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Kip

Aug 23, 2003, 11:59 AM

Post #1 of 32 (5081 views)

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Spanish course

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I just got an ad via the internet on the Pimsleur Approach. Supposed to be guaranteed and quick. The FBi uses it the CIA uses it, yaddata yaddata yaddata. It sounds great but,.. has anyone ever heard of it or better yet tried it?

Kip
kip

Rolly

Aug 23, 2003, 2:05 PM

Post #2 of 32 (4844 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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I have used it and recommend it. What little Spanish I know, I learned from those tapes. I’d know a lot more if I were more diligent in using the tapes. It’s a bit expensive, but it works!

Rolly Pirate

Kip

Aug 23, 2003, 2:18 PM

Post #3 of 32 (4821 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Spanish course

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Hi Rolly,

Thanks for the endorsement, I'm hoping it's the same course. This one said $19.95 plus $4.95 shipping. I know that speaking the language will increase the the "enjoyability"? of the whole experience. I know that jokes don't usually translate well and I'd hate to miss anything!

Kip
kip

Georgia

Aug 23, 2003, 7:06 PM

Post #4 of 32 (4760 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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I was trained as a Spanish teacher in the early sixties. During the entire course of my teaching career (twenty years, before I turned to being a lawyer - with students the way they are today I figured I'd either need a lawyer or become one) the Pimsleur Method was highly regarded. It's not terribly adapatable to public school teaching, but for highly motivated individuals it was sort of the gold standard of language learning techniques.

Rolly

Aug 23, 2003, 8:26 PM

Post #5 of 32 (4801 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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Kip,

I don't know what you are going to get for $20. The courses I am familiar with (3 in the Spanish series) are over $200 each.

Take a look here: http://www.languagetapes.com/

Rolly Pirate

Kip

Aug 24, 2003, 5:55 AM

Post #6 of 32 (4768 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Spanish course

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Thanks Georgia and Rolly,

I'm very suspicious of anything unsolicited over the internet. I'v gotten too many unwanted invasions about farmgirls have sex with their horses and ads for penis enlargment.

It probably is too good to be true and will only be a taste of the real course for that amount of money, but if a little bit of it actually works for me,..I'll bite.

Georgia, are you still teaching Spanish?

Kip
kip

skwala

Aug 24, 2003, 12:11 PM

Post #7 of 32 (4708 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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It's a well-known and highly regarded course of languages. You can check it out at your local bookstore, so you won't feel quite so much like you're buying a pig in a poke, as is so often the case with these pop-ups.

Kip

Aug 24, 2003, 12:38 PM

Post #8 of 32 (4699 views)

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Re: [skwala] Spanish course

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Thankseverybody, I think trhee of you in agrrement is good enough for me.

Kip
kip

Georgia

Aug 24, 2003, 5:56 PM

Post #9 of 32 (4714 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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Still teaching Spanish? Only to my husband. I traded in my lesson plan book for law books: I'm a lawyer.

Kip

Aug 24, 2003, 7:14 PM

Post #10 of 32 (4706 views)

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Re: [Georgia] Spanish course

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You go girl!! Are you practicing in Mexico or in the States?

Kip
kip

Georgia

Aug 25, 2003, 4:48 AM

Post #11 of 32 (4691 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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New York State. Plan to retire this year.

FeelinGroovy

Sep 3, 2003, 10:31 AM

Post #12 of 32 (4639 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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Kip,
I don't know about where you are, but in my area there are community colleges that offer Spanish classes. I'm currently enrolled in "Spanish 101" and it is very reasonable plus I have people with whom to practice. The students range in age from just out of high school to retirement age and the teacher is a Mexican native so it's pretty cool.

I'm retiring and moving to Lake Chapala next spring/summer so I'll just be a beginner in Spanish but "every little bit helps".

Let us know what you decide to do and how it works for you!

Adios amiga!
Libby

Kip

Sep 3, 2003, 11:17 AM

Post #13 of 32 (4618 views)

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Re: [Libby] Spanish course

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My problem (probably the WHOLE problem) is we are living in rural Mississippi. Not exactly the center of culture. No college courses of any kind are available here. Memphis is the closest and thats an hour drive. Too far. What I would really love to do is take an emersion course. Maybe SMA. That's the dream for now.

Kip
kip

FeelinGroovy

Sep 3, 2003, 1:33 PM

Post #14 of 32 (4601 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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I won't even ASK what you're doing in rural Mississippi ...

Yes, I've thought about the program(s) in SMA. It would make a wonderful vacation.
Libby

Kip

Sep 3, 2003, 2:04 PM

Post #15 of 32 (4595 views)

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Re: [Libby] Spanish course

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We're from the Pacific NW. My husband is a computer guru, he was working for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research in Seattle. We got an offer that we just couldn't turn down from Baptist HMO in Memphis. We have 15 horses so we had to be out a ways. An hour south of Memphis is absolutely gorgeous country, so this is where we bought our farm. I have no complaints about the scenic beauty here,..it's just everything else.

