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4.5
I have purchased and used three different beginning level Spanish audio programs: Simon and Schuster's "Pimsleur Conversational Latin American Spanish", Macmillan Audio's "Behind the Wheel Spanish Level 1", and Language Audiobook's "Power Spanish Accelerated".All three are effective at teaching conversational Spanish at a basic level of fluency. But I learned more Spanish faster with Power Spanish Accelerated.Structure: Each Pimsleur lesson begins with a short conversation which is then dissected and the listener is guided through everything that was said, one word or phrase at a time, returning to those same words and phrases several times throughout that lesson.I'd rather have the target words and phrases presented to me at the start of each lesson, minus the conversation. I'd rather learn one word or phrase at a time, not one conversation at a time. And I don't like having to guess at meanings before I hear the words translated for me.In the Power Spanish program, everything is explained in English before it is modeled in Spanish, so there is no guesswork as to meanings. Power Spanish emphasizes building your own original sentences. There are a lot of sentence building exercises. That makes for a lot of conversational flexibility.I find the Pimsleur program rigid and a bit restricting. It is harder to stop midway through a thirty minute section. With Power Spanish you can stop and then pick up later pretty much wherever in the program you want.Mood/Tone: The Power Spanish Accelerated program tries hard to stay upbeat and motivational. Behind the Wheel employs a word by word, phrase by phrase method similar to Power Spanish Accelerated. I like that. The problem for me is that Behind the Wheel is quite monotonous. It is steady, but so low-keyed that it is monotonous. To me it lacks cheeriness. More cheeriness would make it more fun.Variety: The same native speakers (two, I think) accompany you throughout your Pimsleur audio experience. The Spanish on Behind the Wheel is spoken by the same male native speaker from start to finish, as far as I can tell. Only occasionally is the voice of a Spanish speaking female inserted.Power Spanish takes advantage of several male and female native speakers, at least six. For me this back-and-forth use of several male and female native speakers makes the program more interesting, keeps my attention, and makes the learning happen faster.I like the Power Spanish Accelerated sections where the learner has to try to say the word or sentence before and then again after the native speaker. Pimsleur employs a similar technique, but I think that the Power Spanish version is a little more effective.In Power Spanish Accelerated the `listen and repeat' sections are sprinkled with what the narrator calls `Audio Snapshots.' These segments consist of several word or phrases that you just listen to without repeating. The little `Audio Snapshot' sections are a nice break from the standard `listen and repeat' approach which is inherent to all language audio programs, and give the program some welcome variety.Power Spanish Accelerated, like Pimsleur, makes use of an interval memory or repetition technique. Power Spanish Accelerated presents new material while at the same time it reviews previous material. You are move forward even during those times that you are look back. Sometimes you look backwards but you never move backwards.My Conclusion: Behind the Wheel has a relaxing quality to it, but, I'm afraid, too relaxing. It's low-keyed to the point of lacking excitement. The narrator and native speakers are good but their tone becomes a little monotonous after awhile.Pimsleur is a little more upbeat, but its lessons are very structured and they are all formatted in the same way. There is no real break in its routine.Power Spanish makes use of at least a half dozen native Spanish speakers. It's `before and after' and `Audio Snapshot' sections give it more variety than the other two programs. It is the program that most gets and keeps my attention. Together, its variety of words and phrases and its upbeat tone and pace I think make Power Spanish Accelerated the easiest of the three programs to stay with.Great my wife loves it.An excellent course. Systematically built up, very easy to followand and with a usable vocabulary. The easy way to learn spanishWho on earth was this made for?! It’s horrible! As a person who has bought every resource she could find, I was initially excited for an audio resource to use ‘behind the wheel’. I hate this product. It’s mediocre, at best. I tried to re-listen to disk one to get more value out of it before disc two, but I’m about to throw it away. I hate itWhat is ‘okay’ about this resource is the sound/mic quality.What I HATE about this: Everything. NO ME GUSTA!!!!!The structure, or lack there of is horrid.Many things are spoken at too fast or rate with horrible enunciation. The slowly spoken items are the easy/redundant items. The male spanish speaker, Luis, adds extra syllables to words. For example “to talk = habar-ah” “to sleep = dormir-ah” “to sing = cantar-ah” which is NOT at all how anyone should be learning how these words sound.The teacher more than once says he is “America” not “American”Luis, the male speaker get an introduction, but there is also a woman who chimes in super super randomly – I almost think she was used to cover up the worst of Luis’s mis-haps.Sections repeat. He introduces super complex sentence in the firs 14 minutes, yet he doesn’t talk about the alphabet till disc 2. He tries to get you to say sentences that a beginner wouldn’t use like “When I know the answer, I answer”He referred to “Español” as a “really hard addition” to a sentence (ie. “I want to speak” vs “I want to speak Spanish” – ridiculous.It’s very loosy goosy.Instead of this, I recommend DRIVE TIME SPANISH and SPANISH FOR DUMMIES. Me Gusta.This is an excellent way to learn to speak Italian. I appreciate the ease and quickness of learning with Behind the Wheel Express. I got Italian, but it comes in all sorts of Languages. Good for someone who is busy, or intimidated in front of a class,since you are in the privacy of your car, and who doesn't drive sometime most days?Easy to use and very easy to learn with this method. I gave the French version to a friend and she likes it better than the one she was using.
