Michel Thomas Speak Spanish For Beginners: 10-CD Beginner's Program (Michel Thomas Speak...)
by Michel Thomas
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List Price: $79.95
Our Price: $43.23
Your Save: $ 36.72 ( 46% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 468
EAN: 9780071480260
ISBN: 0071480269
Label: McGraw-Hill
Number Of Items: 10
Number Of Pages: 24
Publication Date: 2006-11-20
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Studio: McGraw-Hill
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best all-audio learning method
Comment: One might think that this program's advertisements are exaggerated and hyperbolic, whereas in fact the program does just what it says. The main advantage of these CDs is that one builds confidence in speaking the language. Even if one does not know all of the langauge's vocabulary (impossible after so short a course), at least one has gotten one's feet wet and had a good introduction to the structure of the language and forming one's own sentences. This is a truly excellent way to make productive use of the time behind the wheel! This course facilitates effortless learning and retention of the material. Truly a breakthrough.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful for beginners Spanish!!
Comment: I'm very pleased with this program, so far. I do understand why folks complain about his very non-spanish accent. But the way he breaks down the language to get you thinking in Spanish is still effective. I have Behind the Wheel Spanish and Passport to Mastering Spanish and I like this approach much better. That listen and repeat stuff with BTW/PMS can get a little boring. I intend to use Michel's advanced spanish course next, then will follow it up with BTW and PMS because both these programs feature native spanish speakers which should help with my pronunciations. Plus, PMS feature lessons that have spanish spoken at the fast/normal pace, then slows it down, then speeds it back up. This is to help train your ear to hear and decipher spoken spanish. I like that.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Tiene que comprarlo ahora!!!
Comment: People either love the Michel Thomas method or hate it. Put me in the - I love Michel Thomas camp.
I used to live in El Paso,Texas across the river from Mexico. I was in close proximity to an abundance of Spanish speakers on both sides of the border. Yet, I only learned a few words. Couldn't conjugate verbs to save my life. When I'd ask some of my friends the reasons why they would say certain things in Spanish, they couldn't explain.
If I couldn't get a native speaker of Spanish to help me who could?
Enter Michel Thomas!
I know some people hold it against this program that he is not a native speaker. But he has a better grasp of making those hard grammar points easy than many natives of the languages he teaches, including English.
I'm a native Speaker of English born and raised in the USA, yet I don't think I'd be a very good teacher of the English language. I live in Chicago now and have had coworkers who are originally from Poland, Mexico, India, etc. ask me to explain certain grammatical points in English.
I fail miserably with my explaination. Usually I just tell them, "I have no idea, it just feels right to say it that way."
WIth Michel Thomas you'll learn another language but at the same time come away with a deeper understanding of your own language. I love the few moments in the beginners and Advanced courses where he expounds on the English language.
So please don't be distracted by the fact he is not a native speaker. If you are around Spanish speakers in your community or just watch Univision or telenovelas you should be fine. There's also a few programs that are great to use after this program to help in that aspect.
One of the things most people will complain about is the male student. He stutters alot, messes up frequently and mispronounces puede throughout the CD. You can hear Michel Thomas close to losing his temper.(I'm surprised the publishers didn't edit that out!) It's almost funny. Actually it is funny. I didn't find it distracting at all. In fact I found that my ego was lifted. I was learning faster than he was. I also found myself correcting him often. It made me feel that in this class of three(two students on the cd with Michel plus the listener) that I was an A+ student!
At the end of the Cd I wasn't fluent but it made me hungry for more. I immediately bought the Advanced CD!
Since I went through the Advanced I find that I can conjugate verbs at the drop of a hat without thinking too much. A plus is that there are two new students on the advanced and the male student is much improved. (sounds rather handsome actually.....) but that's for another review.
I admit that there wasn't alot of vocab taught but you can pick it up. In fact it will be that much easier to do after going through these CD's. Michel is a genius. One of the first words he teaches is the pronoun- IT.
I might not know the word for a certain item but i can just point to it and ask How much is it, Where is it, Can I buy it, Look at it, I want it, Do you want it? Did you get it? etc.etc. etc. and through a bit of conversation I will learn the word and without realizing it practice my conversation and listening skills.
Michel knew he couldn't teach all the vocab in the Spanish language, but just learning the word -IT- will open up so many possibilities.
Just listen to a toddler talk.
My son who is 2 will constantly say sentences such as the above if he doesn't know the word.
My son pointing to a paintbrush- "I want it."
ME- "Oh...you want the paintbrush"
My son- " Yes, I want the paintbrush."
