Living Language Spanish, Complete Edition

I took high school Spanish 30 years ago and remembered almost nothing. I used this set to prepare for a trip to Mexico, and later, Spain. I used the Duolingo app a little bit too, but it was way too slow and far less practical. This is much better! I think people who say this series is too difficult maybe aren't taking it slow enough. Perhaps they're not using the books. You have to use both the CDs and the books. Also it's helpful to add supplementary materials. I really like Why Not Spanish and the Spanish Dude (he has terrible pronunciation but has some useful ways for learning grammar). Also you can listen along to children's stories on YouTube with subtitles. Another thing you can do is change your smartphone and Google map navigation over to Spanish once you get to book 2. Write your shopping lists in Spanish. I changed an Amazon Echo to Spanish as well, and set Alexa to speak slowly. Even the English-speaking Alexa can tell you words. The new bilingual feature doesn't seem to work very well, unfortunately. "Alexa how do I say 'the blanket' in Spanish?" works great. It's very useful daily practice with vocabulary. The CDs are excellent, although I agree with others that the CDs that accompany book 1 are by far the best. By books two and three, you shouldn't need to hear endless pronunciation of vocabulary words because Spanish follows strict rules. The conversations are the best part. The best thing of all while learning is to suck up your courage and practice *in conversation* using the Spanish that you have learned from these books and other sources. When I was done with book one, I started using Skype to chat with Spanish speaking people in other countries. (Language exchange. Half the time is spent in English and half the time in your target language). There are several sites for this and I used the language exchange program through Dickinson College, the Mixxer. Because I was such a beginner, at first I needed to partner with intermediate or better English skills because they had to smooth the path for me. I didn't even know how to use Skype, and a language partner from Madrid explained how. It's nearly 1 and 1/2 years later, and now I'm an intermediate Spanish speaker and I have friends in Spain. I can talk all day in Spanish about most anything. Sure, my grammar isn't great, and I need a lot more vocabulary, and I still can't do all the verb conjugations (subjunctive mood) but I can handle almost any situation now. Talk about a life changer! This was a *great* program but it takes time for your brain to grow into another language. With consistent daily practice, your brain will want to do this. I pushed through to book 3 and learned about subjunctive mood and things like that, but I'm still not proficient with those. I think it's better to limit the kinds of verbs you use and converse more fluently, and add the more complicated stuff later or else you'll just confuse yourself. The same thing with the direct and indirect object pronouns... Just go ahead and talk like Tarzan and leave those out until later in your language journey. Learning a language is an active thing, and it's a lifestyle change. If you don't get out there and talk with people in Spanish, regularly, you're never going to learn it. Nowadays with the internet, you can do immersion learning right at home, with Skype and YouTube videos. It's truly amazing. So these excellent materials were my first step to learning Spanish. The books will get you to a point where you can start conversing about everyday topics, and then go find a language partner with similar interests and hobbies and learn that vocabulary, and you're on your way! If a friend of mine wanted to learn Spanish, I would definitely recommend that they begin with this set, and work through the books all the way to the end, while supplementing with other things.

This set comes with a total of 9 audio CDs, 3 for the Beginning level, 3 for the Intermediate level, and 3 for the Advanced level, and has a book to correspond with each level. The books are a combination textbook-workbook. The CDs and books are designed to be used together: the content on the audio CDs is printed in the books. But there is additional content (exercises) in the books that are not on the CDs. Although you can just listen to a CD in your car while driving, for example, or read in one of the books at bedtime without playing the audio for it, having a study time and using one of the CDs together with the book is a terrific way to learn. The practice exercises are interspersed throughout each lesson (and the answer key is printed on the same page making it easy to check my answers). I like to pause the CD and do the practice exercises as I come to them in the book, rather than going through the whole audio for the lesson and going back to the exercises afterwards. In the audio lessons you listen and repeat. Listening and repeating means I learn to pronounce the Spanish words correctly as I learn them. Being able to read along as I listen also helps me to "tune my ear" to the Spanish sounds of the words, and recognize them more easily the next time I hear them. The CDs also include conversations that are great for improving comprehension of spoken Spanish. After reading along with a lesson, I listen a second, or even third time without reading along. This has really helped improve my comprehension. I like this program better than a formal Spanish class because it costs a lot less, I can move at my own pace through the lessons, and I can repeat anything as many times as it takes to learn it. I like that the program incorporates the vocabulary I have just learned into complete sentences and practice exercises, both of which help with retention of the vocabulary, and the overall learning process. I found this set at the public library near my house, and liked it so much that I I kept re-checking it out until someone else requested it. I wanted to own it, but figured it would be cost-prohibitive for me. When I saw I could buy the whole set for under $30, I was thrilled. The content of this set is huge for the cost. No doubt about it, this set is well worth the money!

