[.ca] Mastering Spanish, Level One with Audio CDs (ISBN 0764175971)

New cover, same content:
I originally learned Spanish years ago with the Foreign Service Institute Basic Course in Spanish, and purchased Barron's previous edition of "Mastering Spanish" a couple of years ago thinking it would be easier to use than the original. What I found was that it was a copy of the 1957 original--but the page sizes had been photographically reduced from letter-size to 9" x 7", making the text very small and difficult to read. The previous edition of Barron's Mastering Spanish on Amazon had numerous reviews, many of which pointed out usability problems: small, indistinct text; too-fast and sometimes indistinct speech on the audio; an intrusive and not useful phonetic alphabet which dominated and sometimes replaced the normal Spanish; and a preponderance of political/military situations and vocabulary inappropriate for most users. By comparing Barron's with the FSI original, I found that Barron's is nothing more than a photocopy of the old original; the audio is also a copy. My curiosity was therefore aroused when I saw on Amazon that Barron's had a "new edition with new references, and up-to-date vocabulary and idioms". Unfortunately, the "new" is limited to a twelfth compact disk, which does contain some valuable information. However, it does nothing to address the problems with the previous version (and with the almost 50-year-old original) which numerous reviewers had commented on in Amazon's pages. While the content of Barron's Mastering Spanish (and the FSI original) is perhaps the most proven, effective way to learn to communicate in Spanish, the usability issues militate against its successful use by any but the most dedicated and stubborn students. The fact that it is almost in its entirety a copy of a U.S. Government public domain publication may also help explain Barron's relatively low price. Not having to invest in development is probably a big help in keeping cost low. Another problem is that Barron's sells the first half of the FSI program as a complete course, promising that learners will "master grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary..." as they "...gain command of the spoken language." Well, that's true as far as it goes, but if the FSI program, of which Barron's is a copy, is considered the model, it only goes half way. Those interested in a truly modernized version of the Foreign Service Institute approach will have to look elsewhere.

SPANISH TORTURE CHAMBER:
Buenas Dias Mis Amigos! So I recently decided that I had put off getting serious about learning Spanish long enuff. I wasn't looking to travel to Spain or any other remote Spanish speaking country. I therefore wasn't interested in a course that presumed that I had my bags packed with passport in hand and needed to know how to hail taxi-cabs, purchase souvenirs or find Immigration. I simply wanted to be able to converse with my Spanish speaking brothers and sisters right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. It was with this intent that I purchased Barron's MASTERING SPANISH, Hear It, Speak It, Write It, Read It. I was very excited and I was even aplauded and encouraged by friends who had already learned the language. Well, I should tell some and warn others that I had to check the cover to make sure this was LEVEL ONE. Not only did the book waste countless hours with banal pronunciations, but the speakers on these CDs apparently assumed I had "Mastered Spanish" long before purchasing this "comprehensive course". I couldn't understand WHAT the heck these Latin Hombres were saying and they didn't seem the least bit interested in helping me to crawl before I walked. I couldn't even get through the first CD. Not only is this course difficult, frustrating and boring as hell, but it offers no opportunity to practice because the translations and dialogues fly by like Latin bullets and you feel like that dude Rudolph who couldn't join in any reindeer games. My first reaction was "Forget It! I'll just stick to PIG LATIN!", but then I thought why should I miss out on all the joy of learning a new laguage simply because Barron's missed the mark. Maybe I'm not one of those "serious students" for whom this course was supposedly intended, but I would rather have bamboo shoots shoved under my finger nails than spend another day with this SPANISH TORTURE CHAMBER. I SURRENDER!!!