Genius. Now he knows the word and how to put it into a sentence. Just like we students of MT will learn to do. We might not know all the words in a Spanish dictionary but MT will give us the tools to obtain it in a conversational manner.
Michel will teach you high frequency verbs I realize my son uses quite frequenly, I want, you want, I need, You need, etc. pretty much the basics for getting one's point across. My son doesn't want to learn when the next train arrives, he just wants to speak with his mommy and daddy. This course won't teach you touristy phrases but it will lay the foundation of communication!
We don't give children vocab lists in order to speak English. We talk to them. That's how they learn. We could all take a lesson from how kids learn and WHAT they learn. Why not with spanish? I suspect Michel did quite a bit of observing the way little children pick up languages with their parents and incorporated it into his program.
My recommendation is after this program buy the Advanced Spanish course. Your knowledge of the past tense will multiply tremendously.
After finishing the Basic and Advanced I went through Margarita Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish. It really complemented the MT Method. In fact I wonder if they knew each other because their explanations of the preterite/imperfect tense are identical.
After Madrigal I bought a download of Learning Spanish Like Crazy which I feel is great for prounciation practice after MT and is actually quite fun. Don't be put off by what appears to be the cult of LSLC , it actually is a good program so far. I'm almost done with LSLC Level 1 and am pleased with it and will be buying Level 2 soon.
I also started up Platiquemos Level 1 which is a more comprehensive Spanish Program. I tried it before attempting any of these other programs and immediately shut the book. I wasn't ready. It looked too difficult.
After Michel Thomas and Madrigal I am up for the challenge. I've gone through the first few units thus far and like what I see and am acutally enjoying it. MT, Madrigal and LSLC still left a few gaps in my Spanish knowledge which I hope Platiquemos can fill.
Nontheless Michel Thomas started the ball rolling and for that I will be forever grateful.
This has been a long review and I could have summed it up by basically saying- MIchel Thomas is the FIRST Spanish resource one should buy.
Anyone remember the bible story about the man who built their house on sand? Build your Spanish house on a rock and it will not fall. The MT method will be your rock.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great learning tool!
Comment: I took 5 years of spanish classes and I learned more about speaking the language in the first 3 CD's than in class. Michel Thomas makes it easy to learn and to remember. I am only on disk 5 but I am really happy so far. The only downside is that the male student on the disks is sort of clueless, it's a little frusterating. I would definitely recommend this, especially if you spend a lot of time in your car.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Decent course with some flaws.
Comment: This course is like being a fly on the wall of a room with an elderly instructor and a male and female student. You wait for the instructor to ask how to say something, pause playback, say it, then restart playback and see how you did when the other students respond and are either corrected or congratulated. The American female student is congratulated far more than corrected, and the opposite is true for the British male.
The British student does a fine job of stripping that erudite veneer off an otherwise intelligent-sounding Oxford accent. To say he's a slow learner is the understatement of the century. You'll find yourself rolling your eyes at his incessant mistakes. He stubbornly refuses to grasp many topics. Mr. Thomas can barely contain his exasperation at times during the recordings. The American girl, on the other hand, manages to grasp things at a respectable pace that keeps things moving along. It's funny because a few lessons in, you notice Mr. Thomas start to direct more of his questions toward the American girl for the sake of everyone's sanity. The only other odd thing about the recording is Mr. Thomas' issues with salivary management. I can just imagine him spitting as he talks.
I'm on Lesson 5 of 8 so far. Each lesson does a good job of creating a foundation for the later lessons. You get to learn new things while solidifying the earlier topics in your head. Each lesson seems to progress at a manageable pace.
I'm listening to this, then doing Rosetta Stone, and then language school in my attempt to gain fluency in Spanish.
UPDATE:
I'm now nearly done with the 7th of 8 lessons in the series. I continue to learn alot easily. Overall I still really like the course, but I must say the British guy REALLY detracts from the quality of it. He is painful to listen to as he eviscerates spanish pronunciation and laboriously stutters every answer. Thankfully, the recordings seem to focus on him less as time progresses. I'd suggest that Michel Thomas Inc. somehow find a way to re-record this course without someone so hopelessly inept to have to listen to. If it weren't for him, these recordings would get a very solid 5 stars.
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Editorial Reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best all-audio learning method
Comment: One might think that this program's advertisements are exaggerated and hyperbolic, whereas in fact the program does just what it says. The main advantage of these CDs is that one builds confidence in speaking the language. Even if one does not know all of the langauge's vocabulary (impossible after so short a course), at least one has gotten one's feet wet and had a good introduction to the structure of the language and forming one's own sentences. This is a truly excellent way to make productive use of the time behind the wheel! This course facilitates effortless learning and retention of the material. Truly a breakthrough.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful for beginners Spanish!!
