Reviews (2)

Storybridges to Spanish for Children
These cassettes are riveting. My kids really love learning the spanish words. The voices of Veronica, and the children are wonderful. The intonations and "join-in" method really encourage my children to participate. Well worth it!

Great tapes for young kids
I highly recommend these tapes. My almost-5 year old has been listening to them for a week now, and picking up Spanish phrases easily. The six stories included are ones that she likes and knows, so when the Spanish phrases are introduced, she can intuitively translate them into English. A bit pricey, but worth it considering how much we will use it. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Ouch, my ears!
This second CD sounds somewhat better than the first one.

English part on this CD is awesome - both the background music and the voices sound professionally done.The problem with Chinese is not that the vocalists are bad - for the most part they sound decent - but no matter how good voice you may have if you keep on trying to squish 5 - 10 syllables into a beat of music that can accommodate harmoniously only one or two - it's not going to work.

The music on this CD was created to accommodate English verses.When these English verses got translated to Chinese, the number of Chinese syllables that has to fit into the same music constantly comes out as being either not enough or too much.

it makes me wonder if musicians who were involved in creating these songs didn't have ears to hear how bad the combination sounds, or they didn't care, or thought that kids for whom it was made, would either not notice or care.

This recording could've been done beautifully if instead of using popular western music to accompany Chinese verses, they picked perhaps some Chinese music.

For example videos for learning Chinese for kids - with Mei Mei or with Jade, have songs that sound million times better than the songs on this CD.

Just as good as the first one
This CD is an excellent compliment to the first Teach Me Chinese CD.

My son has listened to these CD's frequently since he was born (in 2000) and he really likes these CD's.

I prefer the "Teach Me" CD's over the "Sing 'n Learn" as the voices are better, the songs are sun in english too, and the dialog between songs reinforces the topics covered in the songs.

There aren't very many professional quality language cd's for children out there. Between Sing 'N Learn Chinese and Teach Me (More) Chinese, I definitely think the Teach Me series is executed more professionally with a more pleasing result. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

My personal remarks for French - English Vocabulearn
I have bought this complete course some time ago.
Pros:
Certainly, the course is an excellent teaching material that is very good for starters and may be advanced learners of French who want to revise their words.

Cons:
The quality of reacoring has some difficiency. The English speaker is a man with nice loud voice. This is good for French learners of English. The French spearker is a woman, whose voice is somewhat lacking in loudness and firmness in voice. It made me a little disappointed because, those who study French need to hear quite a loud voice with firm pronunciation. The French voice is not good enough that makes this course very nice for French learners of English who do not need any stess on French voice, but ruther on English that is nicely stressed by loud and firm voice of a man.
As such, for English people learning French, this course has little problem that makes them listen carefully to the French recordings as to hear properly the pronunciation and exact sounds of words.

I have read exactly the same comments from Spanish - English Vocabulearn course and it iseems that the producers of this course are designing these courses for those who want to study English ruther for English speakers who want to study other languages.

excellent supplement to a french textbook or course
After visiting France, and hearing everyone ask "quoi" whenever I spoke, I realized that the hardest part about French is pronouncing and understanding French words correctly. I decided that I needed some help with pronunciation and bought this set. I am really happy with these tapes and after a month of using them, I think they are definitely worth buying. They are a perfect supplement to the French textbook I've been using and the two classes I've taken. The French speaker has a clear accent and her voice is pleasant. The classical music interludes keep you from getting bored or too tense. I've been taking about a month with each level, listening to the tapes in my car. I especially like the sections of the tapes where French phrases are introduced. I think this is a must-have for anyone who wants to be understood in French. I wish there was a vocabulearn for more languages.

A good tool. You must work hard with it for results.
I am just now finishing the older (no music) version. This is an honest "get-what-they-promise" product. An American man says the word or phrase in English; a Frenchwoman says it in French. There is a good progression of complexity between levels.

I used this course everyday commuting to and from work. That's 2 hours a day, 5 days per week. It took me two weeks to more-or-less master a single tape. That's one month per level.

I started to understand more of the French in the TV movies I taped. Now, I often recognize words learned in this course. I recommend it. But you must expect to work. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Don't be fooled
When I first listened to these tapes I thought my copy might be defective - the second voice is barely audible. This could be a great program, but you can't hear it without making one voice so lowd that it hurts! Nice idea, horrible production.

Great Supplemental Tool for Building Vocabulary
I own both the earlier version of Vocabulearn, without music and this one which is music-enhanced; and I like this one better.The Baroque music, which plays in the background and is intended to enhance your focus, concentratin and retention of the words, doesn't run throughout the recordings, but comes and goes.The reasoning behind this, when they were creating these recordings was that if the music is played all along, you may drift too deep into a trance (I don't think that's bad for learning, though), and that it would be better if you stay closer to the conscious level.

Trying to consciously remember all the words as they are poured out may be too much, but you can have the recordings also play in the background while you're doing other things.It will help to impress them upon your subconscious mind and you may just find yourself enjoying increased comprehension when you read Spanish, listen to radio programs or watch Spanish movies; and then you'll eventually find yourself using these words with greater ease.

Each level contains 1,500 words and it will definitely help you to rapidly increase your vocabulary.

(But four stars for anyone learning multiple languages.)
This is a very simple product.Each level has about 1500 words and phrases which are read by native speakers first in one language, then in the other.The word list is split into four sections--nouns, verbs, expressions and other (adjectives, adverbs, prepositions & conjunctions).Within each section, the order is random.

