Instant Immersion Spanish v2.0

As far as pure audio sets go this one is excellent. Most language CD's/tapes ask you to parrot their material, expecting you to figure out the grammer rules some other time. This does both, so you can build sentences beyond the practice phrases. The spanish is "high" Spanish. It is articulate and given at three speeds- slow, medium, then conversational.

I am very disappointed with this language program. This CD gives you very little chance to practice phrases and vocabulary (as opposed to most language programs that have you listen and repeat over and over). Plus, the exact pronunciations are difficult to hear making it impossible to develop any confidence in your speaking abilities. With so many language programs available, I would never recommend this one.

We are considering a visit to South America one day, so I figured I better start cracking the books and acquiring Spanish. I found these tapes in the back of my bookshelf, forgetting I ever had them. They are quite good, if you want to be able to hear and converse in simple Spanish. But it helps to know how to use them.

Having gone through immersion Japanese at Middlebury College and having taught ESL, I have a few ideas about learning a foreign language that I will share.

After I've heard a new conversation a few times, I divide an index card into two sides, and I write down the conversation I think I heard (one conversant on the left side of the card, the other conversant on the right side). Then I memorize the conversation. I make a card for each conversation. I take the cards with me on the bus and review them in my spare time.

Undoubtedly there will be words and phrases I can't "hear" and I can't spell. Therefore I consult a dictionary so I can put something helpful on my card. But I keep referring back to the tape, not written material. Of course I refer to books and dictionaries that explain pronunciation rules and grammar. But I am trying to acquire the language by hearing it and speaking it first, then reading and writing it later.

I review the conversation cards and the tapes every day. When I listen to the tapes I try imitating the speakers at the same time they are talking. Since I've been memorizing the conversations, I'm getting better at keeping up with the speakers on the tapes.

Please, try this. Don't be surprised after several days of intense listening, memorizing, and imitating, you get a headache. But it is amazing, if you do this every day, after a few weeks your ears and mouth will start to open up.

I like this way, as opposed to studying Spanish by reading it first, because it becomes easy to fall into the habit of not "hearing" the spoken language unless I've got written materials to consult before I hear the material. This is what happened to me in the years I studied Japanese, and I think that bad habit made my immersion experience at Middlebury more painful than it should have been. So I am going about this the opposite way - acquiring it aurally and orally first, then learning to read and write it later.

This audio immerses you too fast. Each CD adds words and conjugations in no particular order. It's very confusing to someone who has no background in Spanish. The words are very hard to understand without seeing the spellings. I can't even understand the words I do know in Spanish. S and F sound too much the same. They should only do this if they include video. Sound is not enough for a beginner.