# instituto cervantes / Michel Thomas Spanish



## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

Hello,

We are thinking of learning Spanish. 

A Spanish client of mine suggested instituto cervantes was the next best thing to one-to-one tuition and we had considered attending lessons at the Manchester branch.

Problem we can't be available for any of the times or dates, maybe until later this year, around winter time.

As a starter, until we can. We were considering the Michel Thomas "Total Spanish" Course.

Has anyone or anyones friends and relatives any experience of either please ?

TM


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Give this a try Trev. It's excellent: http://radiolingua.com/cbs-step-1/

You can download them and listen anytime, Alan.


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## Parrotspain (Apr 12, 2009)

Hi,

I moved to Spain around 10 years ago and dabbled with various courses. The only one which I felt really benefited me was the Michel Thomas series. The courses all seemed to be well thought out, quite comprehensive, but for me, it was like trying to get a grip on a slippery surface. 

I also found it a struggle to grasp the grammar. English speakers tend to forget their school grammar and become rather phobic about it. I ended up writing a book about this: Grammar-phobia, but that's a different story.

So, I would recommend Michel Thomas. I think it's the format of listening in on a small group being taught that makes it easier.

My Spanish is still not very fluent, somedays I am good! On others I struggle. Phone conversations are still difficult and our local accent here in Andalusia is quite 'twisty'. The misconceptions that result are often hilarious.

It's very worthwhile having a go! Don't be frustrated when two thirds of what you learn seems to evaporate! That's normal.

Best of luck
Pete


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

Parrotspain said:


> Hi,
> 
> I moved to Spain around 10 years ago and dabbled with various courses. The only one which I felt really benefited me was the Michel Thomas series. The courses all seemed to be well thought out, quite comprehensive, but for me, it was like trying to get a grip on a slippery surface.
> 
> ...


Like saying Chatte for Chat in French?

(ma femme aime à caresser son chat (Chatte))


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

Michel Thomas - I have his French, Spanish, German and Italian courses.

They are brilliant.

They make good starters to get you confident.

Yes, he leaves a lot out, such as the familiar forms (tu, du) and some of the esoteric tenses - but you don't need them until later.

I just wish he had learnt Welsh as well!


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## spaniels (Jun 7, 2010)

Michel Thomas is brilliant

I have always been useless at languages but using his tapes I can now speak enough Spanish to get me by most days where needed

I found about 3/4 hour a day was enough though

Used to listen on my morning walk with the dogs


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

Thanks for the advice.

Hola
Que tal?
Bien!
Grathi-ars

Now to lesson 2. Only 6 weeks to go. 

Not sure I've got a spare filing drawer for Spanish. As it is after a while they all get mixed up (like my filing) and when searching in my brain for a word it's like a lucky dip - it could be English, French, Italian, German, Afrikaans or Zulu. 

Now what makes me think I can toss in some Spanish too??????


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## peaky (Jul 15, 2009)

i must be the only one that hated michel thomas... could nt get on with his voice, or could nt get it out of my head, not the spanish BUT HIM , can i have it ? do i want it? do i need it ??? URGGGGGGGGGGGGG then i hear his lips smaking together ..err yuk not good on the ear piece.


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

You are not the only one - but there's no pain without gain!


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## lesanne (May 1, 2008)

8 yrs aqgo we used micheal thomas french ...it wasn,t untill a french teacher pointed out that mr thomas had false teeth and his pronunctiation was a little wayward at times ,,this proved correct once we started talking to the locals.. but a very good starting point.. ..


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## peaky (Jul 15, 2009)

OMG 8O it was his false teeth i could hear smaking together ?? errr double yuk


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

lesanne said:


> 8 yrs aqgo we used micheal thomas french ...it wasn,t untill a french teacher pointed out that mr thomas had false teeth and his pronunctiation was a little wayward at times, this proved correct once we started talking to the locals.. but a very good starting point.. ..


Now there's a topic to get the French on their high horses. A long time ago I had two French-speaking ladies in my department at the bank, one from PARIS! (note the emphasis) who claimed that the other one - from Mauritius- didn't speak REAL French. Well need I say more? World War III - nearly!

At the Alliance I had a French teacher from the Congo - even I could tell how quaint his language was, and another from Canada! "Our gang" stuck with the one from France so we could be sure to speak "proper" French.

Accents -now that's another can of worms. My conversation examiner said my accent was "cute" (so was he!). I haven't had a buzz like that since I was mistaken for my son's big sister at his Cub Group.

You should have heard some of the recordings we had to listen to in the exam. One sounded like he came from Marseilles and had a mouth full of lettuce. A LOT worse than MT.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

I don't know about Spanish but I found Michel Thomas very useful to get me (re)started with learning French but I don't think I got beyond CD6. Eventually I realised it was helping me to learn to _speak_ some French but was no help at all in listening to and understanding real spoken French. We thought about courses but they tend to start at the time we often go away, in September.

Eventually we realised the best way was to get a personal tutor and it's brilliant. She comes to us for an hour each week, at a mutually convenient time, and if we are away (or she is) we don't meet that week, so we aren't missing lessons and getting behind.

In lessons we are using the BBC course The French Experience, which consists of four CDs, a course book and an activity book. The important thing about this is its focus on listening - to a range of French speakers, both actors and, increasingly, recordings of 'real' French speakers. The book gives transcripts in the back but first you just listen and try to pick out the most significant words and phrases. We are given exercises for homework and it really helps that John and I are learning it together.

I don't know if The BBC do a similar Spanish course, but I would certainly recommend a course based on hearing and understanding a language as well as speaking it. The French Experience is a few years old and I think the BBC focus more on on-line courses now. I'd also recommend a personal tutor for its flexibility and for keeping you on-track as well as checking pronunciation and asking questions.

We're off to France next Wednesday for four weeks so let's hope I can understand a bit more of what I hear this time. Without total immersion progress will be slow, but at least now there is progress.

Good luck with finding something that works for you.

Chris


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