Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Finally - Latinas in the Media!
There is such a lack of books on Latins in generally but even less on Latina women.This book is an excellent source for anyone especially those with an interest in Latin and Latin American studies and Hispanic studies. ... Read more

Product Description
This Basic program contains 5 hours of audio-only, effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions.

The Pimsleur Method provides the most effective language-learning program ever developed. The Pimsleur Method gives you quick command of Spanish structure without tedious drills. Learning to speak Spanish can actually be enjoyable and rewarding.

The key reason most people struggle with new languages is that they aren't given proper instruction, only bits and pieces of a language. Other language programs sell only pieces -- dictionaries; grammar books and instructions; lists of hundreds or thousands of words and definitions; audios containing useless drills. They leave it to you to assemble these pieces as you try to speak. Pimsleur enables you to spend your time learning to speak the language rather than just studying its parts.

When you were learning English, could you speak before you knew how to conjugate verbs? Of course you could. That same learning process is what Pimsleur replicates. Pimsleur presents the whole language as one integrated piece so you can succeed.

With Pimsleur you get:

• Grammar and vocabulary taught together in everyday conversation,
• Interactive audio-only instruction that teaches spoken language organically,
• The flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere,
• 30-minute lessons designed to optimize the amount of language you can learn in one sitting.

Millions of people have used Pimsleur to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily, wherever and whenever -- without textbooks, written exercises, or drills.

The 10 lessons in the Basic Spanish are the same as the first 10 lessons in the Pimsleur Comprehensive Spanish Level 1.

The 10 lessons in Basic Spanish are also the first 10 lessons in the 16-lesson Conversational Spanish edition.

Pimsleur learners progress from either the Basic or the Conversational to the Comprehensive Level 1, and not from Basic to Conversational edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Buy this item with a grammer book!
I bought this Spanish fully audio set including 5 cds. There is no problem with packacing. Everthing is nice but I played the cds with Windows Media Player and you are just listening the cds, you can`t see what you are listening and damn just lestening.

You have to study this language before or taking some courses related to this language or you must have at least a basic knowledge about this language. So, you will have the opportunity to use the cds effectively. I bought both Spanish and Italian and I have a basic Italian knowledge and I listened cds easily and understand them. But again you won`t be able to see what you are listening to. It`s bad.
At least the cds must have been opened in a program and you select the lessons and it must have provided the chance what you are listening to.

You need a grammer book with this set. That`s all I can say.

Very helpful
If you REALLY want to begin to understand and speak basic Spanish, I recommend this.It assumes you don't know any Spanish.I listened and responded, sometimes repeating sections so could immediately respond correctly in Spanish.If I didn't get it at first, I would rewind it and repeat it until I got it.I only have a 15 minute commute and I was able to learn it all.

After I finished this I went to the public library and got the full Pimsleur Spanish 1.It's Lesson 9 picks up exactly where this basic version lesson #8 leaves off.

Any lesson is only as good as the student is receptive.If you want to listen to something one time and not put any effort into it you will never get anywhere.

Tip:After you've finished it, if you haven't move on to another CD set then listen to the last 2 lessons every so often to keep fresh.Use it or lose it.

Spanish is really for travel
The product is worth it if you travel.However, I live around Latin Americans and I would liked to be able to speak to them on everyday issues, such as weather, school, family and kids,housing and etc.

Good but very basic
Having taken Spanish 1 and studied on my own from teach-yourself books, I found Pimsleur's Basic Spanish CD set pretty easy, though it was good for practicing pronunciation.I think this would be more useful for true beginners.I was, however, appalled at the cost of the more advanced CD sets and will not be able to continue with Pimsleur.

Not Enough info
I bought this product for my 14 year-old son since he was having problems with his spanish class at school. The product was good in terms of teaching basic spanish and he was able to pick up the lessons quite easily. But we expected there to be more lessons or at least more content in each lesson so that he would have been able to speak more of the language at the end.

Maybe there could have been more of a description of the content and the level and amount of the language being taught. ... Read more

Product Description
BERLITZ LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH IN 60 MINUTES

Start speaking Latin American Spanish in just one hour!


