Product Description

This recording follows on from the Foundation (8-hour) all-audio course which took the language-learning world by storm.
With no books, no memorising and no homework, Michel Thomas teaches the basic grammar of the language painlessly. Using the method he perfected over 50 years, he shares his secret with the world - and 'makes it simple' (Sunday Times).
In only a matter of hours, he teaches what it takes years to cover by conventional methods, giving his students a comprehensive working knowledge of the language – all the tenses are taught and practised; the position of pronouns is made easy, and Michel spends some time on the problems of translation, instilling in the students 'an enhanced awareness of their own language'. And he does all this effortlessly, 'effectively and easily' (Daily Star).
By the end of the Advanced course Michel has covered ALL the structures and tenses of 'A' level and beyond. Grammar points and tenses only touched upon in the Foundation (8-hour) course are expanded to give the student a complete knowledge of the structure of the entire language.
He points out the similarities of the vocabulary in English and Spanish and gives his students the tools to guess the words they do not know, or think they do not know.
Join two students as they learn in real time. Become the third member of the class and experience the excitement of learning a language as if by magic!

This new edition has one, very significant, new feature – an additional ‘Review’ CD. All the main teaching points have been lifted from the 5-hour Advanced course and are contained on this one CD. The student hears Michel teaching a specific point, there is a pause which allows time for the student to give his/her response to Michel’s prompt, followed by Michel giving the correct response. If the student has struggled or given an incorrect answer, s/he can use the index in the accompanying booklet to locate the area of the main course where the specific language point was being taught in depth and can return to the main course to work through the relevant section again, quickly and efficiently. It can also be used very successfully by those coming back to the course after a lapse of time, either to check how much they have retained or as a quick revision tool. Only Michel’s words and phrases are on the new CD, so the course is summarised succinctly and with a new, snappy pace. Finally, the new edition is repackaged, with an up-to-the minute cover treatment and robust DVD-type cases inside a rigid card slip case, to ensure that the CDs remain damage-free and are easy to access and use.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11532 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-29
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

Review
'a great way to learn; it's fast and it lasts' -- Daily Telegraph 'the nearest thing to painless learning' -- Times

Review
"Ideal for any business traveller who needs to be able to get around confidently." (Sunday Business )

"A great way to learn; it's fast and it lasts". (The Daily Telegraph )

"Five minutes into the first CD, you already feel like you're winning." (Time Out )

"Michel Thomas is a precious find indeed." (The Guardian )

"Thomas makes it simple" (Sunday Times )

"Michel's methods will teach you effectively and easily" (Daily Star )

"Hugely inspiring" (Red )

"Excellent for learning ... This entirely audio course is easy to use and quickly results in some useful ability in the new language. Great for the car."

(Adventure Travel )

"Moving along at a relaxed, slow pace, punctuated by amusing anecdotes and jokes from the teacher, the new words, phrases and language rules are gently introduced and reinforced through subtle repetition without ever being tedious. In fact, despite a distinct emphasis on non-work, the course proves very effective and enjoyable, and its format is ideal for learning anywhere you like. So, if you only want to learn to speak the language, this course is highly recommended."

(Top Real Travel Product, Real Travel )

About the Author
Michel Thomas had an amazing life. Born in Poland, he spent his early years in Germany and then in France, where he studied psychology at the Sorbonne in Paris. When war broke out, he fought with the Resistance and suffered imprisonment in slave labour camps. At the end of the war he joined the US liberation army and later settled in the US where he established his world-famous language school. For more than 50 years he taught languages to the rich and famous and became the world's most sought-after language teacher.

---

Customer Reviews

Amazing!
This follow-on from the 8 hour course and two hour language builder course has lived up to expectations, it is excellent!

As the name of the course suggests it is designed for students that have either completed the first courses or acquired a grounding in Spanish through other means. If you are an absolute beginner you should come back and purchase this course when you have picked up the basics, its not for you yet.

I have been studying Spanish for more than ten years on and off and whilst I have studied all of the tenses in these discs before it is the fact that you have a chance to consolidate and use them in context that makes this course invaluable.

Michel uses the same technique as the 8 hour course, two students (one male and one female) and himself. The students (you will no doubt be relieved to hear) are different from the 8 hour course, they make very few mistakes. The benefit is that when listening to the course again you will not continually have to wait for the mistakes of others to be corrected. This was a problem in the preceding 8 hour course. The fact that the students are so good seems to have relaxed Michel, it may be me, but I thought he sounded a lot less tetchy than he was before (although I must admit that I did find this hilarious).