The first half of each section presents the English word or phrase followed by the Spanish equivalent.The second half reverses the order, presenting the Spanish followed by the English.So you get about 150 random expressions from English to Spanish, followed by 150 more from Spanish to English.Then you switch to verbs, from English to Spanish then Spanish to English, and so on.

You have to listen to each word several times to learn it.You will learn it best if you have a short interval before the first repetition, then a longer interval before the second repetition, and longer still before the third, etc.Pimsleur called this the "graduated interval" method.To mimic this process, I listen to a few words at a time, then rewind and listen to them again, possibly adding another word to the list before partially rewinding again.With this technique, I can learn about 30-40 words per day in my 1-hour commute.If I listen to the whole tape straight through, the gap between repetitions is much too long and I only learn about 5 words per day.For this reason, I recommend buying the cassettes instead of the CDs.They are cheaper, and give you much more control for rewinding, pausing and playing (unless your CD player is better than mine).

The cost of the tapes is a bit steep for a simple list of words and phrases.But it's the best set that I've seen, and worth the price if you are a serious student.The CD prices are outrageous.Oddly, the value of the Vocabulearn series increases if you are going to study multiple languages, because they use the same word list (more or less) for each language they offer.I find it helpful to have a basic "core" vocabulary that I can use fluently in each of the languages I study.I haven't found any other set that does this.

The publisher touts several features which I think are just hype:
1) The random order of the words is said to help with learning because it mimics the natural flow of speech.But natural speech is far from random.Words tend to appear in clusters organized by topic.Also, I find it easier to remember related words if they are presented together.For instance, I can learn "calentar" (to heat), "caliente" (hot), and "el calor" (the heat) much faster if I study them together--but Vocabulearn spreads them across different tapes.I think this was just an excuse to avoid the work of creating a useful organizational scheme.
2) The switch in word order within each section (English to Spanish, then Spanish to English) is said to improve your ability to translate in both directions.That would be true if the entire word list was repeated both ways.But instead, half of the list is presented only from English to Spanish, and the other half only from Spanish to English.For any word, you will only master its translation in one direction.
3) The background music (by Mozart) is said to help with learning due to the "Mozart effect".Research on the Mozart effect is less than compelling--and I don't think anyone would claim that simply putting Mozart on in the background can make you you learn faster even if you aren't listening to it (because you're busy memorizing words).If you like Mozart (as I do) the music helps fend off boredom.But don't expect to learn the words any faster.

One of the most useful language tools
These 6 tapes are one of the most useful language learning tools I've tried, after testing a good number of different courses. They can be used in both ways, to practice Spanish or English. Good stereo sound and clear voices. (About another reviewer's problem, you may simply move the balance control to the center; one can hear more one of the speakers or the other by moving the balance control to the left or right).
Of course you need to listen and answer to these VocabuLearn tapes more than a few times before mastering their thousands of words and phrases. And naturally, this vocabulary building tool is just an excellent complement for other good courses (like Pimsleur), flash cards (like Vis-Ed), books, audiobooks, and other language tools.

Could have been good!
Lots of reviews sound good. I bet they are from the vender of this product.
I could not imagine anyone being happy with these tapes.
One male voice says a word in English loudly Followed by a female in Spanish whispering, or maybe she has laryngitis.
The faintness of the second voice is such that it makes the tapes WORTHLESS. I could even finish listening. Tempted you may be to buy but these tapes are a real disappointment. I had to put 1 star minimum to post here but really it gets none! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fun for kids and adults alike!
In looking for a way to promote bilingualism in our 1/2 American, 1/2 Austrian family, I bought several German/English tapes.This one is used by far the most often.The songs are catchy, fun and educational in bothlanguages (numbers, days of the week, alphabet, animals and more).Mydaughter has been listening to it since she was six months old and stillloves it.I haven't tired of it either. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great product
I whole heartedly disagree with the previous reviewer. Unlike some listen and repeat programs that spit out large phrases at incomprehensible rates, this program introduces one word at a time in a relaxed, easy-to-hear pace--so that even that beginner can follow along without too much trouble. Granted that a semester or so of college Japanese study or some time spent studying in Japan would greatly enhance the ease of use of this product, even the absolute rankest of beginners can learn from it. Everyone has to start learning somewhere, and the only way to do it is learn lots of words. From my personal experience I can say with confidence that the Nihongo you'll learn from the Global Access program is the Nihongo you'll hear and want to use in actual conversation. I wish I'd had this program before I made my first trip to Japan, it would have greatly accelerated my Japanese learning curve. Now having said that, this program is not entirely comprehensive in and of itself. Some extra learning about the finer points of grammar and verb conjugation will have to be done in the classroom or from a textbook, but you can't expect to have everything in one package. I think that "Japanese Verbs at a Glance" from the Power Japanese series would be a good tool to use in conjunction with this product. The Vocabulearn tape could stand a little updating, too. Some of the words, while not entirely incorrect, are not the most commonly used words. Anyway you slice it though, this is still an excellent program and well worth the money.

WASTE OF MONEY FOR BEGINNERS
I couldn't be more disappointed with this course. All this program has to offer is a litany of words and phrases that would probably be beneficial to someone who already has had formal instruction in the Japanese language. I strenuously reccomend looking at something else if you want to learn Japanese from a rock-bottom beginner level. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Teenagers love the vocabulary and the beat!
This is a French language program that my teenagers actually like. The vocabulary is perfect for them - about music, concerts, friends, likes and dislikes... Teens learn the masc. and fem. word-endings through words such as idiot-idiote, parfait-parfaite. We have enjoyed our commute with this one and just ordered level 2 for the summer. Hopefully publisher will read this and get level 3 ready for the fall. The music background is perfect! ... Read more