We were notified a few days ago by the owner of the the goose that he wrote a review of Bueno, entonces… in his blog.

Thanks James, we hope your Spanish keeps improving!

If you want to read the full note you should go to Bueno Entonces: Essential Pick up techniques in Spanish

Bueno entonces helped this high school spanish failure actually speak to natives and navigate South America! Affordable, user friendly, and INCREDIBLY CONVENIENT, I enjoyed the lessons and made good use of my spare time all from the convenience of my iPod. I HIGHLY recommend Bueno Entonces!

-Biddy Maxwell

The Buenos Entonces Spanish learning videos are very entertaining. I use the videos to complement other programs. Once I get bored with a more traditional learning program, I can go to Buenos Entonces and get another 30 minutes of Spanish instruction before konking out.

The English guy in the videos is a very good comedian. The video advertisement on the web site doesn’t do justice to the humor of the program. However the humor is biased toward the bathroom variety, so if you are easily offended then this program might not be for you. But for me this program makes me laugh and makes learning Spanish fun.

- Bruce, San Jose, CA

This song is called Risa and it’s performed by the Argentine band Babasí³nicos

The verb “gustar” is hard to translate – most people translate it as “to like” but in Spanish it’s used in a passive way. That’s why in our classes we translated it as “to appeal” .
For example:

Me gustas tanto… would mean: You appeal to me so much…

Here are the lyrics:

En la palestra de desconocidos
buscí³ a su lado el calor
y simulando mojarle el oí­do
le besí³ el cuello y le dijo.

Me gustas tanto
quisiera aprenderme tu nombre
me gustas tanto que
no sí© por donde voy.

Me le acerquí© suspicaz
y le tendí­ un anzuelo
vamos a fumar un porro ahí­.

Me gusta verte reí­r
me gusta tanto tu coqueteo
me gustas tanto
quisiera aprenderme tu nombre
me gustas tanto que
no sí© por donde voy.

Tengo una idea, no me hables de ti y
mucho menos de tu pasado
algo en tus labios color carmí­n
sugiere que vayamos al grano.

Oh! la alegrí­a llegí³
la alegrí­a llegí³
y sí© que no dura para siempre.

I’m a beginning student of Spanish, middle-age enough to appreciate learning and study time, and I’ve seen numerous presentations of learning materials over the years interest and that’s half the battle when learning a new language. It’s fun, it’s edgy, not for moral conservatives unless you have a good sense of humor! Definitely not for kids under 16, I’d say. David is a guy in his 20s who’s gone to Argentina to learn Spanish; his good fortune finds him instructed by a very lovely native chica. Let the flirting and fun begin! There’s a professor comic character who pops up now and then with grammar lessons. David and his sexy professor are shown in body sketch form with “real” human pictures of their faces that change to reveal expressions matching the ongoing dialogue between them. Both of these voice-only actors are excellent! Lots of interest and excitement in their voices and great enunciation. I love it! My only problem is that it goes too fast for me as a beginner. The content is beginner level, starting with basic greetings and introductions, but everything sequences too quickly because I’m trying to hear and listen as well as read the dialogue that’s displayed on the screen. And get this… I’m supposed to comprehend the color coding of the displayed the words too! It’s just not possible, at least not right now in my learning. They speak at relatively normal pace, well, probably even a bit slow, but not slow enough for a beginner. But I’m going to keep trying because I think there’s a lot of benefit to be had here. It’s very well done. I wish there was printed material to go with it — alas, none of that. I guess they saved trees, but if the set included something printed, I could study the material at a slower pace, then watch the video and probably grasp a lot more of it. Seems like I should at least get the printed transcript for the high price. One buyer note: It comes as 6 DVDs in 3 cases. That’s it! No box as shown in the Amazon picture. No printed materials to follow along. I googled the product name and found a website for it, but there’s no dialogue transcript or supporting learning materials to be found. Too bad, that would make it the ultimate product. Worth your money after you’ve had 3-6 months of Spanish — If you’re there, buy it now, otherwise add it to your cart and purchase it later! Hope this is helpful. P.S. I think you can purchase and download individual chapters from their website and you can also try a demo there.