There isn't much new vocabulary in the course but what you do get is a thorough analysis and chance to practice quite advanced Spanish grammar . He spends a long time going over the past tenses in Spanish which were only lightly touched on in the first course. In addition, every students dread, the subjunctive, is covered in a way that I can only describe as brilliant. My fear of the subjunctive has now gone!

There is a small booklet that accompanies the course but there is no more than a summary of the course content on each disc so if you are looking for a written explanation of the grammar you would be better buying Madrigals Magic Key by Margarita Madrigal. To be honest I think this is a good companion for anyone listening to these discs as all of the tenses described by Michel are included in here along with more written practice exercises. In fact the method used in both Michel Thomas and Margarita Madrigal is very similar.

A word of warning for those looking for advanced vocabulary, there is not much in here. If you are familar with Spanish grammar then you should buy other materials to improve your vocabulary but for intermediate learners this course is definitely good value for money and should be high on your list of Spanish materials to buy!

Buena suerte

Fantastic guide to the structure of grammar!
Michel Thomas is an excellent teacher of foreign languages - and this set of CDs does just what it says on the box - it advances your grasp and comprehension of the Spanish language - so why only 4 stars? Why not 5?

Well, I'm afraid I really dislike the idea of following the learning progress with fellow learners who make very silly mistakes (In this set - particularly the female student!), and have to be corrected by Michel on the CD!!! It's just like being in class with those who really SHOULDN'T be in that group!!! Aaagh!!! It's supposed to be an advanced course - and I have to say that I would really rather hear
native speakers pronouncing everything the way that it should be pronounced than hearing learners struggling and overemphasising certain syllables in their attempt to PUUUSH the stressed syllable!!!

Having said that, I have to say that I recently bought this set of CDs for use in the car and to enhance my Spanish skills - and am really glad that I did! Although Michel Thomas hated to use the word 'grammar' - this is a comprehensive guide to grammatical tenses and to the grammatical structure of the Spanish language - which is exactly what I needed!

Michel Thomas breaks down the various tenses in a way that is easy to master, to learn and to use - providing plenty of practice along the way. Having 'jumped' a year in my Spanish learning, I missed any real introduction to the most common Spanish past tense - the preterit - and have always struggled with it - but, after completing the second CD, I'm really beginning to feel that I am finally grasping it! Hooray!!!

I am also beginning to understand the subjunctive, the future and the future conditional - and I have only gone through the first 2 CDs - so am hopeful for the rest!!!

MICHEL THOMAS ADVANCED SPANISH (& BUILDER)
I'm a total devotee of this method. - All through the ears, no pen & paper, but solidly based upon grammar. The idea - with the earlier 8-CD beginner's course and the 4-CD advanced course covered here - is that Michel Thomas sits in a studio with two genuine students and asks them hundreds of questions on how to construct sentences. The accent is on everyday speech. e.g - "How would you say..er.. 'Will you please make it for me and tell me when it's ready because I'm going to need it very soon?'"
You 'sit in' on the lesson and, just before one of the students answers, press the pause button and answer yourself. Then you press play to see if you were right. Quite frequently the students get it wrong and that's helpful because they make much the same common mistakes that you do and, when Michel Thomas corrects them, it helps reinforce the grammatical point at issue.
Interestingly, on the intermediate 2-CD course - The Spanish Builder, which Amazon offer as a package here, the method changes and it is just Michel Thomas asking YOU the questions without the two students. He covers a lot in too little time and gabbles. I think this course was knocked out very quickly following on the succes of the beginners and it just doesn't work as well. Moreover the advanced course covers the ponts in Builder so I would get the beginner's course and the advanced and give Builder a miss.
A word of caution: don't think of "advanced" in terms of "Advanced GCSE" or fluency. - It's about 2/3 the way to O level GCSE. e.g. it covers order of pronouns, past and future tenses, the positive / negative imperative, the conditional and - just about - the subjunctive. HOWEVER, because there are lots of memorable hints, the course helps you to converse in well-constructed Spanish in a way that GCSE doesn't and helps you gather together a useful vocabulary.(e.g every English word ending in ION - caution / trepidation has the same stem and ends in ICION caucion / trepidacion in Spanish. - That little bit of info gives you several hundred words - just like that!) He comes across on the CD's as a warm-hearted enthusiast with an acute grasp of how languages are "wired up" and communicates this to his students.
We have a holiday home in Spain and it's helped me considerably - the only downside is that you come across with native speakers as having a better command of Spanish than you have in fact and they can shoot back rapid-fire responses!.
Finally I would say that, whilst it's easier and more fun than a text book, you need both these courses AND text books to make optimum progress.