 Wish I'd Found this one First! |
| Review Date: March 10, 2007 |
| Reviewer: M. Hughes, Sunny Florida |
I have spent probably a thousand dollars on courses like Pimsleur (I went through all three levels; heavy on pounding stuff into your head, but not enough vocabulary to write home about), Auralog computer-based Spanish(boring and tends to crash the computer), and "Behind the Wheel Spanish" (inconsistent -- way too slow, then way too fast) in my attempt to learn Spanish. What a waste! Everything I wanted was in "Learning Spanish Like Crazy." I only wish I'd found it first.
The lessons are, like Pimsleur, structured to pound stuff into your head so you won't forget it as soon as you learn it. But LSLC differs from Pimsleur in several key ways.
1. There's enough vocabulary to choke a mule -- and that's good thing.
2. Every verb is fully conjugated in each lesson, so you recognize the patterns and start "absorbing" them faster...but it's done in a conversational style so you barely realize "hey, I'm conjugating a verb" and you don't get grossed out by the fact that you're learning grammar.
3. Brief explanations are given on things that are complicated or irregular so you understand why you are doing what you're doing, instead of learning by rote. (Adult learners need to understand why, trust me.)
4. It moves along at a good pace. It's taken me 10 days to get to Lesson 13 and I've enjoyed every lesson. Lesson 13 introduces the student to reflexive verbs (and you know it because they tell you, "today we're doing reflexive verbs." Pimsleur never tells you what you're doing -- which is fine if you're a kid, but boring and confusing if you're over the age of 40!)
5. Best of all, it isn't boring. There are plenty of reasons to pay attention when attempting to learn a language, but it's easier to say than to do with some courses. LSLC makes it easy to pay attention because there's always something going on.
6. Lessons are logically laid out, with specific groups of related words in each lesson so you can absorb them all; with Pimsleur the words sometimes seem chosen at random and the conversations change ideas from sentence to sentence.
Again, I'm only on Lesson 13, but I like what I'm doing and my vocabulary has increased drastically; I know words for day-to-day functions that Pimsleur never covered although we take such words for granted in English. I've already purchased LSLC level 2. This is great! Highly recommended to anybody who wants to really learn and understand Spanish.
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You Need Both...
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| Review Date: October 29, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Doug Bower, Mexico |
I think someone who really is looking for fluency should do both the Pimsleur and Learning Like Crazy Spanish programs. My reasons are that since I live in Mexico I can attest to the practically of Pimsuer in formal more educated settings with Spanish speakers. To say that Pimsleur teaches "archaic" Spanish is nonsense. However, it does teach a more formal Spanish that is spoken in educated crowds. When you hit the streets of Mexico and try to speak with kids, teenagers, and local store employees Pimsleur tends to fail you. That's where LSLC comes in and rescues you. You need both! You need to know the formal more educated Spanish as well as the street Spanish. It is not necessary to mean-mouth Pimsleur in order to point out the benefits of LSLC.
Doug Bower
You Can Learn Spanish No Matter Your Age or Disposition |
Best Deal anywhere
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| Review Date: September 8, 2005 |
| Reviewer: HealthAdminGuy, |
Learning Spanish like crazy is the best investment I have ever made in my quest for fluency. I did not buy the CD course from Amazon, but rather, ordered it in downloadable MP3 form from their website for $97.00 (Sept 2005 price). For less than a hundred bucks, you get the Learning Spanish Like Crazy, Vol. 1 course, and extra bonus lessons:
Los Dichos (common Spanish Sayings)
Los Insultos - No vulgares (rather tame Spanish Insults)
Los Insultos - Vulgares (Really nasty Spanish insults)
6 months email support for your questions about Spanish
A once-a-week teleclass (I don't know how long you get this)
AND, Best of all,
You get remastered versions of the Foreign Service Institute's
Spanish Level 3 and level 4 courses!!
--The same courses that are commonly sold for $199.00 apiece!
I know this may sound like an advertisement, but I do not work for the Learning Spanish Like Crazy people, I just was so happy to get the 2 FSI advanced courses along with the LSLC courses, that I wanted to get the word out. Even if you don't give a rat's CULO about the LSLC course, just getting the FSI-3 and FSI-4 courses for $97.00 is the best bargain on the planet. Maybe the other vendors of the FSI courses will have to lower their prices when word of this deal gets out. One caution, you probably do not want to order the download version unless you have a high speed connection; With DSL, it took me about 7 or 8 hours total time to download the files. (If you have a cable modem, I think it would be a fraction of that time. If you have dial-up, this is probably not a viable option for you unless you have an accomodating friend with high-speed. The other option on the company web-site is a huge pack of 50 CDs for $347 that has all the above, plus the FSI Level 1, FSI level 2, and the "FSI Fast Course Spanish" course that I can't find anyone else selling. Offhand, $347 may sound a bit steep, but you do get all of the courses on about 50 CDs in regular audio CD format, except for the FSI-3 and FSI-4, which you still have to download. (Again, all this info is as of Sept 2005). The Learning Spanish Like Crazy course itself is very good. I am at a high-intermediate level but I learned a lot about speaking in the way that people actually talk, as opposed to the stilted, formal language taught in schools and other courses, that would make you sound like the nerd-king of the gringos if you actually talked that way to native speakers. The course also stresses repeating the audio after the native speakers, in order to develop an authentic accent. I listen to them in my car whenever I am driving, repeating the drills, and probably looking like a psycho to other drivers who think I'm talking to myself. |
Highly addictive - excellent method to learn Latin American Spanish
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| Review Date: March 3, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Peter Buckley, TX USA |
In addition to the skill of speaking Spanish, the LSLC has helped me to truly THINK in Spanish and more importantly, helped me develop the skill to LISTEN in Spanish.
