MICHEL THOMAS SPANISH LANGUAGE BUILDER REVIEW

An independent language course review by Lisa Zealey

I tried this product with rusty GCSE Spanish and found it a great revision session. This Michel Thomas pack, the ‘Language Builder’, contains 2 CDs and a pocket-sized vocabulary book containing everything that is covered during the course. This is useful because it allows you to see how the words are spelt so you will be able to recognise them in written form when you are in the country. It is designed to follow on from the 8-hour Michel Thomas Spanish pack or can simply be used as a revision tool for someone who already has a little knowledge of Spanish.

The great thing about Michel Thomas is that he breaks down the language step-by-step to make things simple. He explains how sentences are constructed by translating them literally into English or relating the new word in Spanish to an English one. This way it makes the new vocabulary and structure easier to remember, particularly for those who are learning a language for the first time. I use the term ‘remember’ loosely because part of Michel’s technique is to make you ‘recall’ through logic rather than to ‘remember’. He tries to emphasise that there is no mystery and that anything new can be explained and broken down simply.

The great thing about Michel Thomas is that he breaks down the language step-by-step to make things simple.

As a female learner one of the main problems I found was the constant use of the masculine form when giving examples. Women trying to learn will not be so comfortable with feminine forms and would need extra practise after this course. He mentions the feminine form and reminds you that it exists but definitely not enough to realise where you are going wrong. He tends to focus on sentence structure rather than essential vocabulary and although structure is very important, you would also need to put in some of your own work on vocabulary if you were to go to Spain on holiday or to work, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to buy train tickets, meals etc. with confidence.

A difference between this and the 8-hour pack is that there are no students to listen to. While the first 8 hours is a ‘virtual classroom’ setting where you are the third student can be really helpful at first, the Language Builder CDs just contain Michel Thomas speaking which personally I think helps you to learn at a quicker rate. Hearing where the students go wrong the first time is interesting, but to hear their mistakes a second time round is quite boring and it is quicker just to let Michel do the talking.

A problem for me was that only the formal ‘you’ is used so people like myself who are trying Michel Thomas for reasons other than formal speech will not be familiar with the use of the informal address and will end up using the formal ‘you’ with close friends. I think it would be better to have both forms in order to demonstrate a concept that we don’t have in English and to cater for students who are learning for familiar speech.

Michel has a great technique and the fact that it is completely audio is great for someone who has little time to sit down and study. After a few listens it will definitely make a difference to your confidence in the language.

All is all, it is definitely a good next step if you have got basic grounding in the language and the booklet with this pack is a handy reference guide. It’s a shame there is no continuation after this because it all stops when you feel like you’re getting somewhere. Michel has a great technique and the fact that it is completely audio is great for someone who has little time to sit down and study. After a few listens it will definitely make a difference to your confidence in the language.

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MICHEL THOMAS ITALIAN LANGUAGE BUILDER REVIEW

An independent language course review by Andrea Martins

BUONGIORNO!!

Having learnt Italian to GCSE level a few years ago, I felt that although I wasn’t exactly a beginner anymore I needed to revise what I had learnt and practice speaking it again. Using the Michel Thomas Italian Language Builder pack would ‘refresh rusty Italian’ and ‘quickly boost your confidence to speak everyday Italian’. This sounded just what I needed!

The pack comprises of two CDs and is a two-hour Language Builder course that caters for those who have either done the Michel Thomas 8-hour course or for those who have never done one of his courses but want to revise what they have learnt. I had already been exposed to Michel Thomas’ method of teaching via the Introductory French course and so felt comfortable using his same method to build on my Italian.

I had already been exposed to Michel Thomas’ method of teaching via the Introductory French course and so felt comfortable using his same method to build on my Italian.

The pack also comes with an accompanying booklet and nothing else. That’s to say that you are not meant to study anything or write anything down or memorise anything. Michel teaches the Language Builder course just by helping you to create your own sentences and phrases and build up vocabulary like building blocks. As opposed to the Michel Thomas French beginners course, Michel is the only person to be heard on the recording. There are no students learning with him this time, so you don’t feel that you are part of a study course.

Instead, we can listen to him creating sentences and phrases and building on them to create new sentences. We can also follow the booklet at the same time, but you don’t need to do this if you are on the go. We are encouraged to pause the CD after each new phrase so that we either repeat what Michel has said or anticipate what he is going to say. This is how you learn.

I found this way of learning much more intensive than when I studied the Michel Thomas French Beginners course. It is not as entertaining as the beginners’ pack and far more challenging. As I was using the pack on the train, in the car or lying on the sofa at home, I had to go back to certain places on the recording and without specific points on the CD to go back to, it was difficult to find my place again. We are supposed to make a note of the time on the CD player but this is difficult if you are not able to do this! I found that I had to repeat several areas … which is no bad thing I suppose!

