In this week’s episode, Mark and Alba discuss some useful techniques for learning languages and share their ideas and advice with listeners. In the intermedio Alba talks about the northern Spanish city of Bilbao, and José introduces a construction which involves lo + adjective. Grammar points covered include the construction siempre que and the use of the subjunctive after para que.
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Can you please get rid of Jose?
He comes across as arrogant, condescending and loud. He speaks too fast and doesn´t explain what he is saying!
José is a valued member of our team and his input in Show Time Spanish is regularly commented on very positively in the many emails we receive from listeners. We explained early on in the development of Show Time Spanish that the point of the intermedio is to provide something a bit different to the rest of the show, and José’s delivery tends to be significantly slower than the ‘natural speed’ of the conversations. Other than the points discussed in the second act each week, none of the content of Show Time Spanish is explained. We do provide lesson guides which explain everything in each podcast, and which include a full transcript of José’s intermedio.
Jose’s intermedios have meant a lot to me as a learner. But there are always people out there who are takers and cannot find it in their cadre of skills to be thankful and kind. Its life, no good turn goes unpunished is what an old boss of mine used to say about people at work like this. Its their sense of entitlement. Really, this is no reflection on the material because millions want those intermedios, like myself. This commentary was from 2009, but i’m still loving the material today, Jan 30th 2011. Keep up the great, fantastic work Jose, Mark, and all. Many of us love it and really appreciate it. Like myself having purchased CBS Complete, I hope more people are purchasing CBS and STS.
Strange. To me, José comes across as very a affable and good-natured sort: a great asset to the show. Some folk just don’t know how lucky they are!
I’ve been thinking a bit more about this and while we absolutely encourage feedback from our audience and are always grateful for helpful and constructive criticism on our content and style, I feel that personal insults are wholly inappropriate. We’re a small company with a close team and any personal comments affect the whole team.
The bottom line is that we provide free resources used by many hundreds of thousands of learners across the world. If you don’t enjoy them then you don’t need to listen to them.
Mark
Just to set the record straight….my comments about Jose´s input are NOT personal insults. They are comments about my reaction to Jose´s delivery style, not about Jose himself.
Jose’s Intermedio is a favorite for me: lively, fun, and challenging. Don’t change a thing about the manner of his presentation!
Nancy Strasser
I have been a fan from the first Coffee Break Spanish to the 40th Showtime Spanish and I value every minute, Jose’s intermedio included. You are ALL doing such a wonderful job and I am deeply grateful for the things you have taught me…I’m only sorry that I can’t have an episode of Verano Español everyday. Muchas gracias por todos.
I am teaching English to some Mexican immigrants (4) here in the USA and STS comes in very handy for me in many ways….we have fun translating Verano Español, for example. This is the best website for me to improve my spanish and learn so much about grammar in both languages. We also have fun comparing peninsular spanish (the default at STS) with that spoken in Mexico. As a STS subscriber, I am actually more familiar with the vosotros form than my students, who are native spanish speakers.
I disagree completely about Jose. I like him, and the format works very well. I also like the fact that he described the Eurovision Song contest as naff!