Get a quick start to learning basic everyday Latin American Spanish words with an all-audio course including more than 250 essential words and phrases needed to start communicating no textbook needed and no grammar rules to learn! Repetition helps learners retain what they ve heard and a 16-page booklet with audio script is provided for those who want to follow along as they listen.


Start Speaking Today:

*1 audio CD (1 hour)

*Completely portable--compatible with your iPod® or other MP3 player

*Learn by listening to native speakers

*Essential everyday language

*Reference booklet included
... Read more

Product Description
This book presents readers with scholarship on public celebrations and popular culture throughout Mexican history. Leading scholars from the Americas and Great Britain discuss aspects of Mexico's popular culture from the seventeenth century to the present. The vast range of Mexican expression is examined, including Corpus Christi celebrations, New Spain, stone murals, and folk theater. Filling a need that becomes ever more pressing, this volume provides fresh insights.

... Read more

Product Description
Attention to Mexico’s history after 1940 stands in the shadow of the country’s epic revolution of 1910-1923, and historians and scholars tend to bring their focus on Mexican history to a close with the end of the Lázaro Cárdenas presidency in 1940. Mexico in the 1940s: Modernity, Politics, and Corruption examines Mexican politics in the wake of Cardenismo, and the dawn of Miguel Alemán’s presidency. This book focuses on the decade of the 1940s, and analyzes Alemanismo into the early years of the 1950s. Based upon a decade of intensive investigation, Mexico in the 1940s is the first broad and substantial study of the political life of the Mexican nation during this period, thus opening a new era to historical investigation.

Mexico in the 1940s offers a unique interpretation of the country’s domestic politics during this period, including an explanation of how political leaders were able to reverse the course of the Mexican Revolution; an original interpretation of corruption in Mexican political life, a phenomenon that did not end in the 1940s; and an analysis of the relationship between the U.S. media interests, the Mexican state, and the Mexican media companies that still dominates mass communication today. ... Read more

Product Description
Revolutionizing Motherhood examines one of the most astonishing human rights movements of recent years.During the Argentine junta's Dirty War against subversives, as tens of thousands were abducted, tortured , and disappeared, a group of women forged the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and changed Argentine politics forever.In this volume, Marguerite Guzmn Bouvard traces the history of the Mothers and examines how they have transformed maternity from a passive, domestic role to one of public strength.Using traditional symbols of motherhood as the vehicles for social protest, they have provided a model of activism in the struggle for human rights.Amazon.com Review
The 1976 Argentine junta that overthrew the ragged Peronistagovernment launched a campaign of terror to crush dissent. "FordFalcons without license plates would slide through the streets likesharks," says one witness, remembering nights when securityforces "disappeared" hordes of people. Though many weretortured and executed in detention centers, junta leaders denied anyknowledge of this. Determined to learn the fates of their sons anddaughters, a group of middle-aged women who called themselves Mothersof the Plaza de Mayo braved beatings, threats, and abductions tospotlight the flagrant violations of human rights. This scholarly,somewhat dry book tells of their radicalization and activism, whichhelped galvanize world pressure against the junta and slow the tide ofdisappearances. Though stiff writing sometimes undermines theiraffecting, painful stories, this is an amazing and rewarding blueprintfor cooperative struggle against abuses of power. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

life changing
I was directed to read this for a class. I had no idea that it would cause me to change my way of thinking. We all know that the atrocities of disappearances exist, and we might even place a bit of distance between ourselves and the subjects of this book so we can feel better about our own place in life. However, getting close to this subject brings an awareness and sense that something needs to be done, not donation of money, or thinking about it every now and then, (although these actions help) but everyday we need to be doing something. What the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo did was revolutionary. What they did, and how they went about organizing, spreading the word and surviving as they did in the roles that they were as mothers unfamiliar with is astounding. We can learn alot from the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. I hope that everyone who has been politically disheartened or disenfranchised reads this book! I believe the other review on this book may have articulated the response to it more thoroughly; nonetheless, I hope to get across that this is a must-read for those interested in social justice issues, activism and more.

