Search - The Standard Deviants - Learn Advanced Spanish - Building on the Basics on DVD

I was very satisfied

08/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While it's true that I wouldn't label the DVD "Advanced Spanish" I also wouldn't label it "Spanish Review for Kids." In fact, it is more like an intermediate Spanish review. While I already knew everything they teach, they still use some tips I wish I had heard when I was taking formal college courses. The visual element is compelling - far more useful for imparting and retaining information than audio tapes and textbooks alone. I bought the whole series, and I almost felt like I had gotten to know the actors personally. I hated it when the last DVD came to an end. Sure they speak with American accents - they're mostly Americans! It's not like they're unintelligible. By the time you get to the end of this DVD, you're speaking some pretty darned sophisticated Spanish. The interactive element is great - there are opportunities for self-testing and the DVD format offers chances to review sections much easier than with VCR tapes. I would like to see another DVD that covers past subjunctive, conditional, and the other perfect tenses that were left out of the series. Also, I'd like to see a discussion of por versus para and other tricky grammatical constructions. There's definitely room for at least one more DVD in the series. How about it Standard Deviants? Make it and it will sell."

Same Program Different Titles

Donald J. McKee | Atlanta, GA | 12/21/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Normally I would have given a 5 star rating BUT I first bought Advanced Spanish - Beyond the Basics. I liked it so much I bought Advanced Spanish - Verbs, Spanish 1&2 and ¿Habla Español?. My tape of Advanced Spanish - Verbs is IDENTICAL to Advanced Spanish - Beyong the Basics. In fact it had that as the title for the video when you view the tape. The DVD of ¿Habla Español? is IDENTICAL to the Spanish 1 tape except for some quizzes. I wrote the company with this complaint and got no answer. If you go to their site you will find about 20 Advanced Spanish DVDs that have descriptions that all appear to be the same DVD with different titles. I would definitely not buy this if you already own Advanced Spanish - Verbs. Other than this, I would be very careful buying from this company."

Small segments of this dvd were extremely valuable.

Mark Spark | Kansas City, MO United States | 04/05/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Is is difficult to review this DVD because there are so few video language DVD's on the market. The valuable part of this dvd are a few troublesome area's of Spanish, such as 'direct and indirect pronouns'. I found that section to be most valuable. For example, as best I recall, they explain how to convert ' Juan escribe unas cartas a Marie y Jose', into 'Se los escribe'. These pronoun substitutions are a tricky yet prevalent part of the language. As for the remainder of the DVD, there were alot of grammer lessons which I found a bit boring. I'm not sure what audience this dvd was written for, at times too easy. However, I did find a few sections to be useful, therefore, I would have to say that you should consider buying this dvd if you want alot of stuffy grammer lessons, or if you want to improve areas like indirect pronouns. Overall, I would recommend this dvd."

Standard Deviants Learn Advanced Spanish

Michael D. Siem | 10/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The term "advanced spanish" is a relative term. I would equate the level of this Lesson to a Spanish "101" to Spanish "102" college level. I would consider this more of a basics level."