The Michel Thomas Italian Language Builder begins with some easy words and phrases and then jumps suddenly using idioms that I don’t remember having learnt at GCSE level. Verb endings and gender terms are quickly introduced and then revised over and over but in different ways throughout the course. The past, present, and future tenses are all reviewed as well as the conditional (I would like to), gerund (-ing) and adjectives. These grammatical terms are not explained in great detail but are highlighted in shaded boxes in the booklet to signify that you need to learn these well before moving onto the next item.

What I found useful is the way that Michel associates many Italian words with English words. You feel that you know a lot more Italian than you thought you did. It’s very self-motivating and boosts your confidence!

Again, what I found useful (and I found this also in the beginners French course) is the way that Michel associates many Italian words with English words. Throughout the whole course, he uses sound or cultural recognitions to help us remember certain endings or words and some of these are highlighted in the booklet. For example, ‘comic’ in English is ‘comico’ in Italian; ‘capable of’ is ‘capace’ and so on. By highlighting these comparisons between the languages you feel that you know a lot more Italian than you thought you did. It’s very self-motivating and boosts your confidence!

There is the usual GSCE and introductory level content here: learning how to ask for things, how to talk about yourself, how to complain about things, how to ask for directions etc. But there is a lot more everyday conversational content on this course too. I found myself saying things like, ‘I had much to do’ (…avevo molto da fare), ‘I don’t have the time to do it’ (non ho il tempo di farlo), ‘I can’t bear the heat’ (non posso sopportare il caldo), and my favourite ‘Although, I’m sure that I will have many difficulties’ (comunque sono sicuro che avrò molti problemi)!

I feel a lot more confident in what I know of the Italian language and felt that I could really get stuck into a conversation with a fiery Italian!! Si diverta!

There is a lot more grammar and more difficult phrases, but not enough to be confusing. Certain phrases are repeated in different ways helping us to build on what we have already learnt. That is the point to Michel’s method of teaching; that the learner works out and creates their own sentences to build a whole conversation by themselves. This is a practical and functional way of learning spoken Italian. By using the booklet as well you can improve your spelling, reading and writing too. I feel a lot more confident in what I know of the Italian language and felt that I could really get stuck into a conversation with a fiery Italian!! Si diverta!

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MICHEL THOMAS GERMAN 8-HOUR COMPLETE COURSE REVIEW

An independent language course review by Lisa Zealey

The Michel Thomas 8-hour German course really gave me a head start when I tried it a year ago, before spending a week in West Germany on holiday. Michel’s technique of ‘audio only’- i.e. no books, pens or paper – is a far more flexible approach to language learning than most people are used to, simply because you don’t need to have any materials to do your study. I listened to these CDs on the train on my way to work, sitting in the bath and lying in bed! Michel gives the advice right from the beginning that you should be in a completely relaxed situation and have no tension in order to absorb the language taught so this is an ideal way to learn, especially for those like myself who find there are not enough hours in the day – no excuses now!

To someone who is thinking of buying this course, I think it is important to know that it is not like a phrase book and leaves out a lot of the ‘get-by’ vocabulary that you may need in Germany. What it does do though is give you a strong knowledge of the language grammatically so you have a good understanding of the ‘backbone’ of the language on which to build more and more vocabulary. Once you have the basic mechanics, you are over half way to communicating!

Michel Thomas gives you a strong knowledge of the language grammatically so you have a good understanding of the ‘backbone’ of the language on which to build more and more vocabulary.

So, how does it work? Michel Thomas’ technique is to record himself teaching two complete beginner students and for you to imagine you are the third student in his class. On these CDs he has one male and one female student in a classroom situation and I personally found it a very interesting and successful method. He starts off by introducing the language and usefully focuses on the similarities between English and German right from the beginning, talking about how many of the words we have already in our vocabulary are linked to German so in fact there is a lot we already know – definitely good news to a beginner! I found it a little confusing during the introduction when he started to talk about different sets of ‘pronunciation strings’ because it was hard to retain until put into context. His main point however, was that there are so many ways to ‘work out’ German words from English rather than have to remember them, eg, ‘to give’ is ‘geben’ because a ‘v’ in English often becomes a ‘b’ in German and verbs end in ‘-en’. He mentioned many other similar rules which certainly started to make sense and helped as time went on.

I found I could pick things up quite quickly by listening to him but it was useful to listen to each CD at least a couple of times before moving onto the next one. That way you really feel confident with what you know so far. Sometimes you can have the answer to something before the students and be ready to move on before they are but other times they can rush ahead and leave you feeling a little confused. This isn’t a problem – when you listen again it all becomes clear!

I’m sure your German accent will be much more convincing than that of the two students but Michel does a lot to correct pronunciation and is not happy until he hears each sound of each word! It’s just a case of practice, practice – no cheating allowed!

Michel insists that it is very important that you take time to think of your sentence grammatically and ‘work it out’ without rushing it. So the use of the pause button is essential for thinking it through. After listening to just the first few CDs you realise that you really can start to make your own phrases. His teaching allows grammar to be learned in a flexible way and completely avoids learning phrases by heart.