A New Argentine Mother
This is an academic look at the organization of middle-aged Argentine mothers that began in the wake of widespread political and state sponsored terrorism in the period of 1976-1982, more commonly called the Dirty War. It began as a network of mothers who met while trying in vain to search fortheir children who had been `disappeared' by the government and grew intoan internationally recognized and admired group committed to changing thestructure of the Argentine political system from the bottom up. Thisbook focuses on the journey of these women from traditional housewives,many with no formal education, confined to the private sphere of home andfamily, to a highly politicized, ever present and very out spoken activistorganization.They have taken the traditional role of `mother' and used itto their advantage to bring to light the atrocities committed by themilitary junta against their children.As the title suggests, theirorganization has revolutionized the concept of motherhood by taking theconcerns and duties of mothers out of the private sphere into the publicand even international political arena. This book is an interestingdocumentation of the group and includes interviews with many members aswell as commentary from many Argentine and international publications aboutthe Mothers.It discusses their activities from the group's conceptionduring the Dirty War through the transition to democracy as well as theircontinuing struggle in Argentine political life today.The book alsodocuments the enormous obstacles they faced and continue to faceeconomically, socially, and within their own families as well as theirpolitical struggles.It also talks about their interaction and receptionin the international sphere, as they captured the attention of human rightsand women's organizations from all over the world.It even discusses theideological split among the Mothers after the return to democracy in 1982that caused some Mothers to break away from the original group to formanother group of Mothers with slightly different ideologies. One ofthe most interesting aspects of this book is the focus on the developmentof the women themselves.A great deal of time is devoted to thetransformation that has taken place among these women as they came togetherto find solace in each other that only someone experiencing the purgatoryof not knowing the fate of their children could offer.It documents thecourage, dedication, successes and disappointments of a group of women whocame together to help each other look for answers.It is detaileddocumentation of a very personal and painful journey of political awakeningthrough collective struggle and pain.It is one of the most valuable andmoving aspects of this book. By focusing on this personal transformation,one begins to understand the almost incomprehensible corruption andbrutality of the government. For these women, protesting meant standing inthe face all traditional social, religious and cultural roles for women,especially middle-aged women. By the end of the book, one can't helpbut share in their frustrations and pain as they continue to fight for theintegrity of the family and the supreme sanctity of human life.It isironic that it was precisely because they were quintessential Argentinemothers that they became political activists that began to transform theconcept of motherhood and the role of women in Argentine society.Theabduction of their children was not only a painful, emotional loss, butalso a direct assault on the institution of the family. It is interestingto note that throughout the book they emphasize their occupation, as amother, has remained intact. However, the activities involved with being amother have changed.To them, now to be a mother also meant fighting forthe rights of their children, left voiceless by the government and carryingon their children's work and memory in their absence. This book isan excellent source of information about the Mothers themselves as well asabout the atmosphere of Argentina as a whole during this time.It has manypictures of the mothers from the past and present and mixes academic facteasily with first person accounts, quotes and interview.It equallydiscusses successes and mistakes of the group, as well as variouscontroversies that have surrounded the group's history.It's content andstyle make it an emotional and informative book. ... Read more

Product Description
The conflicts and compromises that accompanied the introduction and growth of radio and television in Latin America are explored in this comparative-historical analysis of the role of foreign influence on Latin American broadcasting. Documented are stories of how radio and television broadcasting developed in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela from the early 20th century to the present. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (11)

latin america cooking
Great Book.Recipes are easy to follow. Very complete.I have a Colombian background and the most popular Colombian meals are in this book.I also enjoyed the history as well as the separate sections for sauces.

Fantastic Book - Just Lacking Photos
This book is a really good voyage into the art of Latin American cooking. The text talking about traditions and the culture in general is very informative and interesting. I bought this product because I read that the book had pictures - I prefer cookbooks that show photos of the recipes - and this book has zero photos of the recipes. I was a little disappointed. Just wanted to make sure that no one else bought the book without knowing this fact. I have tired a few recipes and they are very good, it's just the lack of pictures that bothered me. Happy cooking!

