Learning Spanish like Crazy is a course made by Patrick Jackson. It’s selling point is that it teaches ‘Real’ Latin American Spanish. I decided to give it a try and here is what I found.
What’s Included:
- Learning Spanish Like Crazy Level 1 (Lessons 1-30)
- Re mastered copy of FSI Spanish Level 1-4.
- ‘Los Dichos’ Common Spanish sayings.
- ‘Los Insultos – No Vulgares’ -Non vulgar insults
- ‘Los Insultos – Vulgares’ -Vulgar insults
Audio lessons review
The lessons from the main course are harder than most courses. This is because they introduce new things quickly and each lesson has a lot to learn. There is less time to respond with the correct answer compared to other courses, but still enough if you know the answer. A lot of the time they also get you to use the words that have just been taught to come up with new phrases that have never been spoken before. Which also makes it more difficult. This is not necessarily a bad thing because it teaches you to think and the lessons can be repeated until you become proficient.
The lessons use a similar technique to that of the Pimsleur courses where you learn a word or phrase then repeat it before the native speaker does. What makes Learning Spanish Like Crazy different is that it only teaches Spanish that Latin Americans actually use. Patrick the founder and creator wanted to make sure it was the same Spanish that is spoken every day in Latin America and the US. No one in Latin America says ‘Ablo Castallano’ ( I speak Castilian – a word for Spanish, which is what Pimsleur teaches).
Even though this is the level 1 course you will still get a lot out of it even if you have gone through the Pimsleur series. Especially if you get the LSLC level 2 course as well (which is available at 70% off if you buy it at the same time as level 1). This is because the content is different and more difficult than Pimsleur and a lot faster – more is crammed into each lesson.
Bonuses
Learning Spanish Like Crazy also comes with the Foriegn Service Institute (FSI) level 1-4 course that Patrick re-mastered at a recording studio. This is the same course developed by the FSI 40 years ago to train diplomates in Spanish. You will learn stuff that you wont find in the main LSLC course, however the FSI course is getting a bit dated now. The main value is with the main LSLC course.
Also included are ‘Los Dichos’ common sayings that Spanish speakers use. This is great because you learn the common phrases that wouldn’t make sense if you just translated them literally. Also you get a lesson each on Non-Vulgar and Vulgar insults. Patrick developed this because it can be important to recognise them being used by Spanish speakers.
Recommended for
I recommend Learning Spanish Like Crazy for people who want to become conversationally fluent or better in real Latin American Spanish. You will get a lot out of this course even if you have gone through the Pimsleur levels because the content is more difficult, plus you get the bonuses as well.
It is not recommended for people who just wants to learn travel Spanish or a few phrases for a holiday. This is because it is more difficult than most courses and it focuses more on how to use think and create sentences with conjugated verbs and possesive pronouns like mine, ours, yours, his, etc, rather than learning by focusing on phrases. It is recommend for serious learners.
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