Languages > Castilian Spanish > Castilian Spanish Phase 1, Unit 16-20

Includes 5 lessons (150 minutes) as MP3 download

The Pimsleur® Method is scientifically proven to be your fastest route to near-native fluency. Speak and understand Castilian Spanish in just 30 minutes a day. Castilian Spanish Phase 1, Units 16-20 build on material taught in prior units. Each lesson provides 30 minutes of spoken language practice, with an introductory conversation, and new vocabulary and structures. Detailed instructions enable you to understand and participate in the conversation. Each lesson contains practice for vocabulary introduced in previous lessons. The emphasis is on pronunciation and comprehension, and on learning to speak Castilian Spanish. These units contain Reading Lessons designed to teach you to sound out words with correct pronunciation and accent. A Reading Booklet to be used with the audio lessons is also included in PDF format.

About Castilian Spanish

• In the United States, the term “Castilian” or “Castilian Spanish” usually refers to the dialect that is the official language of Spain, where it’s used in television and radio broadcasts. It is understood throughout the country, although there are marked regional differences.
• The difference between Castilian Spanish as spoken in Spain and Spanish as spoken in the Americas (now called Latin American Spanish) is due to the diminishing contact between Spain and the Americas over the centuries and to the influence of local languages in the Americas. These two main variants of Spanish are mutually intelligible; the difference between them is comparable to that between British English and American English.
• Pimsleur’s “Castilian Spanish” teaches the official dialect as spoken by the majority of Spanish-speakers in Spain.
• Spanish is the official language of twenty-one countries and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Spanish is the first language of more than 350 million people, more than any other language except Mandarin Chinese.
• Furthermore, Spanish is a common second language --- the most studied after English, and the third most commonly used on the Internet after English and Mandarin.