Delicious, exciting recipes with plenty of background
Since my father was Colombian and my mother born in America, I enjoyed delicious Colombian cuisine when we visited his family--arepas, sancocho, empanadas, etc--but never learned how to cook this type of food at home. Luckily for me, Elisabeth Ortiz has compiled this wonderful book!

She begins the book with a comprehensive list of common ingredients of South American cuisine, including a description of the ingredient and where one might find it. She then continues the book with the usual categories of Meats, Vegetables, Sauces, etc. She includes background and information about the food for each of her recipes. For example, she might describe when and where the meal might be served, or some helpful tips about a particular ingredient.

I have made several recipes from this book, and they've all turned out beautifully. The instructions are detailed and easy to follow, even for someone who, like me, has little experience in the particular cuisine. More importantly, though, everything is delicious!

I especially like to use the recipes in this book for special occasions. For example, my favorite dish, Pabellon Caraqueno (Steak with rice, black beans, a plantains--the national dish of Venezuela), while simple, takes several hours to prepare. However, I guarantee that, after you've arranged this meal on a platter and set it down in front of your guests, you will be rewarded with some 'Ooohs' and 'Aahhs' and many satisfied taste buds.

A must for lovers of Latin American cooking
This meticulously researched volume offers a mouthwatering and practical introduction to the region's cookery. It is packed with authentic and trustworthy recipes as well as a generous amount of essential information and would be an excellent addition to any cookbook collection.

Also recommended: "The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking," by the same author.

Great variety of South American Recipes
I spent my childhood in Colombia and greatly miss some of the "Criollo" cooking of the region.This is one of the few Latin American cookbooks that includes many recipes from South America, along with the more common Central and North American (Mexican) recipes.She has an extensive introduction describing the cooking of different regions and a chapter on ingredients.There are many recipes in different categories, but I believe in a book this size it was impossible to do justice to the cooking of some of the countries represented.Think of it more as an introduction to the cuisine of those countries.I found that there were only two Bolivian recipes listed, and there were very few Argentinian, Paraguayan, Peruvian or Venezuelan recipes.The book does include the Argentinian dishes with which I am most familiar.I wish she would visit the region again and write another book!I have found this book useful in recreating some of the recipes from my Childhood.Some of the recipes I looked up seemed complex and had ingredients that I could not locate, but most of the recipes seem easy to prepare, and adapted to ingredients that can be found in the US. The Colombian recipes included are representative of the two regions that she states she visited, the Coastal Region, and the area surrounding the Capital, Santafe de Bogota (However, my Aunts would be mortified to hear of an "Ajiaco Bogotano" made without Guascas and with just any kind of potato instead of with "papas criollas").There are not a lot of recipes from the Colombian interior and Mountain regions where I spent most of my childhood, or from the region bordering Venezuela.This is understandable in a cookbook that covers so many diverse cuisines.I will be purchasing some more specialized cookbooks on Colombian cooking.One that I like and I would recommend, is "Cocina Colombiana, Paso a Paso".It is currently out of print, but if Colombian Cooking interests you, you may be able to find a used copy.I am also looking for books on Argentinian and Peruvian Cooking.Any suggestions?Since I own this book in a paperback version that is just starting to fall apart, I will be purchasing it in hardback. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Video Age International, published by TV Trade Media, Inc. on April 1, 1998. The length of the article is 405 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Latin America TV report. (Audits and Surveys Inc's annual study on Latin American viewing habits)(World)
Publication: Video Age International (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 1998
Publisher: TV Trade Media, Inc.
Volume: v18Issue: n3Page: p6(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
A powerful, haunting, vivid, and provocative collection of short fiction by Latin American women. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Worthwhile
This book is one of the earliest English-language anthologies I've seen dedicated to the work of Latin American women writers. It was published in 1986 and contained 19 short stories by as many authors from six countries in the region. Argentina, Mexico and Brazil were best represented. For Argentina, for example, the writers were Silvina Ocampo, Beatriz Guido, Marta Lynch, Angélica Gorodischer, Alejandra Pizarnik, Vlady Kociancich and Liliana Heker.