To assist you with retaining vocabulary, Michel often translates expressions literally into English or makes links through word association to help you remember some things. One example is the German word ‘bald’ meaning ‘soon’ (to be ‘bald soon’) and ‘heute abend’ meaning ‘tonight’ (literally ‘today evening’) – so no surprises there! Breaking expressions and sentences into their components avoids any mystery in the language such as when he introduced the phrase ‘es tut mir leid’ which is the equivalent to ‘I’m sorry’, but literally – ‘it does to me sorrow’.

The word order in German is something that can seem a little confusing at first but with practice becomes second nature and just starts to ‘sound right’. Michel constantly revises grammatical points so if it’s not quite clear immediately there’s no need to keep rewinding – he will come back to it!

The word order in German is something that can seem a little confusing at first but with practice becomes second nature and just starts to ‘sound right’.

By the end of CD 1 (only the first hour) your longest sentence will be “I don’t know where it is, I can’t find it”. Not bad going for the first lesson!

By CD 3 things get a little more tricky grammatically, but it is certainly worth persevering. Michel jokes with the students and talks them through their mistakes. By the end of CD 3 you will move onto expressing the future and make phrases such as “Will you please bring it to me” and (on CD 4) “I am going to stay at home today because I am very tired” covering some crucial German grammar points without you even realising it. By the end of CD 8, however, you will be combining all kinds of points of grammar covered throughout the whole course and you will certainly have achieved a lot, including a variety of different tenses. You can even move on to do a further two hours as a follow up if you are really keen – the Michel Thomas German Language Builder.

As I mentioned at the beginning there is a lot of vocabulary that you may need when visiting Gemany that is not covered in this course. From experience I would recommend combining this course with the Teach Yourself Instant German. They complement each other very well because Michel Thomas is more structure based, while ‘Instant German’ covers a lot of essential vocabulary to give you the confidence you need for your visit. With these two courses fully completed and a small phrasebook and dictionary to take with you for those tricky situations it is the recipe for success in Germany!

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MICHEL THOMAS FRENCH 2-HOUR COURSE REVIEW

An independent language course review by Andrea Martins

French is still one of the most popular languages to learn in the UK today. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t really like French at school and didn’t use any French until a few months ago when I met my French boyfriend’s parents for the first time! My almost forgotten bits of ‘school’ French from all those years ago, were just not enough to hold a conversation with them. So I set myself the task of learning some French phrases, using the Michel Thomas French 2-hour Introductory language pack. It is available on CDs and on cassette.

My pack is made up of two tapes – it’s a two hour introductory course to the longer 8-hour Michel Thomas French course. It prides itself upon its mantra of ‘no books, no writing’ and ‘just confidence – in hours’. Having always learnt languages the academic way, by going to classes and studying grammar books until dawn, I was very curious to know how you could learn a language using this seemingly very unacademic way!

The first side of tape one begins with Michel Thomas talking about how languages are ordinarily learnt (via studying books with grammar and verbs and so on). Michel claims that you can build up your knowledge of a language just by breaking things down and thinking everything out step by step. He also encourages us to listen and learn whilst in a relaxed state, as stress or outside influences will detract from our learning.

Michel claims that you can build up your knowledge of a language just by breaking things down and thinking everything out step by step.

So I spent the two hours listening to the course and making my own notes now and again. Although you are not encouraged to memorise anything or write anything down, I felt inspired to write down interesting comments or ideas that Michel mentioned during the tape.

After Michel’s introduction we are then introduced to his two learners who are both at the same level as us: the beginner. As the tape went on I felt that I was there with Michel and the other two learners, which made me feel more involved in the learning process.

Michel teaches us words and then phrases by building on them step by step. He treats the words as building blocks to phrases. Before you know it you are saying an incredibly long sentence purely based on the words that you have learnt and built on. On the first side of the first tape, we are encouraged to pause the tape after a bleep. This is so that we have sufficient time in the early stages to repeat the words and phrases at our own pace. Later though, the bleeps are gone and we are left to pause it if we want to.

What I found particularly helpful was the way that Michel associated many French words with English words. Throughout the course, he would use sound and cultural recognitions to help us remember certain endings or words. For example, English words ending in ‘ance’ or ‘ence’, he says, come from French, such as ‘difference’ or ‘importance’. By changing the pronunciation we are suddenly speaking French! How easy is that?!

English words ending in ‘ance’ or ‘ence’, he says, come from French, such as ‘difference’ or ‘importance’. By changing the pronunciation we are suddenly speaking French! How easy is that?!

Or he would use French words that are currently in our everyday English such as ‘soirée’, ‘alley’ (from aller – to go), ‘encore’, or ‘au revoir’ which helped build up my confidence because I realised that I actually knew a lot of French without even knowing it!! This word association really helped me to remember the French words. It would also help me in the future to recognise the similarities between English and French. I thought this was a particularly useful way of learning a language.

