Learning Spanish Blog

Learning Spanish Free Trials

Jan 272012

Everyone loves free. Free trials to help learn Spanish are a great way to see if you and the product are compatible. You have to be comfortable in your training and study aids. A few I’ve found so far

Rocket Spanish – starts out free with a few free trail lessons. Scroll down to their Free Six Day Spanish Course.

Learning Spanish Like Crazy – Free video lessons to download plus downloadable mp3 free lessons with transcripts.
Synergy Spanish - Free E-book Chapters, Flashcards, Audio Lessons and Free “Synergy Spanish Tips” Newsletter delivered in your email.

FSI Programmatic Spanish – Foreign Service Institute 6 free lessons including pdf’s and mp3′s. Supposedly the same course the Government uses to teach diplomats.

Miraflores Peru Video Tour

Video No Responses »

Jan 262012

A short tour of Miraflores Peru an upscale shopping and business district. Concerts in the park with an amphitheater. The video gives a tour of each area within Miraflores and views from the walking paths above the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Really incredible scenery.

Miraflores, dubbed ‘Heroic City’ (Ciudad Historica) in 1881 after the Battle of Miraflores, is one of the most opulent districts in the City of Lima.

Originally posted 2008-03-22 05:30:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Choosing the right Spanish Learning Product

Learn Spanish, Reviews 3 Responses »

Jan 252012

Now that I’ve decided on the language I’m going to learn and I’m totally motivated to start, now what?

Google and Amazon will show thousands of products, books, cds, dvds, online guides and even vacations in Mexico to totally submerse you into the Spanish language.

There is no way I can check out every single product and review it. I will try and review the products I do have experience with or give my impression of what I do think about a product and why I chose it or why I didn’t.

What I need is something that is totally audio. Something I can play on my ipod while I’m driving or walking. If there’s a study guide involved, I may still use it, but my primary way of learning is going to be from the audio.

Rocket Spanish

Has plenty of audio along with a computer game and reference materials. I wanted something that was pure audio for when I was driving or walking. And the trial lessons sounded too “touristy” for me. And they sounded really simple, almost too easy.

Learning Spanish Like Crazy

I did choose this one after listening to the audio and video free trial lessons. This is strictly audio with the lesson in transcripts if you need them. There are a few video lessons, but the core lessons are 30 minutes of audio.

Pimsleur FSI

The samples I’ve heard were B-O-R-I-N-G. I’m sure it’s a great and it works, but I need to stay awake while I’m driving. Plus I can’t read along with the workbooks that come with it while driving or walking.

Between all of the different levels and names of FSI, Pimsleur, Platiquemos, I was a little confused about which one was which. That could have been just me though.

Platiquemos

I’m sure this is a great course from all of the testomials and reviews around the web and especially since it’s the FSI course redone and remastered from the old FSI course, but from the free samples it was hard to tell, plus it’s more expensive then Rocket or Learning Like Crazy. Rocket and Crazy come with user forums for support and Platiquemos and FSI doesn’t as far as I can tell.

I think those are the major players. There are several smaller programs available but I needed one that would be for more than just travelers and tourists. Plus I wanted something that had advanced levels and support. Both Rocket and LSLC have forums for support plus, both have a Level2 and LSLC is coming out with a Level3 soon.

One more honorable mention:

Synergy Spanish

Claims all you need is 138 words to be conversational. Sounds like one of those too good to be true offers. With 68 lessons about 10 minutes each, plus a guidebook and 90 email support, it may not be all bad. I may still have my wife get that one since she doesn’t want to be fluent, just enough to get by at work.

My Study List for Learning Spanish

Podcasts, Reviews, Studying 8 Responses »

Jan 242012

After trying a bunch of different ways to study, I’ve decided on sticking with a couple of core items like Learning Spanish Like Crazy for the core. Spanish Pod or Spanish Connection Podcast for something short and different. Destinos for something to watch that has a story line to follow (Destinos Workbook and CD). Plus I’m always trying different things I run into.

With Spanish Pod you get a lesson as an MP3 with a PDF that covers a specific topic of conversation. The hosts translate and dissect the grammar of the conversation. They usually end with a short comment about Mexican or Latin American culture. The beginner lessons translate a lot and explain in English, the intermediate and advanced lessons use more and more Spanish in their explanations. The website has a comment section for each lesson that you can participate in. There are premium memberships with extended lessons and vocabulary.

My Spanish Connection the Learn Spanish – Survival Guide concentrates giving you vocabulary about a particular subject. Restaurants, movies, pharmacies and a lot of other situations. There are job specific podcasts for landscaping, construction and restaurants with plans for more.

The host is a Spanish teacher and has a complete podcast explaining the different Spanish dialects which was extremely interesting. He breaks vocabulary down into syllables when it’s needed and there’s plenty of time to repeat and practice. You can see the vocabulary list on your iPod by hitting the center button, which is the best use of the info screen I’ve ever seen, too bad the iPod doesn’t hold on that screen. Plus, he has started leaving the vocabulary list on a post on the Spanish Connection website and you can leave comments for each episode.

