it's for you, this would be an excellent program to test the waters
due to its very high quality for such a low price. This was actually
the first Spanish program I ever used and as soon as I got it open, I was
hooked. There's something to be said for that. Spanish with Michel Thomas: Another one I've
never used though I've heard nothing but praise for it. Check out the
Amazon user reviews for a few informed opinions.
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