Throughout the course, there is a gradual introduction of verbs and verb endings, as well as pronouns, adjectives, word gender and question words. However, Michel does not want to bog us down with the grammatical side to French. He is more interested in ensuring that we build phrases and understand the links between English and French words.

Everything is broken down into bite-size pieces which make it a lot easier to understand and to build long sentences. I learnt how to ask for a glass of wine or coffee to suddenly asking ‘what impression do you have of the political and economic situation in France today?’. How impressive is this for a beginner?! Nothing is forced and nothing is really difficult to remember because all the word and phrase learning flows really well and that’s why you find yourself saying long sentences without much difficulty.

Even my French boyfriend was impressed by how much French I had learnt in such a short space of time.

After having completed the two hour tapes, I felt that I had learnt an awful lot of French and would be happy to continue studying French as I now feel quite confident in what I have learnt so far. Even my French boyfriend was impressed by how much French I had learnt in such a short space of time. The Michel Thomas 2-hour introductory course is just that: an introduction to the language. It’s great for complete novices or beginners who want to get a feel for the language.

A bientôt!

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MICHEL THOMAS ADVANCED SPANISH REVIEW

An independent language course review by Sarah Maddocks

The Michel Thomas 5-hour Advanced Spanish language course is an audio-only course (strictly no pens, paper or books) which follows on from the 8-hour course. The course is for advanced students (the title of ‘Michel Thomas Advanced Spanish’ makes this slightly obvious) but also for people who want a refresher course in a language they have already learnt to quite a good level. It follows Michel Thomas through four CDs as he teaches two students, who have already completed the 8-hour course, how to improve their Spanish. The course is not divided into specific lessons, but it is divided into tracks so it is easy to pick up from where you left off (that is if you remember which track you got up to!).

It was very strange hearing Michel Thomas for the first time as I have not done any of his previous courses. For some reason I expected a very cheesy sounding Frenchman (the cover photo of him gave me this impression). Granted you do get a French-sounding man, but he isn’t at all cheesy and does remind you of one of your old teachers (in a good way).

Because of the no pens, no paper and no books technique, you find that surprisingly the information really stays in your head.

I loved his method of teaching and the way that the CD was organised. There were no ‘typical’ scenario introductions and no ‘typical’ Spanish music (in other words this is not a typical foreign language audio course). Michel (first name terms already!) uses two students and teaches us along with them. They make mistakes and I found that they often made the same mistakes as I did, so this was handy! Michel is quick to correct them and not in a patronising way, which you sometimes get with these kind of courses. Because of the no pens, no paper and no books technique, you find that surprisingly the information really stays in your head. I’m not sure if this is down to the pure driven determination of learning a new language or Michel’s method of repetition – whenever a new structure is introduced, it is repeated several times until you just seem to get the hang of it.

The course is very structure and grammar orientated and there is no real day-to-day vocabulary included. This is not the type of course you would do if you were just looking to freshen up on your holiday lingo and learn how to buy something in a shop. This course is designed for people who want to learn the whole language and not just to learn how to get by.

The CDs obviously get harder as the course progresses. Despite this, Michel Thomas keeps on repeating things and continues to correct the students until the sentence is perfect. I think that the course content is manageable for people who want to be advanced at Spanish and are at an intermediate level at the moment. The CD content is good as it covers topics that you would have already covered elsewhere (in the 8-hour Michel Thomas course or in other Spanish lessons) but still goes on to introduce a lot of new structures. Michel tends not to spend too much time on grammar points which would already have been covered at an intermediate level, but he spends time on the new information to make your Spanish fluent. I think this is an ace way of revising and consolidating what you already know and then from this base going on to learn new things. I personally didn’t get bored recapping some of the Spanish I was already familiar with, as it was taught in a way that I had not experienced before.

One thing I must mention is about the students! It is a man and a woman … you have no idea what their names are, which personally I think is great. I hate the courses where you meet the characters and are supposed to feel some sort of connection, for all we know “Crystal” could be a 87 year old granny rather than a 19 year old gap year student. Anyway getting back to the Michel Thomas Spanish course … the one thing I did find annoying with the students was their accents. The man’s accent was bearable, but I had a slight problem with the woman’s accent. She had a tendency to emphasise every single sound of the word, which sometimes seemed as though she was trying too hard to pronounce things.

Michel Thomas cracks little jokes throughout the course (well I say jokes, but they are more like humorous comments. For example, he says “they’re in their own club, they want to keep it that way” where he is talking about the go-go verbs. I think that if anyone else tried to get away with this humour, it just wouldn’t work. But for Michel, teamed with his accent and the fact I have a small soft spot for him, he manages to pull it off and actually got a small chuckle from me.

I have never done an audio course which I have enjoyed doing as much as this one. The teaching method is just fab and really makes you remember things. I would not hesitate in buying more of Michel Thomas’ language courses.

