Pimsleur Spanish (Castilian) Conversational Course - Level 1 Lessons 1-16 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Castilian Spanish with Pimsleur Language Programs

If you need a crash course in a language, Pimsleur does work. The way the lessons go, you do get the repetition you need to learn languages but not in a boring schoolroom style. Pimsleur has some written stuff you can download to go along with some of their programs too.

This is just the basics, but it does help for beginners like myself.

I have been using this for a few months now. I decided to go with Pimsleur because they seem to be one of the very few companies that offer a course in learning Castilian, as opposed to Latin American, Spanish. "Why on earth does it matter to you which variety you learn?" you are no doubt wondering. Consider, dear reader, this simple question: "If you could learn English again from scratch, which would you prefer to learn -- American or British English?" Of course you'd want to learn to speak like a Brit! The accent, to us Yanks, is so much cooler. I've been listening to people speak with a Latin American accent all my life, there's nothing great about it. That LISP -- on the other hand!!! Que interesante! (Forgive the lack of accents or upside-down punctuation marks.) In other words, to bring this pointless, rambling, and discursive review to a close, I'm hoping to impress the pretty Mexican or Colombian girls of NW Chicagoland by speaking with one of those lordly, proper Spanish accents. I am almost finished with this introductory course and plan on springing for the whole thing.

This is a beginner's tape, so there is no fault with the tape for that fact. HOWEVER, if I were a beginner, I would not want to learn language pronunciation from an English speaker, which this tape had. I want to hear a Castilian Spaniard speaking Spanish--not an American.

I already speak Spanish OK--read not great--and found it well done and great for in-car practice in preparation for an upcoming trip to Spain. However, spending a couple hundred buck for the next half of the series just wasn't worth it. But it really is well done.

This is a great course. Loved doing it. Very well laid out. Obvious that a lot of research has gone into the study of how people learn most effectively.

Pimsleur is very well paced and organized for optimal learning. Definitely worth the price.

The Castlian Spanish discs deliver what is promised and they arrived on time and in excellent condition. We already have some knowledge of Latin American Spanish, which helps, but there are enough differences in Castilian Spanish to make the course valuable - especially in pronunciation. We are up to Lesson five so far. One tip: add a Castilian Spanish-English dictionary to your library to build your vocabulary. Gracias.

Pimsleur will get you speaking the language faster than Rosetta Stone, learn in your car, or other training products. This particular Pimsleur product gives you the first half of the level one Spanish. probably just right amount if you want a basic working knowledge as a tourist or to get started. I ended up purchasing the full course. I supplemented Pimsleur with "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish" (Madrigal) and "Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish" (Keenan). both were very useful. Unfortunately the Castilian Spanish is only available to level 1 (Note however, Pimsleur level one gives a much better level of language skill than other programs such as Rosetta Stone). I plan on purchasing the Latin america Spanish advance levels for continued training. I have a good understanding of the differences because the Pimsleur level one did a good job of explaining some of the subtle nuances between the languages.

I have studied the Pimsleur Italian course, it is the best for conversation. I have been to classes and studied the Linguaphone Italian course. It seems the Spanish course will be as good.

Schnelle Lieferung, unbeschädigte CDs, Lektionen sind wirklich zum schnellen Erlernen der spanischen Umgangssprache geeignet und es gibt keine langweilige Grammatik mit sehr klarer Aussprache,.. Sehr zufrieden!

Die außen Verpackung war in schlechtem Zustand, die CDs jedoch nicht. Das Programm ist für einen Crashkurs nicht mehr zu toppen!

I really like this method of learning a new language. The Pimsler method is an easy way to start learning. Only down side is that it assumes the student is American but thats not much of a problem.