Archive for the ‘Spanish Product Reviews’ Category
There’s a new kid on the block– and this kid is demanding the full attention of the entire Spanish student community. This company is the evolution of Affordable Spanish, and has taken each and every flaw completely out of their product. Let us explain…
First and foremost, the sheer amount of content that you receive in this package is unparalleled by any other product that we have reviewed. You have access to dozens of hours of audio, video, text files, quizzes, games, crosswords puzzles, and other resources. If you are a “listen and repeat” learner- you’re covered. If you learn better by someone explaining the concepts to you and then providing examples to reinforce the concept- you’re definitely covered. If you’d rather use dozens of examples, take quizzes, play games, and work crosswords to learn- you’re also covered. No matter what kind of learner you are- you’re covered.
We have had MANY requests to review LoMasTV as a Spanish learning program- and I must say that this review is long overdue. We have spent some time looking through their materials, and we are pleasantly surprised at the strides that his program has made.
During it’s original inception, they were built on a slightly older platform for website design, and they didn’t have nearly as much content as they currently do. The reason this is important is because their site is now JAM-PACKED with excellent quality instructional videos, and it is not coded in HTML5. For you “non-techies” out there, this is important because you watch the videos with the translations and transcripts on your iPhone/iPad devices.
Now, on to their videos. They have hundreds of high quality videos ranging from music and interviews to news broadcasts and novela clips to help you get a well rounded exposure to the Spanish language. They are even sorted by difficulty so that as your skills improve you can continue to push yourself in the right direction.
To give you a better idea of their content, we thought we’d just add some free samples from their site so that you can see for yourself. Please watch the videos below and keep in mind that you can click on any word and see a dictionary reference of it during the video. This is incredibly helpful! See below:
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The makers of Learning Spanish Like Crazy have done it again… They have created a product that is designed to take their students from intermediate levels to advanced by studying various topics and listening to native speakers. This is the product you’ve been waiting for!
The dialogs are native speakers in professional recording studios. There is professional background noise to give the feeling that you are actually in a park/airport/restaurant/etc. They have done a superb job as using slang terms, native conversational speeds, and real-life vocabulary that you will hear in Latin-American countries. In short, we have also spoken VERY highly of the Learning Like Crazy programs- but this one is on an entirely different level. This is a game-changer for the student who has graduated from their Level 2 course.
In this course, they use actual video recordings of native speakers in both audio and video formats. You can play the videos in live speed or in a slowed speed to help “tune” your ear. They have also included transcripts in both English and Spanish to ensure that you get every word. In just two of the categories included in this course- there are more than 140 files that you have immediate access to!
Bottom line- if you are an intermediate student who can impress others with how well you can communicate in Spanish but need a push toward being able to understand native speakers better, then don’t even hesitate to buy this product. At under $200- you will not be able to find a better tool to really enhance your listening skills.
If you go straight to their site, you will find that they do not have any availability remaining. Don’t believe us? Go look at for yourself at THIS LINK. You can be placed on a waiting list to get started. However- if you want to get started immediately you can take advantage of this exclusive offer by going through the Spanish Site Reviews link to Fast Lane Advanced Spanish.
If you are just starting on your Spanish journey- then the first thing that you’ll want to really get good at is the verb tenses of Spanish. For that purpose, we have three products that we recommend you invest in!
The first product is the new 30 Day Electronic Class by Affordable Spanish. This program focuses on their explanations of the verb tenses, the uses of the Spanish pronouns, and the uses of the word “se.” These explanations are of the utmost importance as they really help you to understand how the conjugations behave. This is the most in-depth explanation of the verb tenses that we have found yet.
The next product that we suggest is the Verberrator. In order for you to really practice all of the verb conjugations that you learned with the 30 Day Electronic Class you will need the Verberrator to practice each and every tense until you have a complete understanding.
Lastly, you will need the book 501 Spanish Verbs by Kendris to supplement the lectures from Affordable Spanish. Their lectures go hand-in-hand with this book and you’ll find that it’s worth it’s weight in gold!
So for around $100, you can invest in these three resources and have enough Spanish to keep you busy for a while. Furthermore, the end result will be something that most Spanish students never have– a COMPLETE understanding of the Spanish verb tenses!
