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My Spanish Coach Level 1 - Learn To Speak Spanish (Nintendo DS)
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5/5 |
Great Fun and Very Educational!
(September 01, 2008) |
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I bought this product to help me learn some basic spanish as I was childminding Spanish Children over the summer.
Unlike most Language courses available for self teaching this did not focus on basic holiday phrases like getting to and from the airport. I really liked this aspect as I was not going on holiday!
The games are simple and fun and really help in learning the basic words!
Another aspect which is really great is the fact that you cant advance a level without being good at the current level. I like this as it stops me from being lazy and skipping hard bits!
The only critisism I have about this game is the start of it. The software tests your spanish to begin with to assess which level you should be starting at. I did really well at this and as such was started at Level 5. I found this to affect me as it assumes you know your colours, numbers etc....So I had to create a new file and get the inital test all wrong to learn the basics!!
Other than that I am so happy with this product and find it to be very fun, and very easy to use and very educational!! |
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4/5 |
Emma
(July 17, 2008) |
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Hi guys, just a word of warning. I ordered this game - however when it arrived I was sent the Mexican Spanish version (meant for American markets I presume) and not the European version that was advertised on Amazon. There are significant differences in the vocabulary used in each language so watch out!!!
You can tell the difference very easily - on the front cover of the one I receieved there is a mexican flag inside the glasses pictured. On the European version there is a Spanish flag.
Other than this the game is really great for people with no Spanish at all - it's great fun. |
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4/5 |
Great game
(July 10, 2008) |
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I brought this game to help me learn Spanish, I pretty much new nothing to start with. I no have a good vocab of Spanish words, I just wish It taught me a little more on building sentences.
There are great sub games on here to help you learn and being able to compare myself saying the words against the coach is really helpful.
There is also the bonus of having a dictionary and phrases that you can look up. This is a great game and worth every penny. |
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5/5 |
A fun way to learn
(June 03, 2008) |
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I bought My Spanish Coach earlier this year having been learning Spanish for about two years. The lessons teach you ten words at a time and are short enough that even if you only have half an hour spare in the day, you can still learn. The variety of games that help you complete each lesson are both fun and challenging depending which difficulty level you use. You can test spelling and practise verb conjugations which I've found very useful for improving my written Spanish.
The only minor nitpick is that the ranking system to measure your progress uses American school "grades" which is a bit meaningless to the rest of the world but it's a minor complaint about a very good and useful game. |
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3/5 |
Ok... for having no other real alternative
(April 09, 2008) |
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I am an adult student of Spanish, living and studying in Spain, with nearly 9 months of formal lessons behind me so bear that in mind while reading this review.
I bought this game, like many others, to expand my Spanish vocabulary in a way that is entertaining. In fact, the entire reason I purchased the DS in the first place was to be able to play this particular game during recess between classes and on the Metro to university. So after reaching a level of HS Junior on My Spanish Coach, here are my thoughts:
1. Too many cognates - Any idea of what "taxi" means in Spanish? Well, it's "taxi" of course. Same goes for words like "semiconductor", "ratio", "campus", "salami", "crisis", "radar", etc. Of course, it's useful to "learn" these words but for me, this is just far too basic, even for a beginner in Spanish.
2. Unrelated vocabulary - Especially in the Open Lessons (the point at which you just begin to learn vocabulary only), the vocabulary presented is a group of unrelated terms. This makes for a disjointed learning experience.
3. Omission of articles - In Spanish, the article before the word is very useful in determining the word's gender (masculine or feminine) and therefore, in determining the proper form of adjective, pronoun, etc to be used. In this game, the article is omitted entirely.
4. Short-lived Bridge Builder mini game - The same handful of sentences in English to be constructed in Spanish come up over and over again. Admittedly, it's not very helpful mini game anyway as it only helps you construct a very limited set of sentences. It would be better to replace this mini game altogether with a crossword or hangman type of game.
5. Definitions not always accurate - "Caja" is defined in this game as "cash" but it really means "box" (at least according to the numerous dictionaries that I own as well as my own experience living here in Spain). We would use "dinero" when we want to say "cash." Another example is the word "sensible," which is defined as "sensitive" but in the game, it is defined as "sensible." A little lazy, isn't it?
Having said that, I don't think the game is useless. It's still fun to play. It just could be a whole lot better. If the price came down, I would recommend this to people. |
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