The oldest writers were Cuba's Lydia Cabrera (1899-1991), Argentina's Ocampo (1906-93) and Uruguay's Armonía Somers (1914-94). The youngest were Albalucía Angel (1939-) from Colombia, Kociancich (1941-) and Heker (1943-).

The stories were written or published between 1949 and 1985. There were pieces from each decade of that period, with works from the 1960s and 80s being the most frequent. More than two-thirds of the stories were translated by the editor himself, Alberto Manguel.

In his introduction, Manguel said he published the book because comparatively few female writers from the region were being translated at the time, even several decades after European and North American readers had grown interested in the region's literature. For the English-speaking world, Latin American lit had become identified almost exclusively with writers like Borges, García Márquez, Vargas Llosa, Fuentes and Puig. He wanted to show English speakers what they were missing, claiming that Silvina Ocampo was among the best stylists then writing in Spanish, Marta Lynch was one of the best-selling novelists in that language, and Lydia Cabrera was Cuba's best-known female writer.

He claimed that most Latin America fiction shared a predilection for either magical realism or political realism. If magic realism means a blending of hallucination and reality, or the application to reality of exaggeration and absurdity, then it described the style of the works in this collection by Somers, Lispector, Kociancich, Arredondo, Dávila, Poniatowska, Ocampo, Garro, Fagundes Telles and Guido.

The atmospheric story by Somers, for example, involved a murderer on the run, reaching the end of the line in a shack on the outskirts of town during a thundering rainstorm, engaged in a delirious conversation with an image of the Virgin Mary on the wall. The story by Fagundes Telles contained a pet baby tiger kept in a penthouse apartment, using the animal's behavior to convey the psychology and problems of a beautiful woman. That by Poniatowska was a humorous piece about a loving woman who had no problem being married to five men and attracted all who met her, even after the state put her on trial. It poked fun at double standards at work in relations between the sexes, plus the boredom and futility of those employed in the government bureaucracy. The dreamlike piece by Dávila contained the narrator's memories from childhood, when her family dined on animal-like growths taken from their garden:

"Sometimes I would see hundreds of little eyes glued to the dripping window-panes. Hundreds of black, round eyes. Shining eyes, wet with tears, begging for mercy. But there was no mercy in our house. No one felt moved by our cruelty. Their eyes and their cries would follow me -- as they follow me even today -- everywhere I went."

The story by Garro involved a woman who appeared to belong to both the modern day and the time of the Spanish Conquest, with a husband in the present and a wounded Indian lover in the past, and the two realities penetrating each other. Other than this piece, the stories in the collection avoided complicated shifts in point of view or time like those found in writers from the region like Asturias, Carpentier, Lezama Lima, Rulfo, Donoso, Sarduy or Arenas.

Works in the anthology written in a completely realistic style, focused on the thoughts of a character facing political interrogation, the class relations between people that are made clear brutally to a child, or the destruction of an Indian tribe in the Mexican highlands, included the pieces by Angel, Heker and Castellanos. For me, these three were among the strongest in the book. The piece by Castellanos suggested her fascination with the struggle between the Indians and those who displaced them:

"Now, in Ciudad Real men no longer live according to their whims or their needs. In the planning of this city of white men . . . what ruled was the intelligence. The streets cross each other in geometrical patterns. The houses are of one and the same height, of one and the same style. . . . Now the city's splendor was a thing of the past. Decay gnawed at its very innards. Men with neither temerity nor vision, full of their own importance, deep in the contemplation of the past, gave up the political scepter, let go the reins of commerce, closed the book of intellectual endeavors. . . . Ciudad Real became nothing but a presumptuous and empty shell, a scarecrow that only scared the Indian soul, stubbornly attached to fear . . . . And through the ugliness and decadence, the superstitious soul of the defeated could still make out the mysterious sign of the omnipotent [white] god."

