Those who know me know my goal is at some point in my life to be a fluent speaker of a language, preferably Spanish.
I recently bought a cd-set by a dude - now deceased - called Michel Thomas.
It’s an 8 hour cd course that he made in the years leading up to his death as a way of preserving his teaching methods.
Michel Thomas became famous amongst the glitterati of Hollywood for his ability to teach a language in a phenomenally quick amount of time.
Celebrities beat down his door to be taught by the great man. As such, as the years of his life slowly drew to an end, his company was able to charge $25,000 (you heard right) for a 5 day group course. He also offered a 100% money back guarantee, which was not once redeemed in the entire history of the company.
Realising his unique methods needed to live on, he made a cd set based on Day 1 of the course for French, German, Italian and of course, Spanish.
Since then his proteges have released titles in Russian, Arabic and Mandarin. (Ballsy.)
I’m halfway through the sixth cd of the course and let me tell you, it’s .. amazing.
Normally when you’re learning you feel like you HAVE to do it, for your own benefit. Even if you know it’s good for you, you still must discipline yourself.
Not so in the case of Michel Thomas. I decided to listen to half an hour of the first cd just to see what it was like. It was my intention to do the course properly in June.
That half an hour ended up turning into 3 and a half hours, and let me tell you, I only stopped because I had to go to work in the evening! I listened until the very last possible minute!
It was the same case today. As soon as I got some free time I sat down to the cds, and man, this guy is mind blowing.
You always feel as if you’re just above the water, that you could sink any minute, but he’s holding you, you can trust him completely, that he knows what he’s doing. If something doesn’t lodge instantly in the memory it doesn’t even matter!
He seems random as he is presenting - at first - but he builds a very neat tapestry of understanding. He gets you to understand the logic of the language and then prompts the students to use that logic to figure out a word. It’s quite brilliant. I will definitely buy the 5Cd Advanced, 2Cd builder and 5Cd Vocabulary builder. It’s $123 more to get all that but man, will it save me a lot of time and energy when I get to Spain.
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January 9, 2008 at 12:06 am
David Airey
Hi Mat,
Sounds pretty immense.
I once tried learning Spanish from CDs, before I went to teach in Spain, but found them pretty poor. There’s obviously no substitute for speaking to a native, but I’m glad you’re learning a lot.
When do you head off? For how long?
January 9, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Mat
Hey David
Thanks for stopping by, always a pretty big surprise when you do… I hope India was good for you, I can’t see the photos on your post because my work blocks them and I’m currently waiting for 2 weeks for my new ISP at home to connect me. I went there for non-holiday reasons in 02 and it was a shock but also a pleasure.
Yeh I have tried other cds before as well and they were woeful :S The talking to a native thing is great, but being able to understand the logic behind a language has helped so much.
For example I randomly saw a Spanish verb somewhere today and just for the heck of it sat down and conjugated it 12 different ways, because he teaches you how.
I head off probably in early August.. which might cause you to go.. ‘uh… huh?’ but that’s the way the timing works out with the European summer and the program I’ll be doing. The idea is to stay until the end of November and come home. I’m gonna do a lot of study between now and then just so I can get a good jump on the language.
The idea is just to have an extended stay abroad in a non-English speaking country, trying to pick up the language. I chose Spanish because it’s easy on the ear and good for English speakers to learn!
Re: Michel Thomas, while the technique is awesome and the learning awesome, I would never use it without combining with an overseas trip. Like you said, the best way is with the natives.
January 9, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Mat
(I tend to ramble when I’m excited.. hehe)
January 9, 2008 at 8:09 pm
David Airey
You’re just right to start learning early, and I’m sure you’ll do great when you arrive (because if you’re conjugating verbs for fun, it’s always a good sign).
I hope you have a great time when you do head off, and I hope you’ll keep me updated on your progress.
Mucha suerte tio!