Affordable Spanish has done it again! After an overwhelming amount of requests to bring back their 90 day program, they have done just that. Their 90 day program was wildly popular for a long time, and for good reason. It took the first thirty days and it introduced the student to the basics of Spanish. Essentially- their first 30 days cover their “Level 1” of Spanish, which is all of the verb tenses, all of the uses of pronouns, and all of the uses of the word “se.” As a site note, it is worth mentioning that this program offers BY FAR the most comprehensive explanation of the verb tenses out of any program available. All of this content is spread out over 30 days with quizzes, games, crossword puzzles, word finds, audio lectures, videos, and a lot more to make sure that you grasp all of the topics thoroughly.
The next 60 days takes the concepts that you learned in the first 30 days and puts them into practice. Through the use of short stories, they not only let you test your beginner’s skills but also challenge and expand your vocabulary. The driving focus behind Affordable Spanish is to be able to communicate with Latin-American speakers, and days 31-60 accomplish exactly that. Each of the voices in the short stories is from state certified court translators who are native Spanish speakers. Like the first 30 days, each of the short stories is accompanied by games, crossword puzzles, etc.
In the last 30 days of their 90 day program- your Spanish will be challenged. In order to expose you to the widest variety of Spanish vocabulary, days 61-90 use popular Spanish music, videos, and even an introduction to a novel written by the author of this program! The novel was written specifically for students who are wanted to really push their vocabulary further than they ever thought they could.
So while Affordable Spanish is still offering their Level 1 and Level 2 products- I would highly advise anyone interested in this program to stick with the 90 day program. You will receive the same information, but organized in a simpler format that will enable you to just focus on the task at hand.
As always- Affordable Spanish stays at the top of the food chain, receiving our highest review of 5 stars!
Note: The only drawback of the original 90 day program that Affordable Spanish offered was that it was emailed to you daily. If you ever missed a day- the emails kept coming. With the sheer volume of information that is included in this set- you might need to take a day or two to review specific topics. To counter that problem, Affordable Spanish has now added each of the daily lessons to their download area. If you know you won’t have access to the internet in a few days, you can download those lessons to take with you. PROBLEM COMPLETELY SOLVED!
The final icing on the cake is that Affordable Spanish provides MANY examples of their products. You can actually receive a LOT of their products as a FREE sample just by registering an account. You are not obligated to buy anything- and you really get to see what their system is like before you buy it.
Click HERE to visit their website.
*UPDATE*
Affordable Spanish has completely rebuilt their package and added a TON of content to it. It can now be found at SpanishExplained.com! Click HERE for our review of that site!
After thoroughly testing the Spanish Verberrator from the same makers of Learning Spanish Like Crazy, I must say that I am incredibly impressed. Mastering the different tenses of the verbs is by far the most important part of being able to communicate in Spanish. It allows you to not only break out of the present tense in your speaking- but it enables you to understand the everyday conversation that others will be using. The verb tenses are absolutely vital to your Spanish communication, and this product is incredible at increasing your conjugation skills.
You can set the queue of verbs for all of the verbs in the database (which is more verbs than you’ll ever need), or you can simply have it go with custom selections. Furthermore, you can narrow down which tenses you want to study, and can ensure that you master that tense before moving on to the next.
This product costs less than $60, and is an AMAZING asset that I strongly suggest for anyone who is a serious student and needs help mastering the verb tenses. To be blunt- this is without a doubt the best tool on the market for truly mastering the verb tenses, which is absolutely vital to your success in learning Spanish.
You can see their website HERE. You can also see their video below:
Learning Spanish Like Crazy receives our second highest rating of 4.5 stars. The reputation of Learning Spanish Like Crazy speaks for itself, and there is plenty of reason for all the hype. With thousands of satisfied customers, it’s no wonder why Learning Spanish Like Crazy is one of the hottest language learning programs on the planet. They pride themselves on teaching “real Latin-American Spanish” and only use Latin-American speakers for all of their dialogs. Similar to Affordable Spanish, they also offer two levels. The first level is an introduction into Spanish, but don’t let that fool you. Their “introduction” will expose the listener to more Spanish than all three Pimsleur sets ever thought about. Their second set goes even further, and gets well into “advanced” Spanish. Almost all of the verb tenses are covered in these two Levels, and the student will have plenty of examples of their usages. Not only that, but Level 2 does an excellent job of exposing the listener to the subjunctive mood, which is often thought of as the hardest aspect of Spanish for English speakers. These levels are both fully downloadable, or available on CD upon request (with additional costs). They come with plenty of extras, and all of the lessons are accompanied by the pdf transcripts of both the English and Spanish dialog.
The reason that this set is receiving four stars instead of five is simple. Learning Spanish Like Crazy does an excellent job giving examples and many different usages of the various topics, but they could do a better job explaining why certain conjugations behave the way do. With a little more explanation amidst their many examples, they would easily have the top 5 star rating. They have done an excellent job exposing the listeners to real conversational Spanish, and this is definitely a tool worth investing in. After mastering this set, the student should be able to engage in everyday conversation with native speakers, but would have difficulties with Spanish radio and television. With practice, however, these levels could be achieved.
Click HERE to visit Level 1 of their program, or HERE to visit Level 2. We HIGHLY recommend this program in conjunction with the Spanish Verberrator!
Shortcut to Spanish is an EXCELLENT resource for the absolute beginner to the Spanish language. It can literally have a complete novice to the language speaking in complete sentences by the end of the first hour. I was pleasantly surprised with the great results that this program produced. They have recently released a “Shortcut to Spanish 2″ and it has proven to be equally as effective as the first set. If you are a complete beginner and are looking to get involved with Spanish, this product can produce some excellent results very quickly. These audio files are accompanied by a very large pdf file which is a great help to reinforce the topics covered in Shortcut to Spanish. The only drawback which keeps Shortcut to Spanish from receiving a 5 star rating is how it is geared only for the beginner, and offers very little to the intermediate or advanced student. However, since it is very affordable and instantly downloadable, this makes it easily attainable for the beginner student.
In order for you to get a better understanding of the format of Shortcut to Spanish, please check out THIS FREE LESSON so you can get a feel of how effective Marcus Santamaria’s course really is!
For more information, click HERE to visit their site.
Synergy Spanish was made to compliment Shortcut to Spanish, and does exactly that. Synergy Spanish takes the Shortcut to Spanish graduate, and extends on their abilities using the skills that they acquired in Shortcut to Spanish. I was pleased to see that Synergy Spanish takes Shortcut to Spanish students to the next level. At the end of Synergy Spanish, the student can expect to be speaking in simple paragraphs and being able to converse “lightly” with topics that they are familiar with. This set is an INCREDIBLE stepping stone for the beginner students, or could together be called “Survival Spanish” and could be issued to tourists. Together, they are an excellent set which we highly recommend for the beginner students of Spanish.
In order for you to get a better understanding of the format of Synergy Spanish, please check out THIS FREE LESSON so you can get a feel of how effective Marcus Santamaria’s course really is!
Click HERE to visit Synergy Spanish.
The FSI Spanish set is one for the serious student. Originally developed by the Foreign Services Institute (FSI), this set consists of four levels which are loaded with information. They have recently seemingly merged (been bought buy/were overtaken by?) with Learning Spanish Like Crazy as their site now indicates on the front page that Patrick Jackson is sending the newsletters. In fact, if you buy Learning Spanish Like Crazy Level 1, you will receive FSI Spanish Levels 3 and 4 absolutely FREE. This course has tons of vocabulary, builds verb usages quickly, and will expose the listener to quite a bit of Spanish in a relatively short period of time.
This is a lot of material that can take a student pretty deep into Spanish, but that is not to say that this course doesn’t have it’s shortcomings. This course seems to be Patrick Jackson’s strategic maneuvering of eliminating competition, but the quality of his Learning Spanish Like Crazy set is much higher. The recording quality of the FSI program is less than adequate, and the speaker seems quite monotone and (quite frankly) boring. If the student is able to understand and keep interested by this course, then there is much that can be learned from it.
Click HERE to visit their website and get more information regarding their program.