Enjoy!

“artslover”

Kirkland, WA United States

I was recently contacted by the folks at Miniature Studios about their new Spanish language learning product Bueno, entonces.

[Disclaimer: Miniature Studios did provide me with free access to the product in exchange for this review, but otherwise there was no payment for this review and there are no affiliate links in this post.]

Ever since my days implementing digital technologies in higher education I’ve been very interested in multimedia-based approaches to learning. There are different learning styles and some people learn better in ways that are different from others. Of course, language learning always requires a high degree of personal interaction to achieve any level of proficiency. But language tapes and computer-based approaches serve as useful starting points.

Bueno, entonces is a series of animated videos that replicate a one-on-one Spanish class.Unlike most learning Spanish resources online, Bueno, entonces is designed specifically for the person who wants to live in Buenos Aires, or at least have an extended visit to Buenos Aires and have a good time.

And the good time aspect is an intentional part of this approach in learning Spanish. Not only does Bueno, entonces adopt the local pronunciation and use of vos rather than tu, there’s a bit of Argentine slang that is covered in a humorous way.

The class is presented through the characters of David, a dorky British guy who just arrived in Buenos Aires from London and Jimena, a sexy, young Argentine that is teaching him Spanish.

David is a caricature of the twenty-something guy that we’ve all met who comes down to Buenos Aires to hang out. There’s a lot of flirting and sexual innuendos from David as he tries pathetically to seduce Jimena in the class. That light tone to this series actually makes for a more entertaining experience than that offered by most language learning audio tapes and computer-based approaches, which are generally dry monotones.

If you don’t know Spanish and you are planning to come to Buenos Aires, but have not yet arrived, then Bueno, entonces is worth investigating. If you’re already in Buenos Aires, then you’ll probably just want to sign up for a real course here or find your own one-on-one instructor. Of course, the expats I know that speak the best Spanish always seem to be the ones that have a boyfriend/girlfriend that does NOT speak English. Perhaps Bueno, entonces can give you the language basics that you need to find to find the Argentine of your dreams in Buenos Aires.

Bueno, entonces is certainly better than most language learning audio tapes on the market, other than Pimsleur which I’ve always thought are by far the best audio-only approach though the monotone of Pimsleur’s speakers gets boring after a while. And, personally, I like images to go along with audio and that’s a niche that Bueno, entonces fits. Plus, the video is optimized for the iPhone and iPod Touch. That’s really cool.

And, if you’re interested, you can hop over and follow the Bueno, entonces blog.

-Jeff Barry
http://baires.elsur.org/

I am from the US and living/working in Buenos Aires. I moved here with my boyfriend, with one of my goals being to learn Spanish. I came armed with Rosetta Stone, and I also hired a private tutor when I arrived. Now, I also have the Buenos Entonces program to help me as well.

I just started watching the B.E. program and am 4 episodes in. I find that I need to watch them each about 4 times to really understand what is going on. The content is funny and interesting, and I still find it amusing after the 3rd time through. I would say, however, that the material is very fast. Too fast, really. The screen has several symbols to help you understand tenses and gender, but there is not enough time to look at everything on the screen before it moves on.

While Rosetta Stone is rather boring, it ingrains the material in your head really well because of the repetition of seeing, speaking, and writing. B.E. is much more entertaining, but it would be very difficult to learn Spanish with only this program. I find that even after watching the episodes several times, nothing is really sticking. I am paying more attention to focusing on the screen and looking at all of the images then I am to the words. However, it is a good review if you are already taking Spanish classes and have some knowledge because it teaches you how to speak in a more natural way.

So, Rosetta Stone/tutor helps me learn grammar rules and vocab – BE is great for the natural flow of things. I would recommend a combo of all of these methods if you really want to learn Spanish.

- Sheila, Denver, CO