| Although the course book contains a useful grammar review, I have primarily used the CD portion of the set. I practice my Spanish listening and "conversational" skills during my 30 minute commute. I have advanced Spanish reading skills, but only intermediate conversational skills. I wanted something that helps me keep from losing those few conversational skills that I so painfully acquired through a year in Mexico. This set has not really helped me "learn more," but has kept me from "losing more." There are two sets of 4 CDs. The first set contains the dialogues. The 3-4 minute dialogues are presented in their entirety, and then repeated phrase by phrase, with time for you to repeat the phrases. The second set includes short excerpts from the dialogues followed by other practice drills. As for the dialogues, I have found that the level of the conversations has been right for me. The dialogues use relatively up to date vocabularly and scenarios. They touch on a wide variety of subjects and are set in different Spanish speaking countries. They progress in difficulty at an appropriate rate. As for the grammar drills, these have been helpful as well. But there are two ways that the material could have been more useful. First, I would have appreciated more grammar practice, and less repetition of the dialogues. Second, the course book does not contain a print out of the grammar drills. Unfortunately, many of the grammar drills introduce some new vocabulary and phrasings that aren't otherwise in the course book. While this isn't extensive and I can generally figure it out, I am enough of a "visual learner," that I would have occasionally benefited from a text version of the material. A short, separate pamphlet (they could even publish it "on line") would solve the problem nicely without making the course book too thick. My only other comment is also directed to the course book. I personally haven't found the extensive "business" information sections to be all that useful. I would prefer more on cultural matters. But that's just my personal tastes; the business material seems well put together and would be useful to someone who has such an interest. And there is a fair degree of other cultural information scattered throughout the book. On the whole, I have found this set to be a useful commute companion and can recommend it highly. I may take up another reviewer's advice and purchase the more grammar drill oriented course that that reviewer recommended. But I think that it made more sense for me to have first completed this "survey" type course. | 