Living Language Spanish, Platinum Edition: A complete beginner through advanced course, including 3 coursebooks, 9 audio CDS, complete online course, apps, and live e-Tutoring Author: Living Language | Language: English | ISBN:
0307479129 | Format: PDF
Living Language Spanish, Platinum Edition: A complete beginner through advanced course, including 3 coursebooks, 9 audio CDS, complete online course, apps, and live e-Tutoring Description
For over 65 years, millions have learned with Living Language®. Now it’s your turn.
Based on the Living Language Method™, Platinum Spanish gives you, the flexibility to fit language learning into your life. You choose where, when, and how you learn.
• 3 BOOKS: 46 lessons, additional review exercises, culture notes, an extensive glossary, and a grammar summary—plus a bonus notebook.
• 9 AUDIO CDS: Vocabulary, dialogues, audio exercises, and more—listen with the books or use for review on the go.
• iPhone® AND iPad® COMPATIBLE APPS: Vocabulary flashcards, audio conversations, grammar notes, and interactive games all at your fingertips.
• ONLINE COURSE: Access all of your language content in a rich, interactive experience that allows you to learn at home or wherever you and your laptop go.
• E-TUTOR: Schedule tutoring sessions and get personal support, answers, and encouragement from language experts at no additional cost.
• ONLINE COMMUNITY: Practice, share tips, get advice, and receive feedback from language experts, native speakers, and other users.
INSIDE THE PACKAGE YOU’LL FIND: The code required to access the Apps, Online Course, and e-Tutor. Check out Living Language’s exclusive forums once you’ve registered as a Platinum user.
To learn more visit www.livinglanguage.com.
THE LIVING LANGUAGE METHOD™
At the core of Platinum Spanish is the Living Language Method™, based on linguistic science, proven techniques, and over 65 years of experience. Our four-point method teaches you the whole language so you can express yourself, not just recite memorized words or scripts.
Build a Foundation
Start speaking French immediately using essential words and phrases.
Progress with Confidence
Build on each lesson as you advance to full sentences, then actual conversations.
Retain what You’ve Learned
Special recall exercises move your new language from short-term to long-term memory.
Achieve Your Goals
Don’t just mimic or memorize. Develop practical language skills to speak in any situation.
- Series: Platinum
- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Living Language; Pap/Com/Ps edition (August 9, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307479129
- ISBN-13: 978-0307479129
- Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.7 x 3.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I bought this set after seeing a friend's copy of the French edition. I really like the set up and I do feel that I am learning a lot (though the first book seemed mostly a refresher of items I learned in high school and college).
Positives:
-Division of chapters is clear and the companion cds read almost every word on the page. (Which makes it easy to read along with the chapter or use it as extra practice on your drive to work as I do.
-The book is written in a way that seems more organic to learning conversational Spanish. Instead of just learning a bunch of words and how to conjugate them or just a set of general vocabulary each chapter is topic based. This means the the number section isn't just "uno, dos, tres." It also includes "Tengo dos gatos" and "Ella tiene tres perros." (I have two cats. She has three dogs.) Slowly interspersing new vocabulary, sentence structure, gender-dominance of the terms, and of course conjugation.
Negatives: (why I did not give it 5 stars)
-You have to come in with a basic knowledge of the Spanish alphabet and sometimes the pronunciation doesn't seem as clear in writing.
-Sometimes some of the most important/interesting vocabulary is thrown into the summary paragraph at the end of the chapter giving the reader only one chance to familiarize with that set of vocabulary before it is either not referenced again or thrown into another part of the following chapter. (The cd does read this chapter to you but does not give you the option to repeat those words.)
-The cd can really only be used after reading the chapter for extra study. I tried to use some of the lessons ahead of where I was in the book. (Only the next lesson, not far in advance.) And I found myself tongue tied.
This year my son started Rosetta Stone's Spanish. At the same time I got this set, so there will be some comparison.
1) COST - obviously paying $125 for this program vs. $500 for Rosetta Stone is a huge bonus for me.
2) LEARING PROCESS - This system focuses on reading through chapters with exercises and listening to audio files to support the chapters. The content in the audio files is just like the book. Where audio files help the most is if you don't know how to pronounce the words it helps to hear it and hit rewind over and over again.
Rosetta stone, requires a computer as it uses visual queues (pictures), audio files and in version 3.x it lets you speak into a mic and measures if you are speaking the word correctly or not. I tried this with the Chinese lesson once - which Chinese has different tones of the same word - the program allowed me to continue even though my pronunciation was off. Thus this feature becomes worthless on some levels.
Having lived in foreign countries, learning a language comes through repetition. Since we all have MP3 players and can take them wherever we are, then this system works fine for replaying the phrases and words over and over again.
Thus for the impatient person who doesn't want to spend the time practicing, then maybe not only is this program not for you but learning a language in general is not for you. Similar to learning the guitar...I know a bunch of chords but I can't play songs by memory without practice, practice, practice.
3) TRAVELLING - The Essentials book, has a Spanish-English and English-Spanish glossary in the back. The book is thin enough and light enough you could throw it in a bag and take it with you when travelling.
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