Audio... Visual

I love Pimsleur and Michel Thomas, but it would be nice to have a little written info to go with them. With Learn In Your Car and a few other programs, you get a transcript, or can download one. But as a rule, if you find a program with both a visual and an audio component, one of them is just a pale reflection of the other.

I recently stumbled across Oxford Take off in Latin American Spanish. While I wouldn't say it's the perfect solution to my complaints, it's a move in the right direction. The CD narration guides you through the book, which pages to look at, when to do the exercises. The book, however, includes all the content and allows the possibility of doing the exercises by listening, filling in the blanks, or both.

The program is far from perfect, and I wouldn't recommend it for an absolute beginner because Pimsleur and Michel Thomas are better, in their own particular ways, of taking the learner by the hand and introducing the language. But for someone who's finished Pimsleur Basic or Michel Thomas Getting Started and who has decided it's time to broaden out and start on the written language, this is worth picking up.

Also available for Italian, French and Japanese.