Reply #4: Thanks. That course contains 16 (half hour?) lessons.

[Jim__]

That would be about one-half of the beginner's course in Spanish. I wouldn't really expect any language to be very well understood after 16 half-hour lessons - and 16 beginner lessons in Pimsleur's Spanish would certainly not be sufficient to converse. If you take the Spanish through the advanced course (I can't remember how far the intermediate course goes), they do get to the point where they ask you free-form questions and you have have to answer, fairly quickly. I found that taking all 3 levels was very helpful with Spanish. That amounts to about 90 half-hour lessons with, of course, the ability to repeat any lesson at will.

Out of curiousity, how many lessons (hours of instruction) are there in the Berlitz course. I know Berlitz has a good reputation. Do you know how the price for the number of hours in your Berlitz course would compare to a similar number of hours in Pimsleur?