Fluenz Spanish is a relatively new learn Spanish as a second language course that claims to be a new and improved way to learn. Tell Me More is a bit more aged (like a delicate slice of Manchego Viejo cheese perhaps?) and traditional in the way it teaches. So which one comes out on top – the young upstart or the old timer ? This article, Fluenz Spanish Vs Tell Me More Spanish, will tell you what they are all about and which one might be for you.

The Look And Feel Of Each Course

Having tried both systems, I would say that Fluenz seems a lot fresher than Tell Me More. By this I mean the pictures and the way it is presented seem far more modern. The colors are vibrant and everything is clean, like the way the tutor is kind of coming at you out of total darkness. How the words move from her hand onto the virtual blackboard and things like that.

The pictures in Tell Me More seem a bit dated and tired. The culture aspects of the course relate to things in the 90s and early 2000’s. This is not necessarily a bad thing as certain elements of culture haven’t changed for hundreds, even thousands of years, but I’m just saying the look and feel of Fluenz is a bit more motivating. This might seem a bit superficial but it could be the difference between making a course work for you or not.

How Does Fluenz Spanish Teach ?

In Fluenz’s own words they try to leverage your knowledge of English to make your Spanish learning quicker. I would say that this is a bit like the Michel Thomas approach in that a tutor does a lot of teaching and explains things from the viewpoint of an English speaker. So this means how the sentence construction differs or verbs that seem to be more important in Spanish than English – like to be for instance. They even describe how things should be pronounced based on the same sounds that an English word might make.

They always try to come back to some aspect that an English speaker would be familiar with. Unlike Rosetta Stone, and to some extent Tell Me More, they try to build up the confidence of an English speaker learning the language from the very first lesson.

The general format of each lesson will be an introduction by the tutor on what the lesson is about. Then there will be a scene or scenario presented. The scenario is simply pictures of people or things or places that are featuring in an audio conversation between 2 or more people. The tutor advices that you listen to the audio dialog three times.

The first time with English/Spanish subtitles on. The second time with Spanish subtitles and finally with no subtitles on. If anyone has tried to learn a foreign language by watching DVDs then you will probably have done this before. And it does work, all be it in a slightly passive way.

After the scenario has been seen 3 times, the tutor explains everything about the dialog – new words, cultural references if necessary, new grammar and stuff like that. The words from the dialog materialize to the left of the tutor on the virtual blackboard. She uses them to further her teaching.

Once the teaching is done, you go onto a series of workouts. These are basically questions that you have to answer about the lesson. The questions test your reading, writing, comprehension and even your ability to speak to some extent. So the tests work on the 4 key skills that you need. The final tests will incorporate what you have just learned with previous lessons.

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How Does Tell Me More Spanish Work ?

Tell Me More Spanish is quite simply massive. There are around 20 hours of video lessons in the first level of Tell Me More and then all sorts of tests and exercises that help you practice the reading, writing, comprehension and speaking of the lesson. You initially go through a competency level test. This will give you an idea of your current level of Spanish and where you should start with Tell Me More.

After that you will go through a dialog video. Most of the videos aren’t proper movie type videos but just pictures that change as the dialog changes. So if a man and woman are speaking, the picture will change to focus on the woman when she is speaking and then go to the man when he is speaking.

Once the dialog is done, you go through a series of tests and practice. The testing is very rigorous to the extent that you play all sorts of word games, complete sentences, conjugate verbs, speak words and sentences. In fact you can get a bit lost with the number of things you can do and for me, I lost a bit of focus. One minute I was looking at a verb conjugation then I was back at writing out a sentence. I guess the more you use it and get into a routine the easier it will get.

One thing that was interesting was the pronunciation tools. They have the much used graphical representation of your voice but they also have diagrams of how you should move your lips and tongue, which you won’t find on many other language courses.

They also have things like extensive culture sections, which feature TV news stories, famous landmarks and some quite in depth elements of Spain. They also have sections with a map of the world with all the Spanish words for countries and other things you will see on an atlas.

As you can probably see, Tell Me More is a massive program that is probably  more appropriate for children or for use in schools or even home schooling. It takes time to go through and can get a bit tiresome at points but it is a complete reference on the Spanish language. If you are willing to put the effort in, you will really learn Spanish with it.

One thing that will become apparent is that Tell Me More is a European company and to this extent the lessons are slightly different. The lessons are more matter of fact and less glamorous. Typical scenarios might include everyday things that ordinary people might be doing.

This is unlike many American language companies where the typical scenarios involve tourist type activities (Fluenz being a prime example of this – in fact Fluenz like to glamorize the language and country as a motivational tool I believe). Don’t get me wrong, Tell Me More still have tourist type scenarios, after all a German or English person will still be doing tourist type things in Spain, but it seems a bit more understated.

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Comparison of Fluenz Spanish And Tell Me More Spanish

I would say that Fluenz is aimed at adults – people planning to travel to a Spanish speaking country for a vacation or even to work there. Tell Me More is better as a home schooling tool or for people that have a lot of time on their hands. Fluenz is far more accessible, meaning that you don’t mind using it. Tell Me More can be a bit more daunting. Of course this is coming from an adult perspective. Kids might love to immerse themselves in the Tell Me More world. Or maybe adults that have been allotted time to learn Spanish by their work or such like, even college students with time on their hands.

Fluenz is considerably cheaper than Tell Me More but I’d say there is far more content in Tell Me More (and a very nice looking headset!). Even though Fluenz is cheaper, it is still quite an expensive course if you plan to get the 5 levels – just under $500 last time I checked. Tell Me More is $650 plus.

One important thing to note is that Tell Me More teaches Castilian Spanish or European Spanish. Fluenz teaches Latin American Spanish. So pronunciation, spelling and some more formal aspects of Spanish will be different in both courses. You’ll still be able to speak to people in the different dialects, just you’ll have a cute accent

Both programs run on PC. Fluenz runs on Mac computers too. They both have options to get mp3 audio files for listen with an mp3 player away from the computer if you need a break from the computer or want to take the lessons on your travels.

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