Do Learn In Your Car Spanish CDs Work ?
There are loads of language self study courses available now. Some are quite costly and some seem to be fairly priced but ultimately the product is judged on how well it taught you to speak Spanish. Is it possible to learn Spanish from just a CD or MP3 ? This article will discuss this topic giving the pros and cons of using an audio self study courses to learn Spanish.
To begin, I think if you only have an audio course then you are learning the language the way you learned your native language. Babies and children learn their mother tongue by listening and repeating what their mother (and other people) say to them. This is usually the method adopted with a Spanish MP3 or CD. Words and sentences are spoken and you listen and repeat. Although it is not exactly the same as learning as a child (as you may have your native language on the course too) it is an approximation of this and can be useful.
This is at odds with more common language learning methods that teach reading, writing and grammar at the same time as listening and speaking skills. This can often overwhelm the average student and they will get bored with learning the new language because they feel they are not making any progress.
Another advantage of an audio course is that it teaches you correct pronunciation (provided the audio is by a native Spanish speaker). This is important for a student of a new language because practicing your skills is the best way to improve those skills. However, if you can’t pronounce words people will not understand you. This is in contrast to not getting the grammar right. People will understand what you mean even though the grammar is wrong. speaking to people not only improves your skills but gives you confidence, and this is important if you want to get fluent in the language.
Lastly, a great benefit of a learn Spanish CD or MP3 is that it is easy to use. The classic example of this is listening to the course as you drive to work each morning. You could also listen to it in the gym or when cooking a meal.
Whilst this is an advantage, it is not strictly true. I found that I could devote all my attention to driving a car and learn a new language. Something had to slip and as driving the car without crashing was pretty important, it was the Spanish language lessons. This is confirmed by Michel Thomas who has a number of audio language courses. He recommends that you stop everything and give all your powers to the course.
If you have listened to the audios half a dozen times then it gets easier to multi task but initially I would say it is a no no.
So, do learn to speak Spanish CDs work ? I think they can certainly help. They can make it easier for a person to concentrate on two core skills rather than five. However there is a lot to learn before you could be considered fluent and most courses probably don’t go into the sort of depth that is required to get to this level. They do give you confidence to speak to Spanish speaking people, and to me, this is where you really start to learn Spanish. So they are a help and a good solution for many people that are time poor but still want to learn a new language.
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