I have never done an audio course which I have enjoyed doing as much as this one. The teaching method is just fab and really makes you remember things. I would not hesitate in buying more of Michel Thomas’ language courses. He’s been teaching languages for over 50 years and he obviously knows what he is doing. He is even considerate enough to provide another extension to the course. This is his own Language Builder – I haven’t tried this one out yet but apparently it provides you with vocabulary and more grammar (if that’s even possible) and if it has Michel Thomas on the CD it cant be half bad!

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DON QUIJOTE SPANISH COURSE IN SALAMANCA, SPAIN REVIEW

An independent language course review by Lisa Zealey

My stay with don Quijote was much more that just a two-week Spanish course. Under the hot Spanish sun there’s something for everyone….flamenco classes, day trips, Spanish singing lessons and not to mention the latino nightlife!

I will always remember my two weeks with don Quijote in July 2001 as a most amazing and eye-opening summer break. I chose to go to their school in Salamanca and really would recommend it to anyone! I was fortunate enough to win a place through a competition arranged by don Quijote at the annual London Language and Cultural Learning Show in Hammersmith, London. Having entered the competition I had almost forgotten about it as I never expected to win!

I was delighted to hear I had won an all-expenses paid place and was asked to choose my destination. To choose between two weeks in Barcelona, Madrid, Salamanca, Malaga, Seville or Granada … was a difficult one! Although I had barely heard of it before, I chose Salamanca based on the fact that the brochure said it was big enough for plenty of socialising but not a huge city; the fact that it is said to be a place where the most pure Spanish is spoken and also because of the flamenco and singing classes which I knew I would love!

My stay with don Quijote was much more that just a two-week Spanish course. Under the hot Spanish sun there’s something for everyone!

I had the choice of staying in a host family or a student flat. I chose a student flat because I was more keen on being around other students and I decided by being in a flat I would be with other young people. Both options have their advantages though because with a family you have to speak Spanish all the time – in our flat (as often happens) – the common language was English.

It was actually the first time I had flown by myself and I was really excited about getting on the plane and not knowing what to expect at the other end! I had received instructions of how to get to Salamanca and I felt a sense of adventure. When I arrived in Madrid I got a taxi to the coach station and then, in the days of pesetas and rusty GCSE Spanish, managed to find the coach to Salamanca. All was going to plan so far and after a relaxing (3 hour) coach ride I arrived in Salamanca where the fun would begin!

It’s hard to sum up such an influential two weeks in a short review – I learned far more than just Spanish; I reminded myself how easy it is to just go out there and do something great for myself.

Having been met by don Quijote on my arrival in Salamanca, I was taken to my flat, given all I needed for my classes and wished ‘Buena Suerte’ (good luck)!

As soon as I got to my flat, I met a couple of guys who were already there (one from Germany and one from Taiwan). They were great and took me out to show me the way to school and watch the local jazz band. I hadn’t even had time to unpack and straight away I felt like a good time was ahead! A thing that I loved about it was that almost everyone (in my flat as well as in my class) came from a different country. Such a variety of people was great and everyone got on so well together.

My first day at don Quijote was a long and very event-filled day, starting with a level test at 8.00 in the morning followed by a newcomers’ tour of the city while the staff determined which level groups we would go into. My classes were 3.00 – 7.00pm – ideal for someone like me who is not a morning person and likes to check out the nightlife! It had been a while since I spoke any Spanish and what I knew was only basic. I soon started to remember what I had previously learned at college and by the second week of the course I definitely felt like I was progressing well.

On our first night we had a newcomers’ welcome dinner hosted by don Quijote in their own café next to the school. This was a great idea and it was lovely to get chatting to people. I had been told that July was a good time to go and I could see why. There were so many people there and such lovely weather all the time! I think that going on your own is the best way to do it – not one minute did I feel like I was by myself. It’s really what you make of it. I had not imagined that it would be such a task to find another English person there! I met two guys who were English but out of the seven people in my class we had people from Poland, Germany, USA, Switzerland and Holland. This was such a great experience and made the lessons much more fun and diverse than if it was all English people.

I was 20 when I did this course and was pleased to find that the majority of students were my sort of age. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I found that most of them were on their summer break from university and filling in the time with some study abroad. I was simply taking two weeks off from my job in London. There were some older students there but most were between 20 and 26. The tutors were a mixture of ages. We had two separate teachers – one for each two-hour block. This meant we covered different topics with each teacher and it was like two separate classes. All the tutors were native Spanish and all instructions in the class were given in Spanish which was great for learning the everyday expressions. After all, with students from all over the world, not everyone would understand the explanations in English! There were never more that 7 or 8 in a group which meant that our abilities were more or less the same and we could learn far more than if we were in bigger, mixed ability groups.

don Quijote Salamanca holds Flamenco and singing classes once a week. I met a great girl from Croatia who also loved it! The songs were sung with songbooks around a big table with a Spanish teacher playing the guitar and teaching us. I really enjoyed learning them!

