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 grammar Oct 03, 2008
Some of the word usage puzzled me, so I submitted it to an expert in the Spanish language. He said the grammar violates some rules.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent! Aug 25, 2008
I purchased SmartSpanish a couple of months ago and I am very pleased! I studied Spanish for several semesters in college but after years of not using the language, I found myself struggling to understand when someone spoke to me in Spanish. I was pretty good at writing or reading Spanish but my skills have diminished over time due to lack of usage. The SmartSpanish audio CD's are helping me listen and recall verbs, nouns, common expressions, and more while driving or doing other activities. The customer service is fantastic, too! I recommend this SmartSpanish for new learners or those that need to polish their skills.
32 of 33 found the following review helpful:
Just what I needed Sep 16, 2007
I started studying Spanish 20 years ago when I was a union organizer for the Roofers. I took some college correspondence courses. A few years later I left that job to work as a pipefitter.
When I quit organizing, I decided to continue to study Spanish on my own. I bought all the typical educational tapes, the ones where you repeat a
sentence after the voice on the tape. I started reading Spanish nearly every night, to increase my vocabulary. I read one or two Spanish novels a month, depending on how much time I have.
I recently started to work on big, overtime constructions jobs. The past
year I have been on big jobs in Texas, where at least half the workers on
the job speak Spanish. Some speak both English and Spanish, but a lot of the workers speak only Spanish.
I quickly discovered a few things:
One, I had a great Spanish vocabulary. I am like a walking Spanish
dictionary. I'd say I've a bigger vocabulary than 80% of the Spanish
speaking guys on the job. Spanish speaking guys often ask me for the most
correct Spanish word for certain things.
Secondly, I discovered I couldn't understand anything spoken in spanish. There is a lot of slang, but that wasn't the problem. When somebody said something, or when I listened to someone talking on a spanish TV program, a spoken sentence or paragraph sounded like one long, hundred sylable word. It all ran together, I pick up a work here or there, it sounded like it always did before I learned any spanish.
And thirdly, when I spoke spanish to anyone, it was as if I were looking words up in the spanish dictionary and talking, slowly, haltingly.
These cds were like the missing piece of my spanish education. I'm not even done with the first set yet, since I am working 7 days a week, 10 or 12 hours a day. But shortly after starting listening to the cds, playing them over a few times, my listening comprehension increase dramatically. This is really a major turning point for me. The more I can understand by listening,the more spanish idioms and slang I learn. Now, turning on the TV and watching a spanish movie is a learning experience for me. Listening to guys talking at work is a learning experience, since I can understand them. I am now conversing much more on the job, with much more confidence.
Again, I believe these cds were the key. What a great product. I wish I had them years ago. -Greg
19 of 20 found the following review helpful:
Interesting and extremely useful Mar 30, 2007
I bought the beginner and the intermediate/advanced versions of this CD set because it's been a while since I practiced Spanish and I originally learned by the textbook method. I really needed both. The method used is so different from the one I was used to that it actually made me work on total different skills, like listening, which I had never done before, and that happened to be extremely useful. This is a step by step repetition process. I have to say that it's helped a lot. Both the beginner and the intermediate/advanced versions have. And the more times you listen the better you get and the easier it gets to understand. The content of the conversations is actually pretty interesting too: The lessons are based on people interviews that are interesting. For the first time since studying a language I've actually learned from the syntax AND the content of the lessons. I made progress, I enjoyed Smart Spanish and I recommend it.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
best to learn spanish so far Nov 23, 2006
If you are interested in learning Spanish the way it's spoken in Spain as well as in South America, this is the language program for you.
It is an interesting program that if the steps are followed, that is, variations in hearing and repeating the monologs or dialogs with annotated notes on pronounciation or grammar, one can actually begin to understand what is spoken. The monologs/dialogs are spoken by a variety of people in different professions, and from different countries like Spain, Mexico, which makes the CD much more interesting than most language tapes.
I am really glad I purchased Smart Spanish and look daily to studying Spanish. Having had high school Spanish almost 20 years ago I also feel confident that I will be able to finally speak Spanish soon. I will be comfortable with my Spanish understanding and speaking because of Smart Spanish.
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