In addition to the magical and political, there was a straightforwardly realistic story in which a narrator told of her situation as a single woman set up in an apartment by a married man a few blocks from his wife and children and, obliquely, her feelings (Lynch). This work was one of the few read from the region that discussed concretely such a contemporary situation. There were also realistic stories that contained a darkly humorous anecdote involving a wife and her jealous husband, possibly drawn from real life (Rachel de Queiroz) and a narrator's naive description of her mother's efforts to help someone less fortunate (Dinah Silveira de Queiroz).

Other types were a folktale in which the wife of a lazy farmer used her intelligence and sex appeal to outwit a band of monkeys (Cabrera). And a rare work of science fiction (Gorodischer) in which a narrator described a visit to the earth and its inhabitants, long after his race had fled the planet.

A work in the collection that wasn't exactly hallucinatory but couldn't be called entirely realistic either was "The Bloody Countess," described as the only published prose work by poet Alejandra Pizarnik. In this piece, a narrator discussed with evident fascination the story of the Hungarian noblewoman Elizabeth Bathory, describing her sadistic crimes in detail, with images of mirrors, cages, an iron maiden and other paraphernalia. The story considered various motives for the countess' violence, related to melancholy, eroticism and fear of aging and death, and ended with the judgment "She is yet another proof that the absolute freedom of the human creature is horrible." The story employed the style of a short story/essay used earlier by Borges, though the sensibility and subject differed greatly from his.

At the time this anthology was published, criticisms were made that it lacked a balanced, up-to-date view of the political realities faced by women in the region, and that too much space was given to women who saw their lives in terms of their relation to men. The narrow selection of countries was also questioned, as was the omission of writers like Marìa Luisa Bombal, Carmen Naranjo and Luisa Valenzuela. The criticisms have some validity, but the collection was still worthwhile.

Readers who enjoyed this book might also like Short Stories by Latin American Women: The Magic and the Real (1990), which had a greater number of stories and writers and therefore a larger scope.

Other anthologies devoted to female authors include Contemporary Women Authors of Latin America: New Translations (1983), Cuentos: Stories by Latinas (1983), Spanish American Women Writers (1983, hard to find), Women's Fiction from Latin America: Selections from 12 Contemporary Authors (1988), Landscapes of a New Land: Short Fiction by Latin American Women (1989), Women's Writing in Latin America: An Anthology (1991), Scents of Wood and Silence: Short Stories by Latin American Women Writers (1991), Beyond the Border: A New Age in Latin American Women's Fiction (1991), Daughters of the Fifth Sun: A Collection of Latina Fiction and Poetry (1995), Out of the Mirrored Garden: New Fiction by Latin American Women (1996) and Cruel Fictions, Cruel Realities: Short Stories by Latin American Women Writers (1997).

The present anthology's title, Other Fires, referenced a line of poetry by Pizarnik. A publisher in France had stated that in Borges he could see a fire burning on the other side of the Atlantic; she referred to "other, all-consuming flames," built by women, that weren't yet visible to some. Here's something from the story by Pizarnik that showed how she could write when she wasn't depicting violence:

"An unchangeable color rules over the melancholic: his dwelling is a space the color of mourning. Nothing happens in it. No one intrudes. It is a bare stage where the inert I is assisted by the I suffering from that inertia. . . . But there are fleeting remedies: . . . pleasures, for instance, can, for a brief moment, obliterate the silent gallery of echoes and mirrors that constitutes the melancholic soul. Even more: they can illuminate the funeral chamber and transform it into a sort of musical box with gaily-colored figurines that sing and dance deliciously. Afterwards, when the music winds down, the soul will return to immobility and silence." ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of 39 Latin American stories emphasizes urban and cosmopolitan experiences. Established authors such as Borges and Marquez are represented along with lesser-known authors. ... Read more

Product Description
Latin American Fiction and the Narratives of the Perverse contains analysis of sexual perversion and narrative creativity in fictions from the Latin American Boom and post-Boom.Latin American novelists of the twentieth century tell stories about extreme male sexualities--machismo, homosexuality, fetishism, masochism, transvestism-in complex negotiations with the stories told by Freud and other sexologists, exemplifying some and queering others.O'Connor undertakes close readings of Puig, Lezama Lima, Cortázar, Fuentes, Donoso, and Sarduy in search of a perverse literary history of Latin America.
... Read more

Product Description
This Conversational program contains 8 hours of interactive audio-only instruction, effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions.

