Rating: - Behind The Wheel Spanish
I bought this for my brother for Christmas who has a 1 hr drive to work and home everyday and his car doesn't have a CD player.He loves it! He says the instructor speaks very clearly,he repeats the words and phrases twice then gives you time to repeat it.He also likes the fact that the tape is set up in chapters so if he wants to go back to the beginning of a chapter it automatically does it when he hits rewind,he doesn't have to search for it. He can already say simple phrases and he knew absolutely no spanish prior to receiving this.He says he likes it because he doesn't have to have a book to follow while he is listening like some of the other more expensive instruction packages.He is VERY pleased with it,it is exactly what he was looking for!I WOULD DEFINATELY RECOMEND THIS TO ANYONE!!!!!!!

 

Rating: - If you can't decide between BTWS and LIYCS, get both
Here's a comparison of Behind the Wheel Spanish (BTWS) and Learn in Your Car Spanish (LIYCS).

Cocst:
LICYS costs $32.97 and BTWS costs 43.47 as of 5/08.

Packaging:
I give LIYCS 5 stars for contruction. CD's are all pressed like commercially made cds. It comes w/ sturdy cd case, cd of mp3/pdf of booklets (though some of the tracks are 96 kbps rather than 128 kbps), dvd covering some popular tourist areas, and 3 booklets w/ transcript. Booklets pretty convenient to carry and have plenty of space for u to jot down notes. Though it says 9 CD's on the cover, the page actually has 2 extra bonus cd's for a total of 11 cd's. There's one bonus cd for Level 2 and another one for Level 3 that provides more examples.

I give BTWS 1 star for construction. CD's are CD-r's that have been burned and have a white sticker in front which is b/w and printed using a laser printer. Several of the tracks skipped and the first package that I got had CD #8 that didn't have any data on it...it was a blank CD-R. Amazon promptly shipped me a replacement the next day. Included is a book which has like 8 chapters w/ material that are separate from the audio cd. At the end of the book is a few pages in size 6 font that tries to squeeze all the transcriptions from the 8 cd's into a dozen pages. It also has transcriptions from Spanish II and Spanish III courses.

Content:
LIYCS gets 4 stars. It's mostly a traditional tape that covers all the contents of Spanish language. However, I found it boring 2/2 to the repetition. Typical example would be: "We pay in cash"...followed by "Pagamos al contado" twice. No variation in speed. Contrast this with BTWS, where the English narrator would mix things up and ask something unexpected, like: "So learner, how would you say "'We pay in cash?'". LIYCS seems more difficult by the last CD than BTWS. LIYCS also divide each cd until more tracks than BTWS. For example, BTWS has some tracks that are 20 minutes. One good thing about LIYCS is that you could easily go to a certain cd to learn more about preterit because there's a table of contents. On the other hand, the transcription in BTWS doesn't have any table of contents.

BTWS gets 4.5 stars. The packaging sucks, but the content is more entertaining. Easier to stay engaged. However, it's annoying that the english speaker calls you "learner"..lol. "Learner, please.." In terms of content, BTWS seems to cover less material. Maybe that's why they have Level II and III, which are sold separately. I started off w/ 3 cd's from BTWS and then switched to LIYCS cuz LICYS seemed to cover more material. I'll update this section once I get back to BTWS.

Overall:
I'd buy BTWS if i'm a complete novice. Once I'm done w/ that, I'd consider LIYCS to get more vocab or consider BTWS Level II. To be honest, I'd go w/ BTWS since it keeps me more engaged and is more entertaining. They're supposed to come out w/ an updated version in August 2008. Hopefully by then it'll correct the deficiencies and be more professional. In the mean time, since I have both, and I previously had some high school spanish, going through LIYCS is easier cuz I can skip around easily and target the areas that I've forgotten, like preterite, imperfect, etc. You can't go wrong either either product.

 

Rating: - Easily the best Spanish Audio product
I bought these CDs based on the recommendations here and was not disappointed. I've borrowed some other courses from the library but this is the best for a number of reasons. The CDs stand alone, they are ideal for listening to in the car because you do not need to follow along in a book. The CDs consist mostly of a series of phrases and sentences spoken first in English and then in Spanish. All of the instructions are in English. This system works well because every time you hear a phrase you know exactly what it means. What I like best is that the material progreseses without ever going too fast so that you start by learning a few words and phrases then by building on the words you know and adding more words you end up getting to form more sophisticated sentences. I have been able to use my Spanish in conversations with Spanish speaking people and have been able to hold down my end of a simple conversation. I found that listening to each CD twice worked well for me. Having completed all 8 CDs I have moved on to the second 8 CD series which is also working out well for me.

 

Rating: - Complete Spanish Course
I love this course. The audio is easy to understand and the course book is a great addition. Oral participation is critical for pronunciation but I also need the book for a visual image of the language. This is my fourth experience with a CD course and it's by far my favorite. Learning Spanish "Behind the Wheel" is the way to go.

