New Real Spanish Workshop Video!
What our “Platinum” students say…
Anna – “One of the best things for my language learning that I have done”
Erin – “I’ve learned words and phrases that I now hear around me all the time”
Caroline – “I’ve learned so much and my motivation has risen enormously”
Miriam – “It’s a really great way to improve your confidence with all the language skills”
Joe – “I’ve found the Notes in Spanish Platinum videos to be really, really helpful.”
Kathy – “It’s a welcoming place where you will learn a lot.”
Chris – “It’s helped immensely. What a journey so far.”
Kate – “I highly recommend this course for anyone on the journey of learning Spanish”
More Platinum Student Testimonials…
“I cannot recommend it highly enough”
“This course was the missing link for me in actually moving my Spanish forward, it is the total package. When you interact with the course material and you interact with the people, your reading, your writing, your listening, your speaking skills, they all come into play. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
Kate
“One of the best things for my language learning that I have done”
“I really feel like a plateau that I was on for a long time has suddenly shifted. It’s one of the best things for my language learning that I have done. It’s definitely caused a shift in listening and understanding. So I’d say to anyone who’s thinking about it, go for it, really… it’s fun. It’s just really fun. So I recommend it wholeheartedly.”
Anna
“I’ve learned words and phrases that I now hear around me all the time”
“I live in Spain, so learning more real Spanish has been really great. I’ve learned words and phrases that I now hear around me all the time and that I can use when I talk with my friends and neighbours.”
Erin
“So much help available and such interesting topics”
“It’s helped immensely. What a journey so far. There is so much information, so much help available and such interesting topics. I love the interaction with all the other members. We’re constantly posting and then replying to each other, all in Spanish, and it’s all corrected by either Ben, Marina or Ariadna, which is really, really, really helpful. It’s total immersion. It really, really is worthwhile.”
Chris
“…if you try it, you will like it.“
“If you’re familiar with the Notes in Spanish podcasts, the worksheets, the videos that they put up on YouTube, then you know how good they are. Notes in Spanish Platinum is even better. All of the videos are extremely high quality, and you get the support and the interaction with Ben and Marina and the students in the community. I think if you try it, you will like it.”
Joe
“A welcoming place where you will learn a lot”
“I love being able to ask for help with correcting my grammar or learning a more Spanish way of saying something. I feel like my writing has improved immensely. I highly recommend Notes in Spanish Platinum to everyone. It’s a welcoming place where you will learn a lot.”
Kathy
“My level of motivation has risen enormously”
“I feel like over the last few weeks I’ve learned so much and my level of motivation has risen enormously. There’s a really friendly and supportive feeling, and the members are happy to swap their tips, for example, about books to read, films to watch or how to find an intercambio.”
Caroline S.
“Helped me learn a lot of really great colloquial Spanish”
“The course has helped me learn a lot of really great colloquial Spanish. It’s a really great way to improve your confidence with all the language skills and also to feel part of a community that loves the Spanish language and culture and to feel like you’re among friends.”
Miriam
“I highly recommend it to anybody who is wanting to become more fluent in Spanish”
“I’ve enjoyed it immensely. You can ask questions about any difficulty that you’ve had learning Spanish, and most of all, it’s been a lot of fun. I enjoy it immensely. I highly recommend it to anybody who is wanting to become more fluent in Spanish. I would encourage anybody who wants to improve their Spanish fluency to try The Platinum Course.”
Linda
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m quite busy, I’m worried about missing important bits at the beginning of the Platinum course – Will we be able to review what we have missed?
Don’t worry, you will have long-term access to the course – years! – you can take as long as you like to study the videos over the weeks and even months ahead. During the first 7 weeks we host the “Platinum Experience” with extra presence from Ben and Marina and our Pro-teacher Ariadna, and special online live events – but these will be recorded and available long-term as well.
The only important thing is to register before we close enrolment as we probably won’t open Platinum up again for 6 to 12 months. Then you can take things at your own pace.
I won’t have time to participate in Platinum until mid/late October or beyond. Do people who sign up for Platinum need to get started immediately?
Not at all, you can totally take this at your own pace. We’ll be holding live events, four across October and Early November during the 7 week “Platinum Experience”, but if you miss them they’ll be recorded for you.
Meanwhile, you can take the videos at your own pace, as much or as little as you like, over as long as you like. The only thing is, we don’t plan to open enrolment again for at least 6 to 12 months, so if you think you’ll benefit from the course in the meantime, at your own pace, then it’s a good time to sign up. You’ll going to learn a huge amount of real Spanish with us in the coming months!