The native speakers used from different Latin American countries results in an excellent way to experience the different regional accents (e.g. the first lesson has the article "I" and in the practice conversations you hear both the "yo" sound and "joe" sound used).
In my business travel to Central and South America, I'm amazed with each month's travels, how much more I'm picking up on
and understanding from the conversations taking place.
I've been studying Spanish approx. 8 months now and had no previous language studies. I first completed Spanish for Gringos and then Level 1 of Pimsleur. The LSLC is truly
my favorite and the interactive challanges are highly addictive (my 11 yr. old daughter has learned quickly that she better be quick to the car CD or it's "Lecciones en español para ella)!
I can attest that I speak more fluent and free-flowing Spanish, than my coworkers who took at least two (some three) years of Spanish in high school. In addition, with the audio format (rather than PC or Class format) every minute I devote to my studies is spent studying (i.e. the only wasted time is the time it takes to press "play" on my iPod or CD player).
I'm convinced that if I had taken a traditional class first, there is no possible way I would have progressed as quickly.
I have conversations in Spanish while waiting in rush-hour, in lobbies waiting for appointments, weekends at the coffe shop, etc.. whenever it's convenient for ME.
In addition, the LSLC Level 1 course has a whole community of learners behind it to add to a deeper immersion in learning the language. As they say with many things - Spanish is better caught than taught and the Learning Spanish Like Crazy has been an invaluable investment. (& fun of course)
I just need LSLC to hurry up and publish LSLC Level II
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This is the best
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| Review Date: February 7, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Harlan P. Wolfe, Miami, FL United States |
Like the creator of this series, I went through every home-study course I could find including Pimsleur (three levels), Rosetta Stone, and the diplomatic corps course. The other courses were good and very helpful for the most part. None are better than this, and this course, Learning Spanish Like Crazy (LSLC), has amazing bonuses and customer support. I ordered directly from the website and actually received much more than promised.
The approach is very similar as Pimsleur, and the lessons are actually fun to do. I am currently working on Level 2 of LSLC.
I am 68 and have moved recently to Central America. I am still learning Spanish and will be for several years--languages are complex and robust. I will always be grateful for LSLC, and I wish there were a Spanish version to teach English for the benefit of my many new Latin friends who want to learn English. I have searched a lot and they have nothing comparable with this. |
My opinion about Learning Spanish Like Crazy
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| Review Date: July 14, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Mami Chula, Miami, Florida |
I just finished the first level of this course.
My Spanish speaking friends at work are amazed with how much Spanish I have learned. I have struggled with both Spanish and French since taking the languages in high School and college.
Without mentioning any names, I have tried most of the other big name Spanish courses. I found this method not only to be the easiest method for learning Spanish but also the most fun.
In my opinion the course's strongest point is that it actually helps you develop a near perfect accent, as one reviewer already mentioned.
I know exactly what he means when he says that your accent will be so good that natives won't know if you're completely fluent in Spanish or not.
I have also learned a lot of vocabulary words with Learning Spanish Like Crazy. But I did find that it was necessary to buy a couple of books to help me with increasing my vocabulary. The two that I recommend are Easy Spanish Phrase Book and 1001 Most
Useful Spanish words.
I bought both books at a used bookstore for about 50 cents a piece. You can however by them here Amazon for about $1 for each book. The two books are only about 50 pages, but they will really teach you the vocabulary that you need to communicate Latin Amerincans.
I guess my only complaint is that the narrator of the course is not a native English speaker. So at sometimes I had to listen to the recording more than once to understand his English. But on the positive side since the narrator was a native Latino, he was able to do the narrative in Spanish more and more as the course progress into the later lessons. If he had been an American he would not have been able to do the narrative in Spanish or he would not have been able to do it with a true Latin American accent And since he was a native Latino he was able to explain a lot of the nuances about Latin American Spanish that only a native would have knowledge of.
If you use Learning Spanish Like Crazy with Easy Spanish Phrase Book
and 1001 Most Useful Spanish words, you will learn Spanish like crazy
(for lack of a better term). Now somebody please tell them
to please make a Learning French Like Crazy. |
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