One of Several Spanish Courses Available for Serious Students of Spanish:
There seem to be plenty of Spanish courses available at Amazon and elsewhere on the Net for people who want to learn Spanish for travel or who want to learn only the basics of the Spanish language. There are very few courses that are designed for people who are seeking to achieve fluency in Spanish. Barron's Mastering Spanish is one of the few courses designed for learners who are looking to achieve fluency in Spanish. As a native speaker from Colombia and a part-time Spanish instructor I am giving my review of how this course compares to some of the other Spanish courses on Amazon that are designed for people who wish to speak Spanish fluently at some point. The 4 main courses that I am familiar with that were developed to teach people who are someday hoping to speak Spanish fluently are: 1. Barrons Mastering Spanish 2. FSI Programmatic Spanissh 3. Learning Spanish Like Crazy 4. Pimsleur Spanish The method used in Barron's Mastering Spanish and FSI Programmatic Spanish, Level 1 (Re-Mastered) are very similiar. Probably because both courses were developed by the Foreign Service Institute back in the 1950s. I prefer this Barron's Mastering Spanish over the FSI Programmatic Spanish. Although both courses use a somewhat tedious method, the FSI Programmatic Spanish course is more tedios than the Barrons. There also seem to be a lot more drills with Barrons to help reinforce learning, so that's another reason why I like this Barron's course over the FSI Programmatic Spanish. A downside of both Barron's Mastering Spanish and FSI Programmatic Spanish is that both courses were recorded using technology from the 1950s which is now obsolete and doesn't not sound as good as the digital recording technology available today. The amount of content in Barron's Mastering Spanish and the amount of content covered in Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1 (2 volume set) is about equal. The advantage of LSLC is that it uses a more modern method compared to Barron's Spanish or FSI Programmatic Spanish which were developed in the 1950s. Students will probably find that the Learning Spanish Like Crazy method is easier and more fun than Barron's Spanish or FSI Programmatic Spanish. I wouldn't say that the LSLC method is more effective that the Barron's method. But I will say that if the LSLC method is more fun than the Barron's or FSI method, then a student is likely to study more and not get as bored or discouraged as easily, which will make the learning experience more fun for the student and cause him or her to study more and make progress quicker. The other advantage of Learning Spanish Like Crazy: Spoken Spanish, Vol. 1 (2 volume set) is that since it was recorded with modern recording equipment the sound quality is excellent when compared to Barron's Spanish or FSI Programmatic Spanish. When learning a language, it is very important to have optimal sound quality for both learning proper pronunciation and improving listening comprehension. Spanish I - 2nd Rev. Ed.: Learn to Speak and Understand Spanish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Comprehensive) is perhaps the only course that was designed with both the serious learner in mind as well as the traveler. Pimsleur Spanish has excellent sound quality. When compared to Barron's, I must say that most learners will find that the Pimsleur method is more fun than the Barron's Mastering Spanish method. But one advantage of Barron's Mastering Spanish, is that Barron's covers a lot more vocabulary and grammar than Pimsleur. Pimsleur Spanish moves at a very slow pace and that may be a concern for someone who is looking to achieve fluency quickly. Barron's is also more economically priced than Pimsleur Spanish. One great feature of all of the Spanish courses that I have mentioned in this review is that all of them feature native Spanish speakers.

Load this onto your iPod:
You can load all 12 cd's onto your iPod (via iTunes and a little manual editing of the track lists), after which this massive library of 1940's introductory Spanish tutoring is at your fingertips forever. My iPod is the old 5 Mb wheelie model, and the 12 hours of instruction barely makes a dent in its capacity -- not bad, considering that I have Barron's Mastering Japanese (Jordan!) on there as well. I really respect and appreciate these old Foreign Service Institute packages. I find the English speakers very odd, and wonder if some of that rapidfire 1940's Radio-style delivery is an artifact of the old reel-to-reel tape mastering everyone used to use. It was nice, as someone who reads newspaper-level Spanish passably well, to be included in the intended audience of "serious students" of Spanish.

Hard work produces results...:
I have an older edition with 12 audio tapes. As pointed out elsewhere, the "textbook" is a reduced version of the original, and is clogged by the most annoying amount of transliterations. I find the drills really valuable, and feel like I am actually SPEAKING Spanish instead of reading it. I feel it is well worth the price, assuming you have the perserverance (sp?) to stick with it, and it does require disipline. If you did the three courses through to the bitter end while drilling the vocabulary separately, you would know a ton of Spanish. From a learning perspective, the most difficult thing about tapes (and maybe even the CDs, although I have no direct experience and Barron's was not much help when I inquired) is their lack of usable indexing. If, say, each tape is gone over from start to finish 4 times, there are yet sections which require many more repititions. To do this on a "walkman" tape player is difficult at best. Here is where the "bookmark" feature in a language lab really shines. I thought about a dictation transcription machine, but I really don't want yet another piece of electronic equipment.