Salamanca is certainly a student town, so I would only recommend it to people who like to party! Almost every night of my stay the students met up in the evening and went out. People generally seemed to behave more like they were on holiday than on a language course!

Activities are arranged every weekend and for the one weekend I was there I went on a coach trip to the mountains – that was such a lot of walking (which I hadn’t prepared myself for!) It was a lovely (but very tiring) day. The views at the top of the mountains were amazing and it was really worth all the walking to reach the top.

I would definitely recommend a course with don Quijote if you want to become more confident in your Spanish and have a great holiday at the same time.

I was very happy to have done this course for many reasons. It gave me a real incentive to do something like this again (which I’ve now done in France and Germany). It gave me the confidence to travel alone and meet new people. I met some great people on this course – several of whom, over a year later, I am still in touch with or have even visited. The Spanish classes made my Spanish very conversational even after two weeks, and this was incredibly exciting! I look back on Salamanca as a place where everyone is having fun – the atmosphere was really relaxed and I would love to go back someday.

I would definitely recommend a course with don Quijote if you want to become more confident in your Spanish and have a great holiday at the same time. Here’s to the next one!

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BBC TALK PORTUGUESE ON-LINE REVIEW

An independent language course review by Sarah Maddocks

Talk Portuguese is an on-line introduction to Portuguese set in Portugal and Brazil. It is divided into 10 short sections with slideshows, video clips, useful phrases and quizzes. The course covers 10 subjects such as your typical topics i.e. greetings, introducing yourself and others, describing yourself, in a cafe, directions, food shopping, accommodation, getting around, in a restaurant and hobbies). The website suggests that you also try out (alongside the course) the TV series, a book and audio cassettes and also if you are a tutor to look at the tutor notes with added activities. To be honest, once you’ve done the on-line course you don’t have to buy the BBC Talk language pack, unless you want to do the above away from your computer if you’re on your way to work. The TV series might be good to see what you can understand though. The internet course is in a step-by-step layout and easy to navigate around, although one thing to be aware of is you have to double click on the arrows otherwise you will be waiting 5 minutes for it to load (don’t want to own up to doing that as looking back it does sound like a very stupid thing to do!)

I think the best thing for me to do is to get the negatives out of the way (there’re not many so please don’t stop reading here and not try out the course because it sounds bad!!). I found that the most annoying thing about the on-line course is that you can’t see the dialogue from the slideshows in both English and Portuguese. You can see them side by side in the useful phrases section, but I would have liked to hear and read the phrases in both languages at the same time. The quiz is sometimes irritating as there are an assortment of answer types (that’s not the irritating thing) and some of them are fill in the blanks. This is especially difficult seeing as the word is not actually in the useful phrases (i.e. vocé is you – sorry have just told you one of the answers!) and so you are not told how to spell this beforehand. The only way you would know what the answer is would be to sit down, take notes from the slideshow (which would be easier if both languages were on the same screen) and then learn the notes (I know I sound like I’m moaning on a bit too much about this but it has annoyed me, plus if I wanted to do a course where I had to write things down then I would have chosen to do a paper course and not an on-line one!).

I think this is a great way of really learning the spoken accent and knowing what to expect if (or when) you visit the country.

Right, I think I have done enough ranting and raving on the bad parts,so it’s now time for the good bit. I found that the video clips were good because they used native speakers, so at first it is hard to understand the accent but once you have listened a couple of times you can really hear and understand what is being said. I think this is a great way of really learning the spoken accent and knowing what to expect if (or when) you visit the country. I thought the quiz was good as it allows you to fill in the blanks without having to worry about accents on the words, it accepts the word without accents typed in, this is very handy as it often takes me about 10 minutes to find the right accent for certain letters (this is also unusual for online courses to do this, instead they just flash an incorrect on the screen with the correct version of the word – of course with accents!).

Another great thing about this course is that the sections are short and fun. I seemed to absorb more vocabulary and information by doing one unit a day rather than cramming them all into one session. Each section took me around 15-20 minutes which I found was the right amount of time to actually remember what I had learnt the next day. This is fab especially if you work, you can just come home, turn the computer on, do 15 minutes of Portuguese a night (time that would be spent watching half an episode of Neighbours!) and hey presto in about 2 weeks you would have completed a beginners’ Portuguese language course (the miracle of modern technology never ceases to amaze!) The course needs Flash in order for the video clips to work. The BBC website offers a link to get this downloaded for free, and it is worth doing this as it is good to watch the video clips with sound.

One thing you should remember if trying this course out is that it is better to have a fast internet connection as it could take a while for each screen to load (this however is not a must have but if you are like me and slightly inpatient it is probably better to have a speedy one). The site also mentions the fact that you may have problems connecting to the video course if the internet is too busy. I’ve tried this site at various times of the day and so far (touch wood) have had no problems, so don’t let that put you off!

And did I forget to mention this? The on-line Talk Portuguese course is free. Yes, you pay nothing … thank you BBC Education.

