5 stars (Great Method) - I am enjoying both the book and the 8 CDs found in this course. Very effective method! Really gets you speaking Spanish quickly and without the hassle. Book is great too. Easy to read, follows the CDs and has a word for word tapescript at the back. Biggest Plus: Easy and Fast 4 stars (Conversational Spanish In Nothing Flat (Frobose)) - Easy to use -- have found a couple of errors in English-to-Spanish words, but no big deal. It is somewhat difficult to use the book in conjunction w/ the recording, because the book has no real format. Took me a while to realize the "almost verbatim" words on the tape are where an index usually is. Otherwise -- pretty decent method of learning to converse! 5 stars (My Personal Experience with Conversational Spanish in Nothing Flat) - In my opinion, no "single" language tool (a book for example) will make you completely proficient in a particular language. The key is to sellect various well crafted tools with different approaches. This gives you a more well-rounded view of your subject. Conversational Spanish in Nothing Flat will not by itself make you fluent but it adds "an important piece" to your developing knowledge and it does this very well by touching all bases and giving you lots of fun quizzes where new things are introduced and earlier lessons are reinforced again again. ... Language Dynamics :: Spanish language :: Spanish :: Self-instruction :: Foreign Language Study :: Audio Adult- Language :: Spanish- Adult Nonfiction :: General :: Foreign Language Study :: Conversational Spanish in Nothing Flat (8 One Hour CDs-200 Page Illustated Text-Answer Keys - Tapesc
5 stars (Excellent for beginner or refresher course) - This course is excellent, either as an introduction to Spanish or as a way to refresh or sharpen your skills if you are already somewhat familiar with it. There are three levels, and each level consists of three 60-minute CDs. (You can buy each level separately, but getting the whole set is cheaper than buying each level separately.) Each CD is sub-divided into 10 or 11 small lessons presenting a single topic. The first lessons start with very simple vocabulary, then later lessons progress to simple phrases using that vocabulary, then simple sentences in the present tense, then more advanced vocabulary and phrases, and then the most common verb tenses and moods (present, past, future, compound tenses (I HAVE GONE), conditional (I WOULD GO IF . . . ), imperative (GO AWAY!), and subjunctive (I DOUBT THAT HE'LL GO.). The range of subject matter also expands gradually. The first level covers what might be called "survival skills," the really basic topics you need to know right away, like transportation, money, directions, hotels, restaurants, shopping, telling time, and numbers. Later lessons, especially in the second and third levels, include more advanced vocabulary, more complex sentences, and more complex situations. All lessons use the same methodology - the target word, phrase, or sentence is given in English, followed by a pause for your response, then the Spanish translation is given, followed by another pause, followed by a repetition of the Spanish translation and another pause. So for each target word, phrase, or sentence, you'll have three chances to say it in Spanish; and I can tell you from personal experience that this constant repetition works very well. Playing the CDs in your car or while jogging (my personal favorite), is a painless but effective way to learn a new language or review a previously learned language. Each of the three levels includes a 50-page booklet that contains a ver... Penton Overseas :: Translating & Interpreting :: Spanish :: Foreign Language Study :: Audio Adult- Language :: Audio - Language :: Henry N Raymond :: :: Spanish Complete- The Complete Language Course - 3 Level Set (Learn in Your Car)
5 stars (One of the most remarkable learning experiences in my life) - The CDs will make you think about all the time you wasted in ineffective foreign language classes (previously, I thought I had no aptitude for languages). These CDs do what they say: 1) you learn grammar implicitly. It's remarkable - I can say a new sentence in the correct word order without consciously thinking what the word order should be(it justs sounds right). 2) rather than translating from English, you learn to "think" Mandarin. For example, rather than learning to count 1, 2, 3...., you learn to order 2 beers, then 8 o'clock, 3 o'clock. You learn to know the numbers rather than trying to count in your head. Despite my limited vocabulary, while in China, I was able to have passable conversations with complete strangers. It's hard to emphasize how much fun this was. Some asked if I taught Chinese in the US and most assumed I had much more language skill than I actually do. Both in the US and China, most say "you have a good accent." To compare, with 6 months of Pimsleur, I was able to develop more language skills than I ever received from 6 yrs of High school & College German (I don't think I ever had a conversation in German). With other language tapes, I found the need to constantly rewind. Pimsleur's approach eliminates the need for this. Also, in contrast to the many inaccurate Mandarin phrasebooks, Pimsleur's CDs are accurate in translating both the flavor & meaning of words. One seeming downside to Mandarin I is its apparent overemphasis on numbers. However, the reason for this emphasis becomes apparent when you start Mandarin II. In addition to the general utility of numbers, Mandarin II shows that months, days of the week, and many individual words are based on numbers. Hence, this emphasis is justified. Downsides: 1. While the CDs are effective in teaching the language, a written booklet would be extremely valuable as a later reference. Because there is ... Pimsleur :: Foreign Language Study & Chinese :: Technical & Manufacturing Trades :: Chinese :: Audio Adult- Language :: Audio - Language :: Pimsleur Language Programs :: :: Chinese (Mandarin) I
5 stars (Great Product and Packaging) - My Behind the Wheel course is the best I have yet tried. My course arrived shrink-wrapped in a nice vinyl album with a very nice book. No complaints. Delighted with the course overall. 3 stars (Needs better packaging) - Good product in general. My biggest issue is that the packaging is so bad that each time it was sent to me the cds had fallen out of their place in the container and got scratched up. 5 stars (UnMatched ! Head and Shoulders Above Other Spanish Audio Courses!) - I have checked out your Behind the Wheel course and the superiority and clarity was evident immediately. Very nicely organized and not littered with a bunch of grammatical terminology and categorization that bogs a learner down. The illustrated easy-to-comprehend text was definitely a plus and one that I really needed. Congratulations to Language Dynamics for doing such an excellent job putting together such an effective product. The pace, organization and enunciative clarity of this course is unmatched and is head and shoulders above other Spanish audio kits I have tried. ... Language Dynamics :: Spanish language :: Spanish :: Self-instruction :: Foreign Language Study :: Audio Adult- Language :: Spanish- Adult Nonfiction :: General :: Foreign Language Study :: Behind the Wheel Spanish-Complete Illustrated Text-Answer Keys-8 One Hour