Comment: I'm very pleased with this program, so far. I do understand why folks complain about his very non-spanish accent. But the way he breaks down the language to get you thinking in Spanish is still effective. I have Behind the Wheel Spanish and Passport to Mastering Spanish and I like this approach much better. That listen and repeat stuff with BTW/PMS can get a little boring. I intend to use Michel's advanced spanish course next, then will follow it up with BTW and PMS because both these programs feature native spanish speakers which should help with my pronunciations. Plus, PMS feature lessons that have spanish spoken at the fast/normal pace, then slows it down, then speeds it back up. This is to help train your ear to hear and decipher spoken spanish. I like that.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Tiene que comprarlo ahora!!!
Comment: People either love the Michel Thomas method or hate it. Put me in the - I love Michel Thomas camp.
I used to live in El Paso,Texas across the river from Mexico. I was in close proximity to an abundance of Spanish speakers on both sides of the border. Yet, I only learned a few words. Couldn't conjugate verbs to save my life. When I'd ask some of my friends the reasons why they would say certain things in Spanish, they couldn't explain.
If I couldn't get a native speaker of Spanish to help me who could?
Enter Michel Thomas!
I know some people hold it against this program that he is not a native speaker. But he has a better grasp of making those hard grammar points easy than many natives of the languages he teaches, including English.
I'm a native Speaker of English born and raised in the USA, yet I don't think I'd be a very good teacher of the English language. I live in Chicago now and have had coworkers who are originally from Poland, Mexico, India, etc. ask me to explain certain grammatical points in English.
I fail miserably with my explaination. Usually I just tell them, "I have no idea, it just feels right to say it that way."
WIth Michel Thomas you'll learn another language but at the same time come away with a deeper understanding of your own language. I love the few moments in the beginners and Advanced courses where he expounds on the English language.
So please don't be distracted by the fact he is not a native speaker. If you are around Spanish speakers in your community or just watch Univision or telenovelas you should be fine. There's also a few programs that are great to use after this program to help in that aspect.
One of the things most people will complain about is the male student. He stutters alot, messes up frequently and mispronounces puede throughout the CD. You can hear Michel Thomas close to losing his temper.(I'm surprised the publishers didn't edit that out!) It's almost funny. Actually it is funny. I didn't find it distracting at all. In fact I found that my ego was lifted. I was learning faster than he was. I also found myself correcting him often. It made me feel that in this class of three(two students on the cd with Michel plus the listener) that I was an A+ student!
At the end of the Cd I wasn't fluent but it made me hungry for more. I immediately bought the Advanced CD!
Since I went through the Advanced I find that I can conjugate verbs at the drop of a hat without thinking too much. A plus is that there are two new students on the advanced and the male student is much improved. (sounds rather handsome actually.....) but that's for another review.
I admit that there wasn't alot of vocab taught but you can pick it up. In fact it will be that much easier to do after going through these CD's. Michel is a genius. One of the first words he teaches is the pronoun- IT.
I might not know the word for a certain item but i can just point to it and ask How much is it, Where is it, Can I buy it, Look at it, I want it, Do you want it? Did you get it? etc.etc. etc. and through a bit of conversation I will learn the word and without realizing it practice my conversation and listening skills.
Michel knew he couldn't teach all the vocab in the Spanish language, but just learning the word -IT- will open up so many possibilities.
Just listen to a toddler talk.
My son who is 2 will constantly say sentences such as the above if he doesn't know the word.
My son pointing to a paintbrush- "I want it."
ME- "Oh...you want the paintbrush"
My son- " Yes, I want the paintbrush."
Genius. Now he knows the word and how to put it into a sentence. Just like we students of MT will learn to do. We might not know all the words in a Spanish dictionary but MT will give us the tools to obtain it in a conversational manner.
Michel will teach you high frequency verbs I realize my son uses quite frequenly, I want, you want, I need, You need, etc. pretty much the basics for getting one's point across. My son doesn't want to learn when the next train arrives, he just wants to speak with his mommy and daddy. This course won't teach you touristy phrases but it will lay the foundation of communication!
We don't give children vocab lists in order to speak English. We talk to them. That's how they learn. We could all take a lesson from how kids learn and WHAT they learn. Why not with spanish? I suspect Michel did quite a bit of observing the way little children pick up languages with their parents and incorporated it into his program.