Overall I would recommend people to try this course. At the end of the day, it takes 15 minutes to do one session which is hardly a lifetime – and in exchange you get to speak a little Portuguese from doing it. And did I forget to mention this? The on-line Talk Portuguese course is free. Yes, you pay nothing … thank you BBC Education. All I have to do now is track down somewhere I can go and speak to people in my newly acquired language!!

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BBC SUENOS WORLD SPANISH 2 REVIEW

An independent language course review by Sarah Maddocks

Suenos World Spanish 2 is the follow on Spanish language course from Suenos World Spanish 1. It is £39.99 which again is a reasonable price as you are getting a course book as well as 4 CDs with authentic Spanish conversations and not staged ones.

The course book is divided into 10 units and each of these units has four main sections: asi se habla 1 (where new language is given and presented), asi se habla 2 (building on the language you already know), un paso mas (listening to spoken Spanish and understanding written Spanish) and temas (cultural aspects of Spain and Latin America). This is one aspect that makes the BBC Suenos course stands out as it doesn’t just talk about Spain, but other Spanish speaking countries too which many other courses tend to leave out.

Following the 10 units there is a reference section which includes self tests, reference grammar, answer keys, transcripts of what you have listened to on the CD and a Spanish to English glossary – in other words you get a lot of extras for your money.

The ‘presenter’ who take you through the course are Julio and Carmella (even their names sound genuinely Spanish) and they both have convincing Spanish accents.The BBC have adapted the tasks so that you can continue to learn Spanish without the book, meaning you could take it on the bus with you to do or sit down and have a go during your lunch hour without necessarily dragging the book along with you.

The dialogues on the CDs are in Spanish and then afterwards you have the English repeated. After the English the Spanish is repeated and then you have to repeat and practice saying it. After this second repetition, instead of repeating the exact same thing they change the dialogue to the other way round. For example: why would people in England want to learn Spanish has turned to why would Spanish people learn English? They then pose questions to which you have to give the answers. I think this is a great way of learning without actually realising how much you have learnt. The repetition really makes the new words and phrases stick in your head and you remember a lot more than you think you do.

This CD course is great as it doesn’t use only Castillian … Spanish … , but also Mexican Spanish … I think this is a good way of hearing the different accents side by side.

The units in the book work alongside the CDs. There are exercises where you have to listen to the dialogues and then answer the questions. I found this really useful as you had to listen and answer the questions rather than just listen and not really take anything in. Sometimes the answers to the questions were said a little fast, and before I got a chance to answer myself, but I just stopped the CD and skipped back to the start. I think the speed of the dialogues were right as they were real Spanish people speaking. In real life, this is what you would hear if you asked someone in the street or were having a telephone conversation with someone. In other words this Spanish language course prepares you for real life situations rather than just making you learn words and grammar constructions.

The CDs and the associated exercises obviously get harder as you go along, CD1 acted more of a revision of the previous course and you weren’t introduced to a huge amount of new words or grammar. However, as you get further along with the course, the dialogues do get longer and while there are still English repetitions, there are not as many and only when the new vocabulary is learnt.

This intermediate level Spanish language course was everything that I expected from BBC languages and I am glad they didn’t let me down with this course. Although it is a comprehensive course, I enjoyed learning and it didn’t feel like a chore.

Buena suerte!

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BBC SUENOS WORLD SPANISH 1 REVIEW

An independent language course review by Sarah Maddocks

Suenos World Spanish is a beginner Spanish course, complete with 4 cassettes and coursebook. The pack is £39.99 which I think is reasonable as you are getting a traditional coursebook as well as real Spanish on cassettes.

The coursebook has 20 units each with a language learning section divided into three parts, a cultural section, and a review and revision section. At the end of each unit there is a checklist so you can record your progress. After every five units there is a set of revision exercises so you can make sure you can practise the Spanish language you have already learnt.

I found it best to concentrate on five units at a time, as I could re-test the knowledge I had gained in the revision exercise. I didn’t want to try and do anymore that this, as I thought I would be learning too much at one time. The great thing about this course is that you can do as much or as little as you want to do.

The units in the book work alongside the audio tapes. There are exercises where you have to listen to the dialogues and then answer the questions. I found this helped me to really do the course, as with the question and answer sections you learn the language and don’t get bored as you are reading, writing and listening all at the same time. I find the courses that are just reading or just listening hard to complete as there is nothing to ‘engage my brain’.

There are exercises … which … helped me to really do the course, as with the question and answer sections you learn the language and don’t get bored.

In the coursebook, the BBC introduce cultural elements by using songs, or facts about certain Spanish-speaking countries. This is fun, as it gives you a break from the course but you are still learning important and interesting things to do with Spain. At the back of the book you have the answers to the questions, so you can check on your progress and see what you are getting wrong and how to correct it. There are also transcripts of the tapes, which again helps as sometimes I found it hard to fully understand the tapes (so I used the transcript to see what it was I didn’t understand and then listened to the tape again). In the section ‘word groups’, you have a list of words grouped into different topics to act as a very handy reference point, in case you have a memory block whilst doing the course (I had a lot of these!). Finally, you have the common English-Spanish glossary (in other words a dictionary). There’s a lot there!