5 stars (Excellent Organization and Method) - In looking at some of the reviews on this page I have to ask myself if I ordered the same course as these people. This review is for Behind the Wheel French 8 CDs by Language Dynamics. Lest you be swayed by the panic reviews that state that there isn't enough time to repeat or that the months of the year or the days shouldn't be presented in this order .... blah, blah, blah. Here are my objective, unbiased and clear opinions: First of all, the course is great. Easy to use and I mean E A S Y. This is not the first Language Dynamics course I have used, nor will it be my last. In my opinion the method used is beyond reproach and is far superior to anything out there that I have yet experienced. Celine has a marvellous and clear voice. Mark sounds confident and knowledgeable. Together they form an instructional 'team' dedicated to teaching you how to speak French. One is armed with native knowledge and native accent of the French language. The other, teaching experience and understanding of learning French as a native speaker of English. This rare and invaluable combination provides you, the learner, with a double insight. Celine's native accent and fluency. Mark's teaching experience and understanding of the French language. I understand from the website that Mark was even rated as an EXCELLENT instructor by his students at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. Wow. Nice credentials. Celine on the other hand is fresh, clear, concise, and her voice and accent are easy to imitate. The organization and method involved are superb. Nowhere have I found a source that has taught me so much French in so little time. How do they do it? The system is actually quite organized. More traditional minds may view it as 'chaotic' because they are perhaps secretly seeking that grammatical 'morass' that constitutes most foreign language learning approaches. And if it isn't grammar that some miss, then it's RIGID structu... Language Dynamics Inc :: French Language :: Audiobooks :: French :: Foreign Language Study & French :: Audio Adult- Language :: Audio - Language :: Mark Frobose :: :: Behind the Wheel French (8 CD Course) (Behind the Wheel)
4 stars (Not bad, but not great!) - I used this book for two semesters of German language courses in college. While its not a bad book, the memorization of tables and stuff can be daunting. I thought the descriptions were precise and clear, and the grammar exercises were okay. The problem was the application of grammar was too 'precise'. Ie. there was the constant memorization of tables. This book is ideal for an engineer. Overall, its also a good reference book and is well laid out. A nice touch was the culture topics; however, I would have liked to see something focusing a bit more on conversational practice. 1 stars (Not what I'd hoped for) - I've started taking German in college in preparation for graduate school. So far, I am not impressed with Wie geht's?. The charts and diagrams are not clear, the grammar is presented seperately from the culture and vocabulary sections, and the exercises are mindless. I also find it fairly useless to be given anywhere from 20-60 vocab words in one lesson with the grammar as an afterthought. I would much prefer to be presented with the grammar lesson and then the application of it through vocab. I can always look a word up in a dictionary down the road, but more importantly I need to be taught the grammar! 2 stars (Outmoded approach, not at all communicative) - Wie geht's has many strengths--including its use of realia and images of modern Germany. But its over all concept is totally outmoded: no German teacher coming out of an education program will have been trained in this methodology, which is not at all communicative, and most of the language exercises built in are of the "mindless" variety--you don't have to understand what you're doing to perform the task at hand. Ultimately, I think "Na Klar" is the best textbook selection on the market today. ... Heinle :: Foreign Language Study & German :: German :: Foreign Language Study :: Foreign Language - Dictionaries & Phrase Books :: Audio Adult- Language :: Ingrid Sevin :: :: Wie geht-s- Text-Audio CD pkg - An Introductory German Course
4 stars (Max McLean's Performance) - I purchased this package 3 years ago and have noticed the price increase since. I was considering a repeat purchase as a gift and noticed Mr. McLean's new recording for the ESV translation. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/193104743X/ref=cm_aya_asin.title/104-1927007-5627968?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance I ended up buying this and also the ESV recording. Without elaborating the NIV and ESV translation standards, both products deliver in their unique ways... NIV recording - More dramatization. ESV recording - Background music is extremely subtle and not intrusive at all. Even my sibling who prefer an all voice recording found it delightful and very acceptable. Both recordings do not have that FM (mono) radio quality broadcast sound noticeable in other audio bible products from various vendors. Blessings. 5 stars (Speedy, inexpensive) - This order was fast, and the least expensive. I would buy another one in a heartbeat. 5 stars (Exactly as Advertised) - The readings of the Bible, New International Version, by Max McLean are a tremendous benefit as I try to work additional Bible study into my busy schedule. I listen to the readings primarily while exercising in the morning either before or after my Bible reading time. It enhances my understanding by offering pronunciation clues to some of the hard-to-pronounce names and places in the Bible while providing a different reading interpretation. I would highly recommend this product to anyone hoping to spend more time in The Word. ... Fellowship for the Performing Arts :: Religion :: Inspirational - General :: Bibles - Other :: Bibles - New International :: Bible - General :: Audio Adult- Other :: Audio - Inspiration & Philosophy :: :: The Listener-s Bible
