Product Description

Michel Thomas has taken the language-learning world by storm. With no books, no memorising and no homework, Michel teaches the basic grammar of the language painlessly. Using the method he has perfected over the last 50 years, he now shares his secret with the world - and 'makes it simple' (Sunday Times). In only a matter of hours, he gives you a comprehensive grasp of the structure of the language, enabling you to communicate with confidence. The present, future, conditional and past tenses are covered, and you are taught to think about the ideas that you are trying to communicate, rather than to translate words slavishly. He points out the similarities of the vocabulary in English and Spanish and gives you the tools to guess the words you do not know, or think you 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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13934 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-01
• Released on: 1900-01-01
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 8
• Binding: Audio CD

Review
"Ideal for any business traveller who needs to be able to get around confidently." -- Sunday Business "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 "Hugely inspiring" -- Red "Michel's methods will teach you effectively and easily" -- Daily Star "His logical, structured approach engages with your intellect." -- The Telegraph Weekend 20041211

About the Author
Michel Thomas is a world-famous language teacher with an incredible skill to teach in days what usually takes years to learn. A psychology graduate, Michel survived starvation in French concentration and slave-labour camps, endured torture at the hands of Klaus Barbie and, after the war, hunted Nazis as an officer with US Counter Intelligence. \n \nThese unique, challenging and varied experiences helped him to forge his revolutionary learning system that is in demand from heads of industry and movie stars alike.

Customer Reviews

muy bien!
By the end of the first CD I had completely thrown of my cynicism! I have tried a number of spanish courses, and books etc. but whilst retaining a few cod phrases and a limited ability to communicate in an emergency situation, I never before managed to get a grip or an understanding of the language and it's formations.... until I discovered this course. It's easy to look at the reviews on the back and think "no course could be that good" but unbelievably the method that Michel Thomas uses works! Thousands of spanish teachers in GCSE classes must be fearing for their jobs... learning a language shouldn't be this easy, and if it can be then why did I go through such torture at school?

Admittedly the 8 CDs can not teach you everything, and you will only become fluent in spanish through years of practice and immersion, but the confidence and understanding, combined with the ability to construct sentences and deconstruct what you hear is a better start than you will get anywhere else. I have since bought some spanish audio books and a couple of novels in spanish and, though the going is quite slow, the progression is SO satisfying!

Spanish with Michel Thomas
I would not hesitate to recommend this course wholeheartedly to any beginner wishing to learn Spanish. From the very first CD you are taught to construct sentences, not merely learn parrot fashion, you can participate and formulate your replies before listening to the student's reply. This gives you immense confidence and satisfaction, as from the very first stages you feel you are achieving something. Michel is also very particular about correct pronunciation which is very important and something not easily gained from a book. It covers a great deal of information in a very short space of time. After eight hours you have covered the present, past and future tenses, of course you will not be fluent - you wouldn't expect to be after 8 hours! (see one reviewer's comments) but you have the basics of construction and grammar and it is then up to the individual to learn more vocabulary. The only downside I would mention (and this has also been mentioned in other reviews) is the male student who seems unnecessarily dim. I realise that having a slightly slower student is psychologically encouraging for anyone learning as they feel they are doing much better, but after a while his hesitation and mispronunciations become extremely irritating. Apart from this I would give it full marks.

Michel Thomas - Learning Through Understanding.
Spanish with Michel Thomas - 8 hour Course

Bad points - The description of this course as a 'complete course' can be misleading. The course itself makes no such claim. Michel Thomas himself refers to the course as 'an introductory course to the language'. Don't expect to cover everything in 8 hours, e.g., the subjunctive, compound tenses (apart from the perfect tense), active and passive voice, and comparatives are not covered. However, this 8 hour course does pack in a great deal and hopefully a further course covering the above will be available in the future.

Good points - Michel Thomas focuses on the importance of structure, phonetics and stress in communicating in the Spanish language.

Learning by this method is relaxing and enjoyable. It's true - no notes, memorising or homework are necessary. His method pursues learning through understanding and Michael Thomas is excellent at conveying understanding. Patient yet persistent, he conveys his knowledge, stimulating memory through a series of word chains that structure the language, and memory hooks, which make retrieval easy for those of us with even the most fog bound of memories.

I have learned a great deal more in 8 hours, than in almost a year's study in various language schools. This course is able to convey learning without pain. If you have ever been intimidated by the large number of seemingly irregular Spanish verbs try this course. Michel explains the reasons for the irregular verbs; be it their roots or simple phonetics, once you understand they no longer seem so irregular.

If you are about to embark on a Spanish course this is a very good foundation to build on. It will prevent you from picking up bad habits!

If you are at an intermediate level this course will provide good revision, deeper understanding and make you aware of the bad habits you have picked up!

This course was enjoyable, I covered the 8 hour course within 4 days. I have studied French for years but have ordered the 8 hour French course too (it's sold out at the the moment - a good sign).

G. Burrough.