Since there’s no link to grab his iTunes feed on his website, you can search on iTunes or click on this: Learn Spanish Survival Guide or click the iTunes icon.

I’m still undecided about Live Mocha, I like it, but I’m trying to get through each lesson, they start at a very, very beginner level, which is good, but I think just living the Southwest someone would know hombre and niño. So, I’m trying to get to where I’m actually learning something.

I thought they set you up with someone to practice with, not exactly. You record your speaking and someone grades your work. I’m still looking for something a little better for speaking practice.

This doesn’t even include all of the books I’ve bought, which I’ll get reviewed here eventually. Speaking of reviews – All of the reviews here are things I actually own. If I don’t and I’ve only tried the free trial, I say so. I’m not going to say something is a great resource and then I don’t own it myself, that’s not going to happen here. That’s why I can’t review every single product out here. I do the best research I can reading other reviews (probably from people that don’t own the products) and anything else I can find, then I buy it, just like you. I’ve purchased a few things that were crap and I don’t use anymore, but that’s going to happen.

Originally posted 2008-03-17 03:22:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Why I Want to Learn Spanish

Learn Spanish 1 Response »

Jan 232012

I live in the US Southwest. There are a lot of job opportunities that open up if you’re bilingual. When I’ve worked with crews of workers, most of the time there may be only one or two people that speak English. If I knew enough to help out, give directions or be able to participate in the conversation, that would be great.

It doesn’t matter what part of the country, not only southern California, but almost everywhere including Chicago and New Jersey have increasing numbers of Spanish speaking populations.

I drive for hours and hours and learning something would be a great use of the time while I was driving.

Like my other post mentioned, sometimes I’m in an area that only receives Spanish speaking stations and I’ll be able to at least partially understand what’s on TV.

10 Reasons to Learn Spanish

Learn Spanish 5 Responses »

Jan 222012

To understand better. Like it or not, you’ll hear as much Spanish as English at the airport, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and in many other places now. Wouldn’t it be nice to understand what people are saying, and what the announcements are?
To be able to help others.
To improve your brainpower. A new language expands the range of your possible thoughts. There are concepts and expressions in each language that don’t exist in others. These can give you new ways to think.
To better understand English. When studying a new language, you must learn the grammar of that language. Which will help you learn more about the grammar you probably forgot about for English.
To improve your memory. Did you know that most people experience a general improvement in memory from studying a language? Studies prove it.
To age more slowly. Learn Spanish to slow the aging process? It’s true. It has been demonstrated that you can halt the age-related decline in mental function by learning a new language.
To get a better job. Knowing more than one language always looks good on a job application, and Spanish is the most useful one to learn.
So you can enjoy ALL the channels on your cable TV.
So you can order without help in a TRUE Mexican restaurant.
So you can say hello (hola) to your neighbor.

Mi Vida Loca

Spanish 10 Responses »

Jan 212012

Taxi driver waiting for you to pay him the correct amount.

Mi Vida Loca is an interactive first person telenovela. It’s so interactive that the program starts by asking if your male or female. The characters talk directly to you. The video stops and helps translate and the narrator is always helping.

The first episode has you in a taxi driving around Madrid enroute to your friend’s apartment. At the end of the taxi ride click and drag the correct amount of Euros to pay for the fair.

I really enjoyed Destinos, this is much more interactive than Destinos and the story stops while grammar or translations are being explained by the narrator or by the human phrasebook that pops up and gives helpful phrases and translations.

I’ve only seen the first couple of episodes, but the plot has a mystery to be solved and moves along pretty well. Here’s the link again for Mi Vida Loca.

Originally posted 2008-09-15 10:10:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

10 Secrets to Learning Spanish Like Crazy

Free Trials, Secrets Learning Spanish 1 Response »

Jan 202012

If you want to learn a language quickly and inexpensively, you have picked the right language. With the exception of English, Spanish is spoken more than any other language in the U.S. You will have plenty of opportunities to practice your Spanish with native speakers of Spanish and even Americans that learned Spanish as their first language.

The ability to speak Spanish also opens many career or business opportunities. As an attorney, the ability to speak Spanish has enabled me to represent many clients simply because I spoke their language.

Of course, if you live in certain cities or states you will have more opportunities to practice your Spanish. For example, if you live in New York you can find many Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Mexicans, and other Latin Americans and Latinos to practice your Spanish. If you live in Texas or California you may find a lot of Mexicans that can help you with your Spanish. In Florida, there are many Cubans.

FlashCards to Help Learn Spanish

Free Trials, Studying 3 Responses »

Jan 172012

Flashcard Exchange is a great site for not only building your own flashcards but you can use and share the flashcards other people have made. There are literally thousands of flashcards already available for Spanish. People have made flashcards to help with certain CD programs, flashcards that are related by a certain subject or you’ll see flashcard sets made to help in a language class in school.

The basic membership is free and allows you to build a flashcard set and share it, use other’s flashcard sets and study online. With a on time fee of $19.95 you get to print out your flash cards, export them to excel and use flash cards with images.

Not only is there Spanish, but almost any language in the world. And not only languages but many different subjects like Pharmacology, Anatomy, Chemistry, Nursing and almost any subject imaginable.

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