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Learning Spanish: How to Understand and Speak a New Language
The course material consists of 6 DVDs containing 30 lectures, and a 239 page workbook.
Experience the fastest and most direct way to learn Spanish—a beautiful and highly useful language—in this course that covers the curriculum of a first semester college course in Spanish.
Experience the fastest and most direct way to learn Spanish—a beautiful and highly useful language—in this course that covers the curriculum of a first semester college course in Spanish.
239 pages, DVD and paperback
Published January 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 27, 2025
I'm pretty sure that back when I first listened to this course, sometime around 2017, I already wrote a glowing review. However, I cannot find this enthusiastic write-up neither on goodreads nor on The Great Courses.
Anyway, as I'm currently resuscitating my Spanish before a short trip to Madrid, I've now listened to this course for the second time, and I still think it deserves six stars out of five.
Professor Bill Worden brings his enthusiasm for language teaching and his many years of experience into this 36-lecture video course. The first 30 minutes of each 45-minute lecture are devoted to explaining grammar topics, introducing new vocabulary, and also giving some excellent advice on how to approach foreign language learning in general; the last 15 minutes are spent on vocabulary exercises and language speaking practice.
There is also an excellent course workbook (239 pages) with lots of additional material. I'm sure that if I were diligent enough to peruse the workbook pdf after each lesson and especially to do the complementary exercises available for each lecture, the efficiency of my studies would have been greatly increased. As it is, I'm not diligent enough (or, as I prefer to put it, I don't have enough time), but even listening with three-quarters of an ear and not bothering to use the workbook, I still learned a lot.
By the way, this course isn't called "How to Understand and Speak a New Language" for nothing -- as I've already mentioned, but would like to stress yet again, it continues lots of excellent advice on foreign language learning methodology, which can be applied to any language you want to learn, not only Spanish. As I've been learning foreign languages for almost as long as I remember myself, in different circumstances and with varying degrees of success, for me there wasn't much new information in Bill Worden's language learning tips (by now I either arrived at the same conclusions myself or borrowed them from other teachers and polyglots), but I can vouch for the soundness and usefulness of his advice.
No course, however excellent, is enough on its own to master a foreign language, but "Learning Spanish; How to Understand and Speak a New Language" could serve as an excellent first stride in your Spanish language journey.
I now have the pleasure of listening to Learning Spanish II: How to Understand and Speak a New Language
. If only I had time to combine this learning experience with some Pimsleur Spanish before the upcoming trip... I would then be actually able to speak like a normal person, and not like a frightened zombie in advanced stages of dementia. Oh well, at least my comprehension is getting better by the hour.;)
Image credit: Jonatan argento, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.
Anyway, as I'm currently resuscitating my Spanish before a short trip to Madrid, I've now listened to this course for the second time, and I still think it deserves six stars out of five.
Professor Bill Worden brings his enthusiasm for language teaching and his many years of experience into this 36-lecture video course. The first 30 minutes of each 45-minute lecture are devoted to explaining grammar topics, introducing new vocabulary, and also giving some excellent advice on how to approach foreign language learning in general; the last 15 minutes are spent on vocabulary exercises and language speaking practice.
There is also an excellent course workbook (239 pages) with lots of additional material. I'm sure that if I were diligent enough to peruse the workbook pdf after each lesson and especially to do the complementary exercises available for each lecture, the efficiency of my studies would have been greatly increased. As it is, I'm not diligent enough (or, as I prefer to put it, I don't have enough time), but even listening with three-quarters of an ear and not bothering to use the workbook, I still learned a lot.
By the way, this course isn't called "How to Understand and Speak a New Language" for nothing -- as I've already mentioned, but would like to stress yet again, it continues lots of excellent advice on foreign language learning methodology, which can be applied to any language you want to learn, not only Spanish. As I've been learning foreign languages for almost as long as I remember myself, in different circumstances and with varying degrees of success, for me there wasn't much new information in Bill Worden's language learning tips (by now I either arrived at the same conclusions myself or borrowed them from other teachers and polyglots), but I can vouch for the soundness and usefulness of his advice.
No course, however excellent, is enough on its own to master a foreign language, but "Learning Spanish; How to Understand and Speak a New Language" could serve as an excellent first stride in your Spanish language journey.
I now have the pleasure of listening to Learning Spanish II: How to Understand and Speak a New Language
. If only I had time to combine this learning experience with some Pimsleur Spanish before the upcoming trip... I would then be actually able to speak like a normal person, and not like a frightened zombie in advanced stages of dementia. Oh well, at least my comprehension is getting better by the hour.;) Image credit: Jonatan argento, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.
April 21, 2022
This is a Spanish learning course with lots of conjugation, past, present and future tense. There is also a video of thirty lessons. It's pretty intense but very useful for those serious about learning Spanish.
April 13, 2023
I took Spanish from 4th grade, all the way through High School. When I was in college, I waited tables. I had the opportunity to converse in Spanish with the kitchen staff and that's where my Spanish really improved. Later, I would visit many Spanish speaking countries and have opportunities to practice the language, impressing every one of my travel companions. In the last couple of years I picked up the Duolingo app to stay up on it. However, I always felt my vocabulary was decent and it was the advanced verb conjugation that I needed work on. I am a HUGE fan of The Great Courses lectures and have completed many of the courses they offer. So, I thought I would use this course to reintroduce myself, in a classroom type setting, to some of the language concepts in Spanish. This course was excellent and came with a great course book to complete exercises on each course topic. If you are wanting to learn Spanish or supplement your language learning app with some lectures, I can't recommend this enough. I look forward to Learning Spanish II: How to Understand and Speak a New Language after I complete the workbook and typing my notes.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews