language CD
 

Any suggestion for learning CD for Spanish or Castillion?
BS

For just simple travel basics, like &quot;Where are the taxis?&quot; and &quot;Can you recommend a good restaurant?&quot;, I really like the <b>In Flight</b> CD's. I used <b>In Flight French</b> for my trip to Paris, and it gave me just enough of the language to get around. I don't know about any more extensive learning CD's.

Do you think I should look for Castillion spanish?
BS

How much Spanish do you already know? I studied South/Latin American Spanish when I was in high school and then went to Spain. Yes, it was really hard to understand their accents and colloquilisms at first, but I got the swing of it.

That said, if you do now know any Spanish and are looking for a crash course before going to Spain, I try to find Castillian tapes to get used to the accent. However, if you are relying on a book and words you are reading, it doesn't really matter. After trips to Venezuela, Mexico and Norther Morocco I have realized that Spanish is Spanish and you just have to give it your best shot.

Thanks again, Laclaire.
BS

De nada, Roberto.

I also would suggest the Instant Immersion series of CD-Roms. I used the Italian ones to complement my classes, and it keeps it a little more interesting.

We have just bought the Spanish series of the same line, about $20-30 from Target, and the kids enjoy it too.

Thanks 5alive.
BS

I would unhesitiatingly recommend Michel Thomas's CDs - either the 2 or the 8 CD version, depending on how much time and enthusiasm you have. I have used both the spanish and the italian, and found they are the best way of building the language, even if you only want the very basics. They are widely available, icluding amazon and e-bay [ps make sure you get CDs, not tapes as I did on e-bay!] Have fun!

I have Michele Thomas's Italian CDs, and while I found them useful in learning the grammer, I think they are a little short on day to day basics. For example, it is all very well being able to ask &quot;What do you think of the political and economical situation in Italy today?&quot; (this is a direct phrase from the CDs) but I'd rather be able to ask &quot;can I have two glasses of red wine please?&quot;

If you are looking to learn the language, MT's cds are a great help. If you are looking to get by on holiday, then I would look elsewhere.

Have you checked the library? My local library has a great selection of audio language courses, especially Spanish. I've used the Pimsleur Italian and Spanish cds. There are two courses, a basic one for travellers and a multi-level course for people really wanting to learn the language. I've been happy with the courses but I haven't tried any other type of audio course.

As for CD, I definitely agree that Michelle Thomas is excellent. He is able to impart the grammar fundamentals in a simple, easy to understand and useful fashion. For my first extended trip driving through Italy, I used Michelle Thomas, plus &quot;Ttalian Verbs &amp; Essentials of Grammar&quot; by Carlo Graziano, Passport Books, Ed. (available at Barnes &amp; Noble), plus a phrase book. Passport Books has a similarly titled book for Spanish, which I bought. It appears to look very good, although I haven't gotten much into it. While I agree that Michelle Thomas does not focus on phrases specifically applicable to travelers, the functional understanding of the language that he communicates will assist you in using and remembering the phrases that you get from the phrase book. This is especially true if you forget one of the words in the phrase book. In that situation, armed with your understanding of the langauge, you will be able to supplement the phrase yourself -- or totally re-word it -- instead of having the &quot;deer in the headlights&quot; feeling because you forget one of the &quot;magic&quot; words. One final thought: MT has 4CD and 8CD versions. I bought both for Italian, and I see that the basic difference is that in the 8CD version he goes into past tense and the auxillairy verbs, such as, to have to, to be able, to want. The latter is quite helpful because if you use an auxilliary verb, you can use the following verb in the infinitive. This means that to get around, you would only have to know the verb endings for a handful of verbs instead of hundreds.

Mich&egrave;le / Michelle = girl
Michel = boy

i just found out about this website called earworms.com where you can pay to download language lessons right into your ipod. it is basic travel spanish (and they offer other languages as well) but they set the lessons to a musical beat and make it repetitive b/c i guess studies have found that it helps in retention. my friend who speaks spanish tested the demo and said it seems really good and the pronunciations are correct. check it out.. i am going to purchase it before i go to barcelona this summer