Spanish Learning Product Reviews
Check out our Spanish Learning Product Reviews, where we give details of various Spanish Learning products, that we trial, test and evaluate. In addition you, the websearching public can add your own comments and contributions about the various products that are on the market.
There is a huge selection of Spanish learning products on the market and much of it is very good. There is a great deal of mediocre stuff out there. Never before has there been such a wide selection so the Spanish learner is spoilt for choice, but also is
overloaded with information and choice.
There is no single, set way to best learn any language. The most important thing is that you are motivated to do so. The more effort, energy, time, dedication and commitment that you apply to the task, the greater will be your chances of success. To really learn a language well, you must make it one of your top priorities. If you are half-hearted about it, you are doomed to making little progress. However in general what we recommend is a...
Multi-pronged approach to learning Spanish
- Start with learning Spanish vocabulary, and some basic key phrases. Use an accelerated Spanish learning vocab program to build quickly.
- Once you have a solid vocab base, move into the structure and grammar, and more sentence building.
- Get a computer program as the interactivity of learning on a PC is very powerful.
- You must practise speaking, speaking, speaking. Dedicate time to speak Spanish every week, preferably with Spanish speakers who you must give permission to correct you.
- When confident you must take a period of total immersion in the Spanish language. Live in a country, or community where Spanish is the native tongue, and interact with people with whom you identify, and would like to be identified. Solely speak Spanish.
- We strongly recommend the total immersion Spanish language schools where you take lodgings with a local family. Preferably one where they do not speak English. By living and learning in such an environment your knowledge will increase more rapidly, and your third ear will come into play more strongly.
- Read books, texts, flashcards.
- Listen to tapes, audio, radio (hundreds of internet radio stations are online), DVD's, videos, films etc
- Practise, practise, practise.
- Use MSN Messenger, skype, yahoo etc and other messenger services with your Spanish contacts.
Also check out our
Spanish learning books. Have you a favourite that you want to tell us about. If so then let us know, via the form below.
These are accelerated Spanish language learning software products from
exceltra, that come as CD's or as downloads. The system uses the simple techniques of the world's memory masters. These are the sorts of people that can memorise the order of cards from 40 or more decks of cards in a sitting.
Using these simple techniques you can take your vocabulary learning from 20-30 words a day (which is the maximum rate using 'traditional learning techniques' [e.g. rote learning]) to 200, 300 words a day and more. A tenfold increase.
Each word is taught using a cartoon which acts Memory Trigger, which (for nouns) also includes a gender trigger. The gender trigger is a cartoon character reminds you of the gender of the Spanish word when learning it.
The 200 Words a Day! series of Spanish courses from exceltra are:
This course takes 1,000 of the most common words and phrases in Spanish, each using a unique cartoon picture with Memory Trigger, and all voiced by native Spanish speakers.
This eBook can be used to accompany the Learn Spanish 200 Words a Day Course #1 CD-Rom or Download; or it can be used on its own. Over 150 pages of color, and with all the color pictures in the Spanish 200 Words a Day! Course #1 CD-Rom. Read it on the bus, train, plane or in the park on your lunch break. Use it as a learning consolidator or the sole source!
Course #2 takes another 1,000 of the most common words and phrases in Spanish, teaching each using a unique picture cartoon with Memory Trigger, and all voiced by native Spanish speakers.
Intermediate to Advanced... but no reason why a beginner cannot use it!
It is tricky to know whether to the word por or para in Spanish. Both can mean the equivalent to for.
Do you use por or para when saying "I am heading for Madrid."
Do you use por or para when saying "I am speeding at 100 kilometers per hour."
Do you use por or para when saying "I lived in Chile for 3 years."
If you cannot answer these then you will benefit from this course.
This course makes remembering the use of these words so much easier by giving you cartoon characters to remind you of when to use POR and when to use PARA.
There are about 10 situations that the word para is used in Spanish. These concepts are all illustrated with a cartoon picture of a PARAkeet, a bird like a parrot.
There are about 27 situations where the word por is used in Spanish. These concepts are all illustrated with a cartoon picture of a PORky pig.
Over 600 words and common phrases using POR and PARA are included.
There are hundreds of sample sentences, using all the main verb tenses... so that as you consolidate your knowledge of por and para you also get to simultaneously practice your verbs in all the tenses - present, past, future, conditional, subjunctives. All voicings and recordings are done by native Spanish speakers.
Word-association cartoon pics will remind you of hundreds of real-life examples. A super useful consolidation course with new learning, and powerful reinforcement of 'already-learned' material and superlearning pics.
Ser and
estar are the two most difficult verbs in Spanish. Most learners of Spanish never master these two verbs.
However the basic concepts are quite straightforward. Just badly taught! Many teachers of Spanish teach that ser is for permanent concepts and estar is for temporary....
Wrong!!
If this is what you have learned, and you are most likely to get the usage of ser and estar wrong... and may probably never master them. Yet, the basic concepts are straightforward - if taught correctly.
Ser is used to describe WHAT something is.
Estar is used to describt HOW something is.
This course takes the two words and teaches them using memory trigger pictures, delving into more depth.
Over 600 words and common phrases using SER and ESTAR. Lots of easy ways to REMEMBER when to use these tricky little verbs that cause no end of long-term grief for Spanish learners.
Word-association cartoon pics will remind you of hundreds of real-life examples, and there are hundreds of practice sentences, using all the main verb tenses... so you get to simultaneously practice your ser and estar verbs in the present tense, past, future, conditional mood, subjunctive moods.
An ESTAR Bunny reminds you of ESTAR concepts and a SER-pent reminds you of SER concepts. Come and meet SER-lock Holmes, a SERpent who will remind you of certain SER concepts.
All voiced by native Spanish speakers (of course). A super-consolidation course with new learning, reinforcement of 'already-learned' material and superlearning pics.
This course teaches 101 Spanish proverbs, with each proverb taking a word from 200 Words a Day! course, and using it to:
- teach you a Spanish proverb - a little gem of Hispanic philosophy.
- consolidate your learning of the relevant Spanish word.
- see and hear and repeat a Spanish phrase in action.
. The course also uses 101 of the Memory Triggers from the 200 Words a Day courses the main words, allowing you to put some of the Spanish vocabulary you have learned, into action. The pics in the 101 Spanish Proverbs Course all come from Course #1 or Course #2 Spanish, and if you click on them in the 101 Proverbs course, you will be taken to the
‘Memory Trigger’. A great tool not only for consolidation of your Spanish learning, but for seeing interesting pieces of Spanish wisdom and folklore.
These are very traditional learning courses but are excellent value. Sometimes a little dated, and, because they were written in the 1960's they can be a little politically incorrect by today's standards.
Used to train thousands for US State Department diplomats, this is a traditional learning course aimed at providing a solid base in conversational Spanish. You can buy it on the web for $250-$300 but sometimes listed at $47. You can get them free - at no charge with one of the SUPER BUNDLES currently available online via this link. Comes with 12 hours of mp3 audio and 610 pages of pdf manual. Extremely thorough and in-depth.
With 610 pages of material the best thing to do is print off the 610 pages, put them in to a ring-binder and work through the course while listening to the audio or on mp3.
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