Kip
kip

FeelinGroovy

Sep 3, 2003, 3:41 PM

Post #16 of 32 (4589 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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I figured it was something like that ... you're just too hip to be from Miss. I was half joking anyway since I've lived in enough places to know you can find that "certain element" anywhere ... there were rednecks in Klamath Falls, Oregon and Placerville, CA as well as artists, environmentalists, etc. I now live in Folsom, CA near Sacramento where everyone thinks they are hip, slick and cool, but being from Los Angeles, CA myself I know they're really not :)
Libby

(This post was edited by Libby on Sep 3, 2003, 3:42 PM)

Nick

Sep 4, 2003, 2:53 PM

Post #17 of 32 (4566 views)

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Re: [Libby] Spanish course

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My wife is from Jaliso (Las Juntas y Guadalupana). Being a farm boy from Northern California I was at a loss when she first took me there some ten or so years ago. Her sweet seventy-eight year old mother and several other family members threatened me with physical harm if I didn't learn Spanish so they could speak with me. I found, on Amazon, lessons for Spanish titled "Spanish for Gringos". It worked for me....

Since I retired we spend from three to six months a year in Mexico and so far (keep those fingers crossed) no one has hurt me yet. The family does get allot of laughs from my use of the language sometimes, but at least I can get around by myself if separated from Mi Esposa....

This last January we were shopping for some plants for our place. The lady selling them figured out right away I was from California. She gave me all sorts of grief because I couldn't order in Spanish. She had spent some time in the LA area and could speak some English. After buying the plants (bushes and fruit trees actually) we decided we would not be able to plant them until we returned next trip (this coming November) and had to return to buy some containers to hold them in so my mother-in-law could keep them for us.

My wife worked with me to get the order correct in Spanish while we returned. As we approached her stall, the lady stood there with arms folded, looking at me like I was about to take everything she had worked for all her life. As I sputtered out the order, she gave a little smile, patted me on the shoulder, and told me I just might make it there after all.

The measure of a person is determined by the way he accepts responsibility for his actions.

N2Futur

Sep 12, 2003, 2:33 PM

Post #18 of 32 (4518 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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Kip - you may want to try your Public Library System. Ours in Colorado Springs offers three of the shorter versions of the Pimsleur courses. I can get the full versions (SPANISH I, II, III) thru an Inter-Library loan from the Denver Public Library System. Am on a waiting list currently, as all their copies are checked out - it must be a very popular program.

Elke

Elke
___________________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to pick the one I never tried before." - Mae West

Kip

Sep 12, 2003, 3:22 PM

Post #19 of 32 (4514 views)

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Re: [N2Futur] Spanish course

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I can only wish. The local library here is pretty pathetic. Tiny and a lot of the books are preWorld War Two!

Kip
kip

N2Futur

Sep 15, 2003, 7:13 AM

Post #20 of 32 (4487 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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another option would be downloading from a file sharing website such as www.kazaa.com - there are a few of the Pimsleur courses available. I've successfully downloaded a short one this weekend.

Elke
___________________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to pick the one I never tried before." - Mae West

Kip

Sep 15, 2003, 11:05 AM

Post #21 of 32 (4486 views)

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Re: [N2Futur] Spanish course

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Thanks, I'll check it out.

Kip
kip

Frank Burton

Sep 17, 2003, 4:56 PM

Post #22 of 32 (4479 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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Someone in my Spanish class in Ajijic mentioned studyspanish.com as an excellent site, and I believe it was free. Worth checking out.

Also, there are many different levels and kinds of Spanish classes in the Lake Chapala area, and the same in Guadalajara including immersion classes.

Kip

Sep 17, 2003, 7:19 PM

Post #23 of 32 (4455 views)

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Re: [Frank Burton] Spanish course

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Thanks Frank, I'll check it out.

Kip
kip

tfyoung

Sep 23, 2003, 4:20 PM

Post #24 of 32 (4436 views)

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Re: [Kip] Spanish course

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Kip,
The $20 deal is like a sampler of the whole program. I believe you get four tapes for the $20. For the whole program, there are 3 levels and each level is 30 lessons. (15 tapes with a lesson on each side.) Last time I checked, each level cost about $200. If you know some spanish already, you would probably be okay starting with level two. We've tormented ourselves with a number of different tape courses; Living Language, some set of tape from the State Department, Berlitz, etc. Pimsleur is by far the most practical as far as learning something you will be able to use.

Kip

Sep 23, 2003, 7:14 PM

Post #25 of 32 (4421 views)

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Re: [tfyoung] Spanish course

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Hi,

My husband bought a computer course called "Learn Spanish Your Way" put out by "Knowledge Adventure". Have you tried that one?

Kip
kip

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