Do Learn To Speak Spanish CDs Work
There are plenty of language self learning programs on the market these days. Some are quite expensive and some seem like a reasonable price but surely the ultimate judge of value for money is whether the product has managed to teach you to speak Spanish. Can you learn to speak Spanish from just a book and/or a CD or MP3 ? Well, kind of. This article will cover the advantages and disadvantages of using an audio language course to learn Spanish.
To start off, an audio course is a very intuitive way to learn a new language. People learn their native tongue as a baby or small child by listening and repeating the words that are spoken to them. This is the same method in a learn Spanish CD or MP3. Although an audio course can never completely replicate the way you learned as a baby, it is a good approximation of this method.
This is opposed to the standard method of learning a second language, where you learn to read, write and understand grammar at the same time as learning to comprehend and speak. This method is not instinctive but I think people want fast results and by jumping in at the deep end they feel that this is the way to go. Some people get the language but many people languish because they are lost in the grammar or overwhelmed by the information they have to take in.
Another advantage of an audio course is that it teaches you correct pronunciation (provided the audio is by a native Spanish speaker). This is important for a student of a new language because practicing your skills is the best way to improve those skills. However, if you can't pronounce words people will not understand you. This is in contrast to not getting the grammar right. People will understand what you mean even though the grammar is wrong. speaking to people not only improves your skills but gives you confidence, and this is important if you want to get fluent in the language.
And finally, a learn Spanish CD or MP3 is very easy to use. Provided you have a CD or MP3 player you could pretty much study Spanish anywhere. The most obvious place is the car. Many people spend hours of each day commuting to and from work. Wasted time which can be put to good use learning Spanish.
To some extent this is true. However, in my experience you can't devote your full attention to more than one thing, especially when it comes to a new language. Michel Thomas has many audio only courses and he advises (in the introduction to the courses) that you don't do anything else but listen to the audio. I tend to agree with him, especially on the first few listens.
If you have listened to the audios half a dozen times then it gets easier to multi task but initially I would say it is a no no.
So can you learn to speak Spanish with a CD or MP3 course ? I think they are really useful in teaching you the language. They will not make you fluent but they will give you some skills that can help you get to that kind of level. They break the learning process down into more sizable chunks. They concentrate on getting 2 core skills right rather than hitting you with five areas of learning. They also give you some confidence to speak to native Spanish speaking people. To me this is where the real learning comes from and having this confidence is essential.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
If you are interested in getting a Spanish course then visit http://rocketspanishreviewed.com . The site has reviews on three popular Spanish courses, including a comprehensive review of Rocket Spanish .
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entirety, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE links (without "nofollow" tags).
by: AdrianFletcher
Total views: 39
Word Count: 594
Rating: Not yet rated