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SmartSpanish CDs Beginner - The smart way to learn spanish
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List Price:
$34.95
Homebizpc.com Price: $34.95
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: SmartPolyglot
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: CD-ROM
EAN: 9780972947466
ISBN: 0972947469
Label: SmartPolyglot
Manufacturer: SmartPolyglot
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 49
Publication Date: 2005-08-01
Publisher: SmartPolyglot
Release Date: 2005-08-01
Studio: SmartPolyglot
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Editorial Reviews:
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"I am finding the Smart Spanish CDs just as effective and enjoyable as the acclaimed Smart French CDs invented by onetime French diplomat Christian Aubert. I can highly recommend either or both." William Martin, ex-political editor, Oakland Tribune "I'm delighted to discover that the people behind SmartFrench are bringing out SmartSpanish, offering in a different language the same brilliantly simple idea executed with the same commitment to excellence... SmartFrench provided me with the key breakthrough, boosting my confidence quickly, and boosting it so dramatically that I was no longer haunted by anxieties about badly accented pronunciation and speech rhythms. I highly recommend the SmartFrench (and SmartSpanish) approach. No matter what other sources you use in your language learning, the Smart thing to do is give yourself this key to confidence." Ian Jackson, CEO Breathplay, inc, Dallas
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A fun way to understand Spanish
Comment: This product does exactly what it claims to do, teach you in an easy, interactive way to understand spoken spanish. It's so easy to use and this means that I can spend all my energy learning spanish, not learning to use the program. I opened it up today and in 2 hours had completed the first lesson and reviewed some extras! I love it and I plan on using every last bit of it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Spanish that comes alive in your mind
Comment: This is the best product that I have ever used to learn a language. As the conversation is spoken on the CD, you follow along in the book and are able to see the words that you repeat with the speaker. As time goes on, when you are not even listening to the CD, you see the whole converation come to life in your mind. A picture of the words, how they sound, and what they mean all come together. This is with very little effort. It is a very relaxing and rewarding way to learn the language.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Spanish Immersion
Comment: This program is highly effective and its aim is NOT to teach each vocabulary word in Spanish. Based on my experience with this product; it assumes the the listener has at least some of the basic vocabulary down. After that, this program accomplishes what few other language programs do: it builds listening comprehension through repeating passages a few times while you participate in pronouncing the words that you hear.
The program is structured in 6 steps per lesson with each lesson being based on an interview of a native spanish speaker talking as if a normal native would (eg: using "umm" or "uh").
Step 1: You HEAR the interview from the program narrator
Step 2: You repeat the interview in segments
Step 3: You repeat the interview with the aid of the script
Step 4: Your repeat the interview with key explanations
Step 5: You are given 2 useful phrases to work on in conversation
Step 6: You hear the actual interview from the native speaker.
In this way the layout of the material programs your mind to automatically learn grammatical skills as well as context without opening a book to study rules. You will instinctively learn how the words work together to convey meaning. I was discouraged at times when I didn't know all the vocabulary, just some bits and pieces. But this is to be expected to attain proficiency in learning any language. I simply looked up some words / phrases that I didn't understand before starting a lesson. After setting up a routine; I found that my listening comprehension skills as well as my handle of the language was much more fluid and harmonious rather than sounding like, well, a beginner. Some people struggle and then 'something clicks' and all the sudden...they reached a new level. This program is the equivalent to having that 'click' in order to jump your spanish to new heights.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not a substitute for a more conventional course
Comment: The concept behind these CDs is an interesting one, they take real conversations which are several minutes long (which if you are learning a new language seems like a huge amount of time) and deconstruct them so that the listener can make sense of them.
It is not however something that is appropriate for a beginner, this CD set would better be described as intermediate. I'm not an absolute beginner, having studied enough Spanish so the text of the conversations was not way above my level of reading comprehension. I found following the conversations to be interesting but I can't say that I noticed a dramatic improvement in my ability to comprehend spoken Spanish after working through the CDs. I have found other learning materials such as "Behind the Wheel Spanish" to be more useful for me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent curriculum
Comment: Excellent curriculum with native Spanish speakers. The wide range of culturally rich interviews from Spain to Mexico boost your pronunciation tremendously and help you get a feel for the language's rhythm. The teachers are talkative and walk you through the lessons. It's interesting and fun too!
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