The Pimsleur Method provides the most effective language-learning program ever developed. The Pimsleur Method gives you quick command of Spanish structure without tedious drills. Learning to speak Spanish can actually be enjoyable and rewarding.

The key reason most people struggle with new languages is that they aren't given proper instruction, only bits and pieces of a language. Other language programs sell only these pieces -- dictionaries; grammar books and instructions; lists of hundreds or thousands words and definitions; audios containing useless drills. They leave it to you to assemble these pieces as you try to speak. Pimsleur enables you to spend your time learning to speak the language rather than just studying its parts.

When you were learning English, could you speak before you knew how to conjugate verbs? Of course you could. That learning process is what Pimsleur replicates. Pimsleur presents the whole language as one integrated piece so you can succeed.

With Pimsleur you get:

• Grammar and vocabulary taught together in everyday conversation,
• Interactive audio-only instruction that teaches spoken language organically,
• The flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere,
• 30-minute lessons designed to optimize the amount of language you can learn in one sitting.

Millions of people have used Pimsleur to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily, wherever and whenever -- without textbooks, written exercises, or drills.

Conversational Spanish includes the 10 lessons from Pimsleur's Basic Spanish plus an additional 6 lessons.

The 16 lessons in Conversational Spanish are the same first 16 lessons in the Pimsleur Comprehensive Spanish Level 1. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

Beer & a sanwich?!
The method is excellent.The content not always helpful!Repeated conversations about liking, ordering, buying, paying for, and otherwise interacting with beer.Also, there is the minimally useful discussion about "un sandwich frio."A cold sandwich?!Give me a break!At least make it an enchillada and some beans!

Hablo Espanlo
You cannot help but speak spanish after using this program.I think it is the basis for Rosetta Stone without the high price.The method leads you to understand as you learn to speak.I am really enjoying this program...it has cut down on the road rage!!

Good resource but a bit easy for those with some experience.
This audio set is a great resource for picking up Spanish after not speaking or studying it since high school. I already have a pretty good grasp on the language and just need to be able to converse while traveling in South America. I think this set will do a good job of putting me back on track, but it's still a bit too basic for me. I've had 5 years of advanced Spanish education so I need something a bit more advanced, but for those with little experience who want to pick up some lingo, this is a great resource!

Very Helpful
My husband and I are learning spanish and the class we are taking recommended this program.It is very helpful in teaching correct pronunciation.It is great for beginners but not too simple.You will learn phrases and basic communication after the first lesson.I highly recommend it.

Learning made easy!
I've been wanting to learn to speak Spanish and this has been a wonderful help.Listening to how the phrases are pronounced by a native speaker and then repeating it back has really helped me.Best yet is that I can use my driving time to & from work for these lessons! ... Read more

Product Description
Focusing on films from Bolivia, Ecuador and Columbia, Indianizing Film encourages readers to consider how indigenous media contributes to a wider understanding of decolonization and anticolonial study against the universal backdrop of the twenty-first century. Through questions of gender, power, and representation Schiwy argues that, instead of solely creating entertainment, through their work indigenous media activists are building communication networks that encourage interaction between diverse cultures. As a result, mainstream images are retooled, permitting communities to strengthen their cultures and express their own visions of development and modernization. ... Read more

Product Description
Chinese Peruvians, also known as tusán, are people of Overseas Chinese ancestry born in Peru, or who have made Peru their adopted homeland. Most Chinese Peruvians are multilingual. In addition to Spanish or Quechua, many of them speak one or more Chinese dialects that may include Cantonese, Hakka, Mandarin, and Taiwanese. Since the first Chinese immigrants came from Macau, some of them also speak Portuguese. In Peru, Asian Peruvians are estimated at 3% of the population, but one source places the number of citizens with some Chinese ancestry at 4.2 million, which equates to 15% of the country's total population. ... Read more