I have been learning Spanish by myself for the last 2 years and have tried Platiquemos (basically FSI Spanish), Pimsleur, Rocket Spanish, Learning Spanish Like Crazy and Michel Thomas. By a narrow margin, I’d say my personal favorite is Let’s Talk IF you’re already at an intermediate level AND want to get to full fluency AND don’t mind working an hour or so per day with the program for the next 6-8 months (all which look good on me, they may not be for you). My second favourite, and the best one for most beginners and intermediates in my opinion, is Learning Spanish Like Crazy.
If you already know a little (or even more than a little) Spanish, this is definitely the program I highly recommend. Like Rocket Spanish, it’s available as a moderately priced download (I think it’s $97), or you can get it on CD in a more expensive version. The multiple speakers have a variety of Latin American accents. They speak clearly but at a normal speaking speed. All 30+ lessons are accompanied by PDF transcripts of the entire lesson, so you can read what you’re hearing if you want. You also get some written grammar lessons. When I purchased the downloader, I was also able to download levels 3 and 4 of the FSI Spanish course (FSI is Foreign Service Institute, the government institute that trains diplomats for the Department of State) at no additional cost. Oh, two more things:
1) Like Rocket Spanish, Learning Spanish Like Crazy has a very useful web forum where you can ask questions and discuss things in Spanish or English.
2) Also, Level 2 is out, I’ve got it and I’m very impressed – it’s a perfect complement to the first one and picks up right where Level 1 leaves off. It focuses on things like the subjunctive and sentence structure and more grammar. advanced, which brings you closer and closer to being able to carry on a conversation with a native at a normal speed.
By the time I finished Level 1 of Learn Spanish Like Crazy, I was way ahead of Pimsleur at the end of their Level 3! Pimsleur is probably the best known of the five programs I’ve mentioned. It is also by far the most expensive (about $300 PER LEVEL, that is, $1200 for all 4 levels of Spanish), but it is also available for free at many public libraries. That’s how I got it. When I tried Pimsleur, I had already finished Learn Spanish Like Crazy. I found Pimsleur somewhat disappointing. I thought he would be more challenging than he turned out to be. People speak surprisingly slowly, even at Level 3. You can’t hear a conversation at normal speaking speed. That’s fine when you’re just starting out, but by Level 3 the speed should be faster and the vocabulary and grammar more varied. He had reached a more advanced level only from Level 1 of Learn Spanish Like Crazy.
Another thing I didn’t like about Pimsleur is that there are almost no written materials. If you don’t know what someone is saying, there is no transcript you can refer to. You also have no idea how Spanish words look on paper, so your reading skills don’t develop as well. However, Pimsleur does an effective job of instilling Spanish in you. She makes good use of repetition. You’ll definitely learn some Spanish with Pimsleur, and if you can get it for free at your library, it’s worth a try.