The tapes are 75 minutes long and can be used separately as well as with the book. I found it easier to work along with the units in the coursebook rather than just listen to one full tape at a time. But as I mentioned earlier, the great thing about this course is you can do it exactly how and when you want to (although I think the book is slightly too big to be able to take on a bus!).

I just love how the BBC give you music at the start of each course. You can almost guarantee that you will hear flamenco or maracas when you switch on a BBC Spanish course (thankfully this one didn’t fail). The tape has a man and a woman who go through the steps of Spanish with you. They give you the words in Spanish and then repeat the same sentence in English. You then have pauses in the tape so you can repeat what you have learnt. I found the pauses to be the right length of time and so there is no need to stop or rewind the tape. You are asked questions for example “are the speakers well?”. You don’t actually answer the questions, it’s more to make you think and then the narrators on the tape answer for you and go on to give you other examples of words you could use. I think I would have found it more helpful if I could have answered the questions and then got their answer. In order to do this, I stopped the tape and then pressed play once I answered to see if I had the correct answer. The tape also provides you with a basic grammar section including, for example, the use of tu and usted. I found this useful as I learn more when I hear it rather than read it, so I found I learnt these grammar sections faster and could remember them easily. The tape is so easy to use alongside the book – it’s great. They also explain cultural things such as two surnames, or certain dates important in Spanish culture.

As you get closer to the end of the cassettes they do get harder (as expected), and on the fourth cassette there are more paragraphs of spoken Spanish instead of a Spanish sentence and then an English one. You don’t have to answer any questions on the paragraphs but it is good practise for your listening skills.

The tapes combine learning new Spanish with learning other areas of Spanish, such as history or culture. For example in Unit 15, you have a listening exercise where you have to match the dates to the events that are said on the tape. This is really good practise for your numbers and you are also learning new things about Spanish history.

BBC Suenos World Spanish doesn’t give you just the basics, it gives you much much more and is definitely worth a go.

This course is for beginners and gives you a good solid level of Spanish, as it really tests you and makes you work. The BBC know how to do language courses and they have not failed with this one. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn Spanish in a more traditional way, but who also want to carry on their Spanish language studies after they have done this course. It doesn’t give you just the basics, it gives you much much more and is definitely worth a go.

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BBC STEPS ON-LINE REVIEW

An independent language course review by Sarah Maddocks

The BBC ‘Steps’ language course is a free beginner language course available on the BBC website in the language section, where you can choose from four languages; French, German, Spanish or Italian.

The website is easy to navigate around (even for someone like me who is not exactly up on all the new whiz technology) and has a simple layout. The content of the course is 24 parts, divided into six small sections. I know this sounds like a lot of time sat at a computer, but it’s really not as the sections are short and easy to do. The syllabus of the course follows the Common European Framework Level One which seems more or less like the equivalent of the UK GCSE examination content.

The site offers many extras on top of the course, such as learning logs where you can record your marks from the various end of session tests, grammar tips (very basic grammar tips) and a pronunciation section. The pronunciation practice was better than I thought it would be, as I wasn’t really looking forward to hearing a robotic voice attempt to speak the language. However, on this site they actually use native speakers, so it sounds exactly like what you would hear people using if you were in the country.

The site also offers the chance for people who have already studied the language to do a fast track session, which is essentially a test where you complete the questions on-line. If you get everything right, you get a pat on the back and if you are wrong, you get offered a revision session.

This BBC Steps courses also has a fact file section. In order to check that this was useful and accurate, I went into French Steps and checked it out as I’d spent quite a bit of time in Paris and know what there is, how to get around and so on. Most of the information here was correct, although some of it was slightly off i.e. it said that you could easily walk around Paris. This comment made me question whether the writer had even been to Paris and if so, had actually tried to walk around! But then it made me question whether it was just me and I was lazy when i went there!?

I found everything on this site so straightforward and self-explanatory that I think even my mum could do it (she nearly sheds a tear when she has to use a computer!).

I could pick and choose what I wanted to learn. This was fab as it was as though I was choosing what I wanted to learn and not what someone wanted to teach me.

The layout of the course was great, as I could pick and choose what I wanted to learn. This was fab as it was as though I was choosing what I wanted to learn and not what someone wanted to teach me.

I would recommend these BBC Steps on-line language courses for people who want to literally ‘step’ into a language (hence the name of the course!). It is a fab beginner guide and the sections take hardly anytime at all to do. Depending on whether you want to do a quick refresher course or to really learn simple vocabulary, you can do the sections as and when you please and from anywhere that you can get onto the internet. I found this worked really well for me, as I could come home from work and do one section a night and woohoo in 24 ‘steps’ I can speak (well beginner-speak) a new language.

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