Spanish Phase 1, Units 1-30: Learn to Speak and Understand Spanish with Pimsleur Language Programs

Like the title says, you can fit this into your schedule while driving. The lessons are 30 min each once a day (I do the same lesson 2 times each day).

With my schedule, I don’t have time to add something extra into my day. As such, any program that requires me to take time out of my day will fail regardless of how much I want to complete it.

This program is designed to be done without the need of anything but listening. I have learned more that I ever learned in High School Spanish during my daily commute. What was once wasted time is now productive. We vacationed in Mexico this summer. This was a very valuable tool. I just wish I found it sooner.

The 30 minute lessons are just the right length to listen and practice. I found that for the first 10 lessons +/-, I only needed to listen to them once and I could listen to them once a day (usually in the morning on my way to work) and I was able to retain the information and recall it the next day. As the course progressed, so did my need to listen to the lessons more than once (sometimes 2, 3, or 4 times). I also periodically go back to earlier lessons if I'm finding that I need a refresher on certain things.

The way the course is structured, the instructor asks you to recall a word or phrase or take part in a conversation. You usually have about 5 seconds to recall the word or phrase and as I progressed, that just wasn't enough time for me to recall the information. That is one of the reasons that I listened to it multiple times, so that by time I could recall most of the phases in the lesson, I would move on to the next one. One improvement they could consider is allowing even a second or two more for recall.

Overall, I think this course is very good. It is very easy to do on a commute. I am just about done with this first phase and will be starting phase 2 this week. I can't fully participate in a conversation yet, but I can say common phrases and speak about daily occurences in the past, present and future tenses. It took me about 3 months to get through the first round of tapes (this includes the listening to the sessions multiple times to ensure I had a good recall of the material).

I have had Spanish classes in college and remember nothing. The Pimsleur method is really good at teaching you the language and you can actually remember what you are learning. I only progressed through the first 13 lessons before a trip to Cancun. Just that small amount prepared me to understand much of what I heard at the resort. I felt confident in ordering food and drinks. I know there is so much more to learn, but cant wait to make it thru the rest of these lessons and save up enough credits to get the next phase. I highly recommend this!

I cannot believe how simply this course is broken down. This course is so clear and concise that I am speaking and understanding already before completing the course. The course does not let you forget words that you have already learned.

I think that the unique thing about this course is that the narrator questions you. This questioning forces you to think and respond because you want to do well. I usually cannot respond in the time allotted so I stop the tape. Also my goal is to respond faster.

First, I love the narrator's voice. Second, I like how he phrases his questions to you. I like the reminders.

I live in Miami and want to learn Spanish so badly. I have a southern accent which does not help because I drag my words out. I am ashamed to say how long I have owned and used Rosetta Stone and how many Spanish classes that I have quit, including one last month. In other words, I have gotten no where with Spanish until now. I was in class with a guy who swore by the Pimsleur Method and I saw his progress and the lack of mine. My main comment is: Thanks, Paul Pimsleur. I did not believe that learning Spanish was a possibility for me. I also want to add that I am 64 years old - "old dog - new tricks!"

I have used Rosetta Stone, I have taken Spanish 1 and 2 in college, and I know a lot of people who speak it. All of those helped me as far as understanding the grammar but they never gave me the confidence to really speak the language, know that I am pronouncing things correctly (a strenuous task when you have a thick southern accent). However, Pimsleur did help me out greatly. I have done all of Phase 1 and redoing and can't wait to get through all of them. Part of the reason for this excitement was that I just came back from Costa Rica (which I also strongly recommend visiting) and at first I was a little nervous about maybe having to speak Spanish to know where we were going sometimes or whatever since I'm the only one in my family who even knows a little. Once I got my confidence up, I was surprised at how much of a conversation I could hold with various people, waitresses, taxi drivers, etc. I recommend using these sites in conjunction with the audio courses. Google translate helps some, and the main one you should use is this other online site - search a verb and it gives you all of it's conjugations so you are able to take it a little further then the Pimsleur program and get an idea of the conjugations especially for the irregular verbs. I recommend all of these especially since I am also trying to learn French now (going to France soon) and I have no background in French at all and finding it difficult without knowing anything about its grammar.

The only real negative aspect I would say of this Pimsleur course, especially if you are using your phone is that it would be great if they could develop it where it would show you the sentences that you are saying so that you know how things are spelled, can analyze the sentence structure, and so on.

Anyway, it's recommended, best of luck.

This is the best way to learn spanish

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This has improved my spanish more than any other method I have tried.

I am a future teacher, currently in grad school. I fully anticipate working with students from a variety of languages and must be prepared to speak with and to them and their families in their native language in and out of class. I have always been a difficult foreign language student - until this.

You will more likely than not just learn Spanish from this. Use each lesson twice or more daily, repeated the next day until you are confident that you are speaking what you have heard. This program moves quickly from first to last track and you can keep up with daily effort.

No storyline to speak of.

Both male and female voices used are excellent and paced just right for slow western ears.

Not possible, intended to take about 30 days.

Buy this bundle, not the parts, you will save just a bit more that way.

I recommend this to everyone. It is so great and I do remember
the words from each lesson. Give it a try, you won't be sorry.

I'm doing the learn Spanish lessons--very impressed.

Camille

Having worked as a Trainer and curriculum designer for a number of years, I can truly appreciate the thought and planning put into this work. It’s really very, very well done. When looking for a method to learn a new language, my requirement was simple: I had to be able to do this while travelling. I had used another method that displays pictures and associated words, which seemed to work well enough, but the problem with that method was that I had to be near a computer to use it. I spend a lot of time travelling, so I needed something that I could simply listen to and repeat. I was not disappointed, and I recommend the Pimsleur method for anyone that travels; even if you just have a long commute. Thirty minutes a day is all it takes, and if you stick to it, it will stick to you.