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September 30, 2013 | Review Period

Organized!

In which I get all my language-learning books on shelves while also managing to vent about customer service.

Over the weekend, in a sudden burst of organizational ardor, I reorganized my bookshelves so I could fit all my language-learning materials in one place. They are now ordered alphabetically by language and by status (i.e., based on whether I have reviewed them yet for this site). The shelves start with Arabic and end with Yiddish.

If I just studied Zulu, I could span the alphabet!

I Want to Learn Learning Spanish Like Crazy Like Crazy! Help!

I Want to Learn Learning Spanish Like Crazy Like Crazy! Help!

I have a lot of things on the still-to-be-reviewed shelves, though I am partway through many of the products residing there.

I am curious to know whether any readers have used Learning Spanish Like Crazy. I am trying to use Learning Spanish Like Crazy, but it has been absolutely impossible to reach anyone there to get a review copy. I cannot find a phone number on their website, and I can’t get anyone to answer my e-mails and various contact form submissions.

The reason I want to try it is that I have heard a couple of good things about it. But it concerns me when there is no way to reach people, especially for technology-based products, which I feel should be properly supported by humans and not just trouble tickets!

If you have any secret phone number access or thoughts on their offerings, I would love to hear from you.

P.S. Irrelevantly but interestingly, one of the French grammar exercise books I am using just gave this example to illustrate indirect objects: Vous donne-t-il entière satisfaction? (The translation provided: “Does he give you full satisfaction?”) 

Comments (4)

Farschied • Posted on Tue, October 01, 2013 - 6:20 am EST

Hi Ellen!

I think that’s one of the most amusing things you have done so far in your project!

Although There aren’t many books in my bookshelf, I sometimes spend time just looking at my books in it!

It’s kinda fun for me, the colors, the name of the languages! ...


Maybe you could take a picture of your shelves and post it !

Ellen Jovin • Posted on Tue, October 01, 2013 - 9:30 am EST

It was my intention to post a current picture of the shelves, but my phone-camera was temporarily being held hostage (mysterious, right?) and I wanted to get the entry up. I’ll do it in the not-too-distant future.

In reading this entry over I am realizing it sounds as though my shelves were not alphabetical by language already—which they more or less were. But the thing is, I had as many German books NOT fitting in the German section as FITTING in the German section. So I had a neat arrangement of German on the shelves, a pile of German on the floor in the office, and a pile of German at home. Now all the piles have been integrated.

Ijana • Posted on Tue, October 01, 2013 - 2:23 pm EST

I’m learning Spanish right now and I also looked into Learning Spanish Like Crazy, but I decided not to because for whatever reason I didn’t like how the guy who does it presented it. I found your problem too; LSLC seems a little bit like a backyard gig to me. I’m not sure what to think of it.

Ellen Jovin • Posted on Tue, October 01, 2013 - 2:41 pm EST

What’s funny is that I get constant e-mails from Learning Spanish Like Crazy about various language points. They must be extremely time-consuming to write. I am sure some people really like them (the information is helpful and cute), but I think less time should be devoted to those and more time devoted to getting a phone number. To give you a flavor of the e-mails, here’s the first paragraph of a long message on how dogs bark in Spanish:

————————————-
“SPANISH-BARKING” DOG THAT
DOES NOT BARK “WOOF, WOOF”
————————————-


Did you know that in Spain and
Latin America when dogs bark
they do not make the sound
“woof, woof” like dogs do in
English speaking countries?
Let me explain, before you
ask, “¿me estás tomando el
pelo?”) (Literally, “are
you pulling my hair?” but
the equivalent of the
English expression “are
you pulling my leg?”)

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