The Standard Deviants Spanish 1 2 DVD with Standard Deviants (NR) +Movie Reviews

Not so salsa-riffic

Peregrina | Portland, OR USA | 04/26/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not impressed with these videos. I've been a Spanish teacher for 17 years so I've seen lots of materials. There's too much boring narration in English... "Pato means Duck...Abogado means Lawyer..." Why have video if they're not going to use it? Just show us the picture and say the word in Spanish! Ok, and here are some more gripes...the Spanish that is heard in the video is often spoken with a less-than-authentic accent. The written Spanish had errors within the first two minutes of the video. And worst sin of all..mixing Spanish and English in the same sentence! and why spend all that time on capitalization rules? in the very first lesson?All in all it's pretty boring and repetitive in a way that's really not very effective. I was disappointed. Hoped to use the videos for beginning students, but I doubt very much that I'll subject anyone to them. I haven't even mentioned the dopey stereotypes..but I should have been ready for them given the title of the video. Sorry I put out the dough for this one."

Ah, Spanish, how I love and hate thee....

Chris V. | Philadelphia, PA United States | 01/21/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Let me say, first of all, that the DVD itself is nicely done. You can skip ahead to different sections, as well as to reviews. The DVDs contain practice tests that you can take with your remote control. Test taking was never so state-of-the-art. My one complaint with the tests is that everytime you get a question correct, it says "muy bien". Just a simple "correcto" or a "santa vaca!" would have sufficed. What the DVDs contain may be of great or little value, depending on what you are seeking. The DVDs offer solid, entertaining lessons on the basics of the Spanish language. The mildly amusing, educational DVDs provide instructions on simple things, like the verbs ser and estar, as well as numbers, pronunciation, etc. The actors present the information in an untraditional way, with the belief that if the lessons are enjoyable, people will remember them more. Not surprisingly, they are correct. However, if you are thinking these DVDs might be suitable aids when you are trying to learn more advanced Spanish, I am sorry to say that they are not. These DVDs offer suitable learning assistance for a Spanish 1 class, but beyond that your struggles and frustrations with the language are between you and your textbook"

Bad instruction

John D. Hoffman | San Francisco, CA United States | 12/21/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The DVD could be a great medium to teach spanish basics, but this is just plain silly. Even as a beginner, I spotted mistakes like in incorrectly accenting "esta". Who knows how they chose the vocabulary -- some words are presented that you really wouldn't ever use. They start to teach ser and estar, and then go into why it's OK to leave out the subject pronouns. Aside from my specific gripes, it's all too silly, aiming for a 4th or 5th grade slapsick level. DVD is 99% english (and even most of that is unneeded and a waste of time) and 1% spanish. Perhaps people would enjoy the silly images, but I'm sure that there's no spanish language teaching here."

Riddled with Errors

Ivan C. Turner | 03/02/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Though the DVDs cover a lot of good material for the beginner, it is riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes. Actors will say one phrase and the corresponding text doesn't exactly match. If you are not an absolute beginner at Spanish, you may realize these mistakes. It indicates to me that the creators/marketers didn't think enough of us to do a professional review of their material before releasing it."

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