[.ca] Vocabulearn Spanish & English Complete Set: 12 CD's, 3 ... (ISBN 159125213X)

Really wonderful -- only vocabulary, no dialog:
I have been teaching myself Spanish for about 2 years. I have a number of tapes and CDs that I really like, but am getting a bit bored with the repetition. I bought more new ones lately, but since they are getting harder (intermediate to advanced) sometimes if I have had a stressful day I am just too exhausted to pay attention to them. That's when I love these CDs. I can be learning new words, but it is so effortless compared to my grammar and drill tapes. They simply say the word in English, give you sufficient time to say the word in Spanish, then they say it, then give you time to repeat it. Then halfway through the tape they reverse the order so the Spanish is first and English second. The CDs are arranged as beginner, intermediate and advanced. They are really well indexed. At the beginner level, I know about 95% of the words. At intermediate, maybe 60% and at advanced, maybe 20%. My only complaint is that from time to time they play this really lovely classical music. I only wish they had the classical music going all the time and not just part of the time. Note that these CDs are stictly vocabulary and short phrases -- they are not dialogs or grammar practice. I really like them a lot. My Spanish is starting to get more advanced and I find it increasingly frustrating to be in a conversation and always be grasping for words.

Not an effective way to learn.:
This is what you can expect after you purchase the Vocabulearn CDs: The first track on this CD is nothing more than a man reading a word in English, then a woman reading its meaning in Spanish... for 19 minutes. There is no repetition; it is simply a long list of vocabulary words, which should have (at the very least) been broken down into numerous tracks to make reviewing easier. The second track (each CD only has two tracks, by the way) is basically the same, except that there is a Completely New List of vocabulary terms, which are read, this time, from Spanish to English. Again, there is no repetition. What are your chances of remembering every word someone says if they read you a list of words for 20 minutes? No chance. What are the chances that you are going to listen to a list of words that goes on for 20 minutes enough times to learn all the words? Not very good, unless you are highly motivated, masochistic, and unable to recognize an inefficient way of learning. When you listen to vocabulary being read to you from Spanish to English, you will train your brain to recognize what a Spanish word means in English when you Hear it or Read it, but you will have a more difficult time of producing the same word when you wish to Speak or Write. To become fluent with a language, you really do need to learn the words "backwards and forwards", and products that use repetition or make repetition less monotonous and cumbersome, will always be better tools for learning.