 

Rating: - Spanish Made Simple
This is definately one of the easiest ways to learn spanish.To be encourage to make mistakes was nice for a change,to learn new things it is okay to screw up when you are trying to pronunciate words.Will definately work my way thru for professional and personal use.

Rating: - Excellent!
There are no Spanish programs on the market that compare to this. The structure of this course, this ease with which one may learn to construct original sentences, the 'guessing' being removed by the English speaking instructor, the superb native Spanish speaker's voice, make this the top car Spanish course on the market.

 

Rating: - pretty good.
You will by no means learn proficient spanish from this, but I thought it was a really good start, especially combined with my oxford spanish english dictionary on my palm treo.

 

Rating: - Effective and engaging
I have only gotten through 1.5 of the CDs so far. I appreciate several things about this learning program. The program goes at a managable pace for me. After numerous re-playing of the first CD, I think I have a good grounding in the basics. As someone with plans to travel in MX in a few months, I appreciate the emphasis on the practical vocabulary. Sometimes, when I get in the car, I really don't feel like turning the program on (and sacrificing NPR), but every time I do, I find that I enjoy the relaxed speaking styles of both the English instructor and the Spanish speaker so much that I quickly get engaged in the lesson. Frustrations for me have included the CDs skipping at times, and unlike cassette tapes, inability to rewind or fast forward. Also, the box with the CDs is not effective at storing them, and they fall out when the case is opened.

 

Rating: - very helpful
I have tried many different spanish learning cd's and this is the best. I never took Spanish in school, and have tried to learn it from time to time, and I found this program appropriately challenging, though sometimes the spanish speaker answered the questions a little too quickly before I had time to think of the answer.
 

Rating: - Great Product
Like most of the other reviewers have stated, this is a great product. You get 8 discs and a book that goes along with the lessons. I listen in my going to and from work, then review the workbook at night.

 

Rating: - review cd
I spend a lot of time in my car and now I can do someting productive while I sit in traffic.

 

Rating: - Behind the Wheel Spanish
This is a detailed product that has made it easier for me to learn Spanish than what I have experienced through either formal classes or other products. I would recommend it to my friends.

 

Rating: - Fun and Powerful
This course is a powerhouse course for learning spanish. So much useful vocabulary and conversational skills are covered in this course it is mind blowing. Mark's strategy is to use variable repetition to build a solid base on which to learn spanish and that magic is working on me. Mark has a solid sense of which words, phrases, sentence structures etc. are most used by english and spanish speaking folks alike, and he pounds them home till they become second nature.
It's all here, not just sentence building, but how to say the time, the days of the week, count into the millions, talk about the weather and a million other daily kinds of stuff humans around the world talk about or use in thier language on a daily basis.
Mark has made an excellent tool for learning Spanish available, it is now up me, the learner, to decide how far and how fast I want to utilize it.
In such a short while I am speaking in rudimentary ways to my Spanish friends, and they are stunned at my progress knowing that -truly- the extent of my Spanish was "adios" before beginning this course.
I hope that helps some of you decide.
all the best

 

Rating: - Extremely Helpful
I am engaged to a Spanish man, who's entire family speaks Spanish most of the time. Using this program has really helped me get started on learning the language. Now when I am at family gatherings, I find myself understanding the gist of the conversations going on. I haven't finished the program yet, but I recommend this to anyone who wants to learn Spanish and has a long commute to work or spends a lot of time on the road.

Rating: - Very Pleased!
I'm still on disk 1, but so far can say that I am well pleased. Pronunciation is clear and the lessons are very easy to follow. I'm looking forward to learning more spanish with these lessons.

 

Rating: - Excellent
Very hard for me to learn a second language and this one works for me. At home or on the road you can learn a language while "multitasking".

 

Rating: - Outstanding Spanish Audio
I'm an intermediate to advanced "gringo" Spanish speaker. This program is the best I've ever used. The pace is fast (which is good - you can always hit pause and rewind). The words and phrases taught are very useful. Even though I speak Spanish fluently, I learned many new phrases and techniques from this program. My daughter is just learning Spanish and also rates this program very high on her list. If you want to learn Spanish, or need a refresher, buy this one.

 

Rating: - Behind The Wheel Spanish
Very good use of time. I refreshed my Spanish 1 and 2 junior high school Spanish (1 year of language) which I hadn't used in 40 years - in about 2 months.

 

Rating: - Easily brought back the high school Spanish buried in my brain.
I am currently on the sixth CD, and my skills have quickly multiplied using this set. I had studied Spanish for 4 years in high school and college, my last class being almost 8 years ago. On my last trip to South America a few months ago, I was embarrassed how much Spanish I had lost in the past year. The CDs especially have helped me recall much of that information, and the book provides plenty of practice. I wish the CDs had lengthier passages for translation attempts, as instant comprehension of Spanish speakers is still one of my weaknesses, but overall it has been a great review to help me prepare to navigate and enjoy the South American countries where I frequently travel.

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