It's really best book for Spanish learner especially who wants to do self study. I'm also studying it and its work out part is helpful for self test.

I love this course it's well-structured, nicely paced . the exercises or engaging.. I've got half way through the book in one day I was that motivated. This is great for complete beginners or people already with a little bit of Spanish or a significant knowledge of Spanish. I haven't yet listened to the CDs as I will do that on my commute to work to supplement the work I have done in the book. Would definitely recommend. I love the way certain explanations of grammar I worded so clearly and easy to understand

This is what I have wanted for a long time. When studying English, audio texts are essential. But I couldn't find good ones for Spanish learners in Japan. Now that I have this set, I look forward to learning Spanish with this.

Un sistema molto utile per ripassare e migliorare sia il vocabolario sia la grammatica. Un altro sistema molto utile e più approfondito è Bienvenido al Espanol.

J'ai déjà le manuel d'italien et de russe, j'attends l'allemand et je compte acquérir autant de manuels possible de cette collection, qui est à ma connaissance la meilleure du marché, et je collectionne les méthodes de toutes les époques pour une bonne vingtaine de langues maintenant. Il faut comprendre l'anglais, mais si vous avez du mal, testez le manuel de français, qui logiquement devrait vous enseigner l'anglais ou monter votre niveau en anglais tout en tentant de vous enseigner le français. 9 CD sont inclus (attention, c'est le modèle carton éjectable : vous ouvrez et les CD déjà en balade s'envolent dans toutes les directions), trois livres qui ont l'air épais, plus un cahier aux pages vierges pour prendre des notes - niveau essentiel, intermédiaire et avancé : c'est remarquablement conçu et expliqué, la présentation aérée et efficace, tous les exercices nécessaires pour activer progressivement ses compétences, les voix sont naturelles et les phrases produisent l'équivalent d'une immersion. La progression thématique est identique quelle que soit la langue enseignée (quels mots, quels phrases pour quelle situation), ce qui accélère l'apprentissage des langues suivantes avec la même méthode si vous cherchez à devenir polyglotte ou si vous étudiez la linguistique et que vous voulez savoir de quoi vous parlez pour de vrai. La progression thématique est ensuite brillamment exploitée pour une prise en main parfaite et complète des éléments grammaticaux dès la première leçon. Chaque volume est complété par un guide de prononciation, une grammaire remarquablement claire et les lexiques anglais / espagnol, espagnol / anglais du vocabulaire.. Les défauts : il s'agit "seulement" de parler couramment, et de devenir autonome. Si je compare avec certains cours Assimil de breton ou des vrais cours de latin du 18ème et 19ème siècle, ou encore les deux épais volumes d'une méthode de Japonais, on peut aller plus loin. Le problème étant que ces cours plus exhaustifs ou massifs, aussi précieux qu'ils soient ne permettent pas de parler la langue aussi rapidement et aussi spontanément, en tout cas dans les mêmes situations. Donc je dirais que Living Language est le meilleur compromis à ma connaissance, et tient toutes ses promesses. Pour le français que je suis, l'espagnol est vraiment du gâteau, au point que je peux suivre à l'oreille les derniers cours même si je n'ai pas retenu les premiers cours. Si on ne retient pas un cours, il suffit de repasser les disques et relire les bouquins. On peut suivre séparément les cours écrit et les cours audio, par exemple lire d'abord l'écrit, puis ensuite écouter l'oral ou l'inverse. Seule condition comme pour tous les cours de langue : répéter à haute voix les phrases en contexte, et pratiquer au quotidien, sans quoi impossible d'avoir les bons réflexes.