This course shows up everywhere, and people seem to praise it, but as of yet I can’t work out what is so good about it. I believe most of the reviews are either fake, or I have strange standards
Firstly, there is WAY WAY too much English. Language courses that speak slowly and loudly in English drive me insane. I want to hear more of the target language. I also hate being asked to translate Spanish phrases back into English in the exercises.
Secondly, the presenters are incredibly patronising. The woman on the course talks to you as if you are completely stupid, and even talks about things unnecessary for learning Spanish. They cover about 20-30 seconds of material in a long, stretched out 20 minute audio file.
The course seems solely designed for the US market. They don’t include vocabularly that may be useful if you are from elsewhere.
The course doesn’t mention or state the differences about the Spanish spoken in Spain.
Finally, the course and dialogs are very boring. The usual, buying a coffee, ordering a ticket, etc…
I’d be interested if anyone could recommend to me any good Spanish books or courses that AREN’T similar to the above. I know such courses exist for languages (but are very hard to find), as I have used similar
@wieworka - I’m not sure what you’re expecting here but, of course, we are going to recommend LingQ! Why do you need anything else?.. Having said that, at the absolute beginner stage these types of courses can help you. However, they will largely be like the course you seem to have bought already. They feed you the language in small pieces so you don’t get overwhelmed and therefore feel like you’re having some success. However, in fact you learn very little. If you spend your time instead plowing through the beginner collections on LingQ, you will be much further ahead. Yes, you will have to deal with some uncertainty initially when there are things you don’t fully understand but you will understand them in time with more exposure. You can also post on the Ask a tutor forum when you have specific questions and a native speaker will answer you quickly.
If you have any questions at all, ask them here. Trust me, you won’t get too much English in your lessons! All your listening will be in Spanish.
Hey wei I have Rocket Spanish II, and everything that Mark and you yourself have said is true. I either have or have tried almost all of those type of courses except Rosetta Stone. Everything I would have said about it…you already said lol! Of course I’m gonna recommend Lingq, but as far as books, I have a top 4 must have list for Spanish. They are (in no particular order) #1. Breaking Out of Beginner’s Spanish #2. ‘‘Speaking Spanish Like a Native’’ (this focuses on Mexican idiomatic Spanish #3. ‘‘Madrigal’s Magical Key To Spanish" and #4. "The Ultimate Spanish Phrase Finder’’ Those are the only books I feel are needed. Of course they don’t really help with comprehension, but they teach you how Spanish is really spoken by everyday people. The focus on most of those books is on Mexican and South American Spanish.
I would add “Cassell’s Colloquial Spanish–A Handbook of Idiomatic Usage,” revised by A. Bryson Gerrard, to talturios’s list. However, the book may be out of print. Not a dictionary, but a guide to common usage, pitfalls, and so on. Not really for beginners, though they can profit from it. And fun to read just on its own.
And the usual caution: check it out at your library before you spend your hard-earned cash on it.
I once did own the French version of Cassell’s guide, but it was only a pale imitation of the Spanish guide. Been a while, so maybe it’s improved by now.
I have tried Rocket German as well as the beginner sets of both Rosetta Stone for German and Tell Me More for German. They helped ruin my interest in learning German. LinqQ is the more efficient and lasting way to go.
I’d say that while I do a lot of my study here at LingQ, I also use other resources. I believe that , unlike Mark suggests - although I understand his bias haha - it’s good to do other things too. (Even Steve himself doesn’t do 100% on LingQ). But, I’d never, ever do Rocket Spanish…
Talturios - Madrigal’s Magical Key To Spanish - awesome book. The series is really great.
In principle, I believe that you don’t really need anything other than LingQ. But if it’s a case of needing some novelty or variety to keep things interesting, then using other courses etc might be a good idea.
If I were living in the country, I’m quite confident I would learn the language to a relatively high level just by using it in real life, and by using LingQ at home. (By the way, when I say ‘using LingQ’, it also refers to listening on my mp3 player, which doesn’t really have much to do with LingQ itself, at least in the case of radio programs).
I agree with Peter. For the sake of variety, I think that LingQ + accessories of your choice is a great way to go. For me it’s LingQ + a few choice books in Spanish of differing levels to read when I feel ready. A portable player for listening to lessons can make a big difference as well.
@wiewiorka Man, that sounds like a bad program. I don’t have any other programs to suggest…
Just to make it clear, I also buy books. We benefit from a variety of approaches and a variety of materials. Overwhelmingly I use LingQ but sometimes I would rather sit down and review a Teach Yourself book rather than read something on my iPad, just sometimes.
For me there are two experiences which lead me to want to use both LingQ and grammar/textbooks.
Firstly: I’ll find that I can read a particular grammar point and won’t get it at all. I’ll see it a few times in a text and understand it.
Secondly: I’ll see something numerous times in a text and just can’t quite grasp what it’s trying to say. Then I’ll check it in a book and…it all becomes so clear.
Most things become clear in the reading and listening. This is why these activities are dominant.
@kcb - Ha ha yeah it is pretty bad, the only thing I have found useful about it are the PDF extras which include some basic grammar and exercises.
I know this is obviously a LingQ-biased forum, but at the moment LingQ only plays a small part in my Spanish learning. I use the writing utility, and also some of the lessons, but I have the problem where my level in Spanish is too basic to read and listen to more complex and ‘interesting’ material, so I tend to spend more time away from LingQ at the beginners level. I use the podcasts on ‘www.notesinspanish.com’ and also the CBS showtime Spanish podcasts on iTunes. Both of these are designed for beginners, but the content is actually interesting, a not different variations on how to buy a train ticket. I’m very interested on how people solely use LingQ to learn the language!
On the other hand, for my Polish which I’m at an intermediate level in, I use LingQ much more. I import my own content mostly, and just read and highlight words I don’t know. However, I still spend more time outside of LingQ listening to podcasts, watching TV and reading books.
I think my problem is I don’t like to repeat the same content over and over again, and it feels like I’m trying to force my brain to remember something. Although the Spanish lessons are good on LingQ, once I’ve listened to one of the lessons once or twice, I move on to find something else (even if I don’t understand everything)
“I’m very interested on how people solely use LingQ to learn the language!” - Perhaps it takes a bit of a leap of faith, but I did it with Spanish from scratch (post-French), and I’m happy with my level after about 14 months.
Yes, it is a LingQ-biased forum. But it doesn’t mean that those who advocate using LingQ (almost) exclusively haven’t tried many other systems.
By the way, there is SOOOO much very basic content in the Spanish library on LingQ, so I don’t think that not having a great level is a valid reason to go elsewhere (I’m not saying that you need to have a reason to go elsewhere, but hopefully you know what I mean).
I did use the Notes in Spanish podcasts as well, and I really enjoyed them. Although I didn’t pay for the transcripts, I just listened to them and studied LingQ lessons separately. Some people don’t like them because one of the two speakers is non-native.
I’ve found very weird course on the web named synergy spanish as you list above.
Love voice and teaching is fantastic, just the right tempo and great visuals. It seems very good learning method.
What would you say about this method and learning?
here is the link : Synergy Spanish - Synergy Spanish