What time are the ‘Virtual Café with Ben and Marina’ events – what happens if it doesn’t work with my time zone or I can’t attend?
We’ll begin by hosting the 4 “Virtual cafe with Ben and Marina” live online events at 6pm Madrid time, which is 9am Pacific, midday EST, 5pm UK. We’ll record the events for anyone that can’t make it.
Remember, you can also interact with us in the Platinum community during the first 7 weeks “Platinum Experience” period by posting any time you like, and we’ll reply in Madrid daylight hours 🙂
What level is Platinum for?
We originally designed Platinum for motivated Intermediate, and Advanced students. If you are intermediate, this will help you zoom up to an Advanced level, and if you are Advanced, it’ll add huge depth to your Spanish, and hugely improve your fluency in understanding and speaking.
However, we have been amazed in our recent workshop videos how really motivated, Inspired Beginners are also getting a huge amount from this new format, where they are able to use the speed controls to slow down our Spanish, and the captions/subtitles, to really start understanding real conversations. So if you are a hugely motivated Beginner, you may really get a lot from this course too.
I’m a Beginner, is this too high level for me?
If you are a beginner, the Spanish section of the videos is going to be high-level for you. If you are hugely motivated then you have the transcripts to work with, you can activate the subtitles, plus you have the ability to slow us right down.
As one of our Beginner students says:
“Love your videos. They inspire me even though I’m still only at the very beginning. I worry I’ll never understand Spanish people as they speak soooooo fast, but I listen to yours at a slower speed and it seems so much easier. Thank you.” – Jane
You’ll probably love the language analysis in each episode – knowing really lovely Spanish words is really motivating, fun and inspiring at every level – it will be valuable for you in that respect (as will the community and the live events for asking questions).
The bottom line is, if you are a very, very motivated Beginner, and you think your Spanish is going to take off in the next 6 to 9 months and you aim firmly to be at a level soon where you want to tackle real-speed conversations, then yes, by slowing us down like Jane, you can benefit from this course.
I’m Intermediate, is this OK for me?
This is an amazing opportunity for you. It’s the possibility to jump to an Advanced level with your Spanish much, much faster than you thought possible.
Intermediate learners typically get stuck on a language-learning plateau for a long time, and we want to get you straight off that plateau and up to Advanced as fast and efficiently as possible.
You do that by diving in to challenging, real Spanish conversations like these. This is going to feel like a wonderful challenge – just what you need to progress fast!
There’s a full guide for your level waiting inside the community. By the time you get to the third or fourth video, you will start understanding a lot of what we say at full speed! By the end of the course, your Spanish will be transformed.
With the community, and live events with us, we’ll be there every step of the way, accompanying you on your path up to Advanced.
Soon you’re going to be having a whole new advanced-understanding and Real Spanish Confidence experience.
I’m Advanced, is this right for me?
Notes in Spanish Platinum brings you more of what we do best, what you most benefit from, and takes you way deeper, way further. These are the real Spanish conversations that you just don’t find anywhere else.
You’ll be keeping abreast and fully absorbing the living Spanish that’s out there right now, making sure you stay confident, and fluent, while continually learning important new language.
It’s one thing to tick the “advanced” box on a form, it’s another to have a huge variety of Spanish on so many interesting topics, being able to understand real Spanish at speed, being able to draw from deep resources to chat happily about anything – that’s what being Advanced is really about.
That’s what we are giving you in this course, all in the company of a great private community of motivated, friendly peers.
¡Tu español va a volar! – Your Spanish is going to fly!
I’m surrounded by Latin American Spanish, is it OK that you are speaking Spanish from Spain?
Totally fine! Half our students are based in the States and travel frequently in Latin and South America, and report wonderful success with the Spanish they have learned almost exclusively from us! It’s a bit like the difference between English from the UK and the US – it’s essentially the same language and it’s fun discovering the slight differences.
What if I’m still working through a different Notes in Spanish Course or I’m in the Inner Circle?
Great question! Platinum will perfectly accompany and enhance your other Notes in Spanish studies. The added depth of the Platinum topics, the ‘go deeper’ materials we’ve carefully selected, and above all else, the extra support to clear up doubts and get great advice will accelerate your progress and enjoyment enormously. Our aim for all our students is to provide depth on a huge, relevant range of topics. Platinum helps you to achieve that by adding more to our other courses and Inner Circle membership.
Sign up now so you don’t miss out, and you can watch the videos at your own pace over the coming months, or with us during the 7 week “Platinum Experience”.