My recommendation is after this program buy the Advanced Spanish course. Your knowledge of the past tense will multiply tremendously.
After finishing the Basic and Advanced I went through Margarita Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish. It really complemented the MT Method. In fact I wonder if they knew each other because their explanations of the preterite/imperfect tense are identical.
After Madrigal I bought a download of Learning Spanish Like Crazy which I feel is great for prounciation practice after MT and is actually quite fun. Don't be put off by what appears to be the cult of LSLC , it actually is a good program so far. I'm almost done with LSLC Level 1 and am pleased with it and will be buying Level 2 soon.
I also started up Platiquemos Level 1 which is a more comprehensive Spanish Program. I tried it before attempting any of these other programs and immediately shut the book. I wasn't ready. It looked too difficult.
After Michel Thomas and Madrigal I am up for the challenge. I've gone through the first few units thus far and like what I see and am acutally enjoying it. MT, Madrigal and LSLC still left a few gaps in my Spanish knowledge which I hope Platiquemos can fill.
Nontheless Michel Thomas started the ball rolling and for that I will be forever grateful.
This has been a long review and I could have summed it up by basically saying- MIchel Thomas is the FIRST Spanish resource one should buy.
Anyone remember the bible story about the man who built their house on sand? Build your Spanish house on a rock and it will not fall. The MT method will be your rock.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great learning tool!
Comment: I took 5 years of spanish classes and I learned more about speaking the language in the first 3 CD's than in class. Michel Thomas makes it easy to learn and to remember. I am only on disk 5 but I am really happy so far. The only downside is that the male student on the disks is sort of clueless, it's a little frusterating. I would definitely recommend this, especially if you spend a lot of time in your car.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Decent course with some flaws.
Comment: This course is like being a fly on the wall of a room with an elderly instructor and a male and female student. You wait for the instructor to ask how to say something, pause playback, say it, then restart playback and see how you did when the other students respond and are either corrected or congratulated. The American female student is congratulated far more than corrected, and the opposite is true for the British male.
The British student does a fine job of stripping that erudite veneer off an otherwise intelligent-sounding Oxford accent. To say he's a slow learner is the understatement of the century. You'll find yourself rolling your eyes at his incessant mistakes. He stubbornly refuses to grasp many topics. Mr. Thomas can barely contain his exasperation at times during the recordings. The American girl, on the other hand, manages to grasp things at a respectable pace that keeps things moving along. It's funny because a few lessons in, you notice Mr. Thomas start to direct more of his questions toward the American girl for the sake of everyone's sanity. The only other odd thing about the recording is Mr. Thomas' issues with salivary management. I can just imagine him spitting as he talks.
I'm on Lesson 5 of 8 so far. Each lesson does a good job of creating a foundation for the later lessons. You get to learn new things while solidifying the earlier topics in your head. Each lesson seems to progress at a manageable pace.
I'm listening to this, then doing Rosetta Stone, and then language school in my attempt to gain fluency in Spanish.
UPDATE:
I'm now nearly done with the 7th of 8 lessons in the series. I continue to learn alot easily. Overall I still really like the course, but I must say the British guy REALLY detracts from the quality of it. He is painful to listen to as he eviscerates spanish pronunciation and laboriously stutters every answer. Thankfully, the recordings seem to focus on him less as time progresses. I'd suggest that Michel Thomas Inc. somehow find a way to re-record this course without someone so hopelessly inept to have to listen to. If it weren't for him, these recordings would get a very solid 5 stars.
No passport required!
The world’s greatest language teacher is at your side. "There's no such thing as a bad student--just a bad teacher."
--Michel Thomas No books. No writing. No drills. And nothing to memorize-- ever! With his patented method, Michel Thomas has taught languages to top celebrities and--through his bestselling audio programs--more than a million everyday learners around the world. At the end of this ten-CD beginner’s program, you will have acquired: - A full working vocabulary
- Essential comprehension skills
- Complete language confidence
Don't try to memorize specific words or expressions. It is a basic principle of the Michel Thomas™ method that the responsibility for the student’s learning lies with the teacher. With Michel Thomas as your teacher, your learning will be based on understanding--and what you understand, you do not forget! Included in this package:
- 10 audio CDs--including the two-CD Speak Spanish Get Started Kit and 2 review CDs
- Program booklet
- Zippered travel case
Celebrities who have learned with the Michel Thomasâ„¢ method:
- Princess Grace of Monaco
- Barbra Streisand
- Woody Allen
- Warren Beatty
- Bob Dylan
- Emma Thompson . . . and many more
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