Total Spanish Course: Learn Spanish with the Michel Thomas Method: Beginner Spanish Audio Course Audio CD – Unabridged, 27 Jun. 2014

Having decided, a little over two years ago, and fairly late in life, to try to learn Spanish, I started buying self tuition courses, text books, dictionaries, phrase books - the works basically. Luckily my blind trawl of instructional material also brought in, totally by chance, the Michel Thomas 8 CD course.Initially it was very difficult for a total novice to rate specific methods of instruction or individual courses, but as time went by some things became clear to me. Such as:1> To the average person (to me for certain) learning another language is NOT EASY!!2> Too many of the teaching products available, perhaps all, (even Michel Thomas) come with promises of early / instant / painless success. Such claims are obviously designed to encourage us to buy the product. Such is the way of marketing. Such claims are used to sell everything from special golf clubs which will bring you into single figures within a month to aftershave guaranteed to, well ..... .We know this stuff is all NONSENSE (don't we?).3> These ridiculously optimistic claims attaching to most language instructional products have the effect of building up in us unreasonable expectations of early proficiency. The truth is that, for the vast majority of us, the forecasted early proficiency IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.4> Because of these unachievable expectations, what is likely to happen is that in the absence of the anticipated progress we will become hugely disappointed in ourselves. We will lose confidence. We will feel that we are incapable. The book, tape, CD, DVD promised us success in three months. And after perhaps 6 months of fairly diligent work we are not very far advanced at all. We are very likely to feel things like "I can't do this. I must be a fool. I must be unable to learn a new language. There is no point in continuing. I'm giving up".My advice is to BEWARE OF THAT REACTION, because ...5> You certainly ARE ABLE to learn a new language - but it's NOT EASY. Think in terms of "years" instead of "months" and think "hobby" instead of "study"; think "enjoyment" instead of "work" and think of the new friends you will make along the way, including Spanish guys and gals who are finding English equally as difficult to become halfway fluent in as we are finding Spanish.So, DO NOT GIVE UP. It will happen. But not as fast as they have all told you.6> If, in my early Spanish days, I had not happened on the Michel Thomas course I think that it is very likely that I would have given up in despair. It is true that almost any tuition course or book, CD, or DVD which aims to teach Spanish is bound to contribute something to one's knowledge. But I can report that some of these products are INCREDIBLY poor, and in varying degrees are inaccessible, dull, illogical, unnecessarily difficult, misleading and self-contradictory. Some are better than others and I acknowledge that I have not tried all the products on the market. There may indeed be some very good ones available. But, in my opinion, the general standard is not high.7> Michel Thomas' teaching method is, in my opinion, LIGHT YEARS ahead of any other that I have encountered. Its superiority is to be found not just in the excellent and enjoyable method that he uses (you become the third student in a virtual class) but even more importantly in the course content. This content opens the door to your use of the language. As Michel Thomas describes it, it gives us the tools with which we can build the language. It is no idle claim. Trust me. If you want to learn Spanish this is where you should start. If you have already started and are finding things tough you should still go here, or to one of his other two more advanced courses mentioned below.8> But remember this. For almost everybody, it is NOT easy to learn a new language. So when progress comes slowly don't get discouraged. Listen to one Michel Thomas disc every day for 6 months. And do the basics besides - learn the Spanish alphabet and how to pronounce each letter; learn the days of the week; the months; learn how to count to a thousand, how to tell the time and other basic stuff that will occur to you along the way, none of which is covered by Michel Thomas (and that's not a criticism - he is about different things).When you can get through this course without pressing the pause button very often, and with few mistakes, then you should buy the Michel Thomas Language Builder. And when you have mastered that - surprisingly quickly you will find, in perhaps 1 or 2 months - move on to the Michel Thomas Advanced Spanish, in my opinion another wonderful tuitional course.Highly recommended. Buy and enjoy. And..... Que tengas suerte.

I purchased this after buying the Paul Noble set. There is a clear difference between MT and PNAlthough PN does a lot of repetition and uses the same words it helped me remember the phrases, so now I can easily construct my own sentences as I learn more vocabulary.PN does go at a very slow pace and I particularly liked that, I know it may not appease everyone because some people can learn and retain information more quickly. I'm 52 and my learning capacity is not like it used to be.However when I started on the MT cd it was far more superior from disc one. You learn a lot more vocabulary and it seems a more natural way to speak, he appears to use everyday language. I'm only up to CD three and I've learnt more in them 3 CD,s than I did in the whole course of PN.You can do a PN CD and normally retain the information without having to go back. With MT there is so much in one disc I find I have to listen to each CD at least three times to retain and understand the information. So value wise you get a lot more for your money from MT.You can also tell that PN has been heavily influenced by MT.PN uses native speakers from Latin America and Spain which helps you to understand the pronunciation, however MT uses two students. I liked MT use of the two students, it helped me pronounce the words correctly and I made the same mistakes as the students, so you literally feel as though you are the third student. Some people have complained that he corrects them too much, but without the correct pronunciation you may not be understood.I never had any problems understanding MT or had any hearing problems. I used a portable cd and covered ear phones.You can tell it's not an edited CD and its actual lessons but I liked this, as I said I really felt like the third student.You can also follow the lessons in the book that comes with the CDs unlike PN which does not follow the lessons exactly, this greatly assist you when you want to write Spanish.MT mastered 10 languages before he passed away and he definitly has introduced me to an easier way of learning a new language. I used to dread it when I was at schoolNow I'm really looking forward to holidaying in Spain and eventually moving there. Both CDs have given me a lot more confidence but overall I would give MT 5 stars for better value for money and PN 4 stars