And the bonuses in these first 7 weeks, the live online events with Ben and Marina, are opportunities to dig deep and spur you on that are not to be missed! ¡A por ello! Go for it!
How much grammar do I need to know to benefit from the course?
You don’t need any grammar to benefit from the course! We follow our usual method of immersion in our real conversations to really get real depth in the language, which makes a huge difference later in understanding native Spanish speakers, and being able to chat to them.
In Ben’s first months learning Spanish he really concentrated on fluency and understanding conversations above grammatical accuracy, and it made such a difference to his ability to chat and understand, and we still believe that is the way.
So we think you’ll benefit hugely from the course without having to worry about grammar at all!
At the same time, if you do have grammar questions or difficulties you want to iron out or get help with, Marina and our Pro Teacher Ariadna will be delighted to help you with them.
Can I combine this with other Spanish courses I’m taking?
Absolutely! Lots of our students combine our Real Spanish Conversations approach with other more traditional methods such as online or in-person classes, and the big-name apps.
We think our conversations are essential to use with these other methods, otherwise your Spanish risks staying ‘clunky’ and ‘conventional’ and ‘app-ish’ – we want you to sound authentic, real, to surprise native speakers with the straight-from-the-streets, straight-from-real-life Spanish we teach.
Adding our Real Spanish Conversations to ‘big-name-app Spanish’ has worked for thousands of our students – they’ve written to tell us. And many of them have ditched the big-name apps and gone 100% ‘real’ with us all the way to the top!
How long do I have access to the course? Can I track my progress?
Although it’s impossible to promise ‘lifetime’ access to anything, we plan to keep this course in its new state-of-the-art home for at least two years, and almost certainly longer. We have special events and close support for the first 7 weeks “Platinum Experience”, the live ‘Virtual cafés with Ben and Marina’, and the presence of Ariadna, our pro teacher in the community, but the video modules and the community will be available long-term after that.
So there is no hurry – this is self-paced. You can take a month, six months or more, however long you need. And the new course system we’ve set up for this lets you really easily track your progress.
Do I have to download anything?
The only thing you might want to download are the PDF’s with the comprehension and vocab exercises, but you can view those in the browser too. Everything else – videos, transcripts, discussion questions, community – is built right into the amazing new course and community system we’ve invested in, that you can access online, on your phone, or via the easy-to-install Platinum app. There are no zip files to deal with or anything like that. This is as up-to-date and easy to use as you can get!
I feel like I’ll never improve my Spanish, will this help?
Absolutely! Apart from enjoying all the wonderful Spanish we use and point out in this course (real-world Spanish, so it’s really a joy to learn!) we’ll be there to help with all your challenges and difficulties. One of the things we most enjoy is sharing our enthusiasm and pointing you in the right direction to overcome difficulties. Platinum will definitely improve your Spanish!
If I sign-up will I be committed to a fixed timetable of events or can I watch/participate as/when I am able?
There is a suggested schedule for those who would like it, but in reality there is no fixed timetable, you can take the course at your own pace and watch and participate whenever you like.
(The ‘Virtual cafés with Ben and Marina’ do have a fixed time and date, but you can watch the recordings later, whenever you like).
How long is each video/module?
Each video is about 20 to 25 minutes, the first 10 to 12 minutes in Spanish, and then the analysis in English.
After that, how long it takes to do the rest of the module is up to you. You could dive into the external ‘go deeper’ materials we link to, e.g. YouTube videos connected to the topic, or you could do the exercises on the worksheet, answer the discussion questions in the online community for correction by Marina and Ariadna, our teacher, or you could just watch the main video and move on to the next. It’s up to you.
What if Platinum is not for me? Do you offer a refund?
Yes we do. A full 14-Day refund. If during 14 days from the date of your purchase, you don’t think that using the materials in this course can really help to improve your Spanish, just let us know and we will give you a complete refund – just send an email to our support team: [email protected]
I’m very busy at the moment, is Notes in Spanish Platinum Worth it?
We actually think you can’t afford not to join this course and community – we think it’ll save you years and hugely accelerate your path to full Spanish fluency and understanding.
Remember, the 3 keys to Ben’s very rapid path to fluency when he moved to Spain were:
a) Getting in contact with as much real Spanish conversation as possible
b) Having the ability to ask all the questions he needed to friends who were ahead of him, and
c) Having a great friend who pointed out all the best bits of Spanish for him.
It saved Ben years, and all this is exactly what we offer in Notes in Spanish Platinum.
If you have any questions about the course, just email us here. We’re delighted to help.
© Notes in Spanish
