Olly Richards’ SPANISH UNCOVERED - An Honest Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ย. 2022
- Get the course here: geni.us/SpanishUncovered
Olly Richards is a well known polyglot with a number of courses. If you have considered learning Spanish this is the entry level course for complete beginners.
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Another great video! I actually just referred someone who asked for a review to this, because I doubt I could do better!
Thank you chap! Not sure if the intro was too cringey but glad you liked the video 😅
@@matt_brooks-green nah I think it was cool. Actually found it pretty funny tbh hahahah
@@ellevasc Thank you! 🤣
I'm not surprised that it got a positive review, I've read 4 of Olly's book, and my Spanish went up like crazy
I'm working my way through his graded readers at the minute 😄
Which books did you read if you don’t mind?
Me too!!
I subbed for the wink at the start
I did it just for you 😉
I watched your video because Lamont recommended it.
Thanks for the review.
In the video you mentioned learning Chinese with “from zero to hero”. I've never heard of it, so I looked for it. And now I'm so glad you mentioned that because IT'S AMAZING!!
A few years ago I got my HSK4 certificate. Since then I've had a hard time finding good HSK5 content. But now - thanks to you - I've found it. I bought it yesterday and am very satisfied.
I just wanted to say: Thanks for the mention in the video.
So glad you like it. The HSK 5 course is taught almost entirely in Chinese which is amazing. Although there are lists of vocabulary and it covers grammar the fact that the tuition is in Chinese makes it comprehensible input for me. I also like the texts in the standard course book too. Gives a real flavour of the culture. So pleased this helped! Enjoy!
Thanks for doing such an in-depth description. It's a great help for people who are thinking about buying the course, but who are hesitating because of the price. It's not expensive, if you like learning in this method.
Days of French n Swedish bought me here. You do have a great channel! Lucky me! Just subscribed 👍
Hey! Thanks Carmen. Can't believe Lamont gave me a shout out!
@@matt_brooks-green I'm here and subscribed because of Lamont as well. Great content, Matt!
I have the 5 language bundle I bought during one of the big sales, and I'm 50% done, but on the fence. I agree, the stories get on my nerves lol.
Sometimes feels gimicky and too instructional and 'learning' based instead of input, but I like the little video breaks sprinkled in re: nuance, verbal phrase and grammar structure. It feels more like a book for the lazy, someone holding our hand and guiding us through. Great for us beginners. He did put a lot of quality work into them, but I wouln't pay full price.
Yeah, the issue is getting a story that complete beginners can get through. The use of cognates is great though so at least you can immediately get an eye for the general feel of them in Spanish
I have also done this course and I also haven't done the worksheet hah because it seemed too traditional and I wanted something new. But in general, I think this course is truly good and is an amazing entry-level course for any language learning. For Spanish though, now I'm learning on a platform made by dreaming Spanish and I think it's a really good next step to go to the intermediate level or even higher 👍
Hahaha. Yeah, the traditional grammar exercises approach wasn’t for me either. I’m also working through Dreaming Spanish! The resources available for learners these days are amazing
Yeah especially when it comes to Spanish. It's a very popular languages and it's there tons of materials on the internet. So good luck with Spanish and good job with review of Olly's work, because I think it would be useful for people hesitating over this particular course 👍
That Mikel 🙏. Just starting out. Good luck with your studies (or should I say acquisition!)
Very useful review, thanks. Your format was great. I’ve subscribed!
Thanks Johnny! 🙏
instant subscribe. Your presence is great. Your review was really insightful and helpful, and you gave a clear sense of what your experience was with the course. Also love your very pragmatic advice: “don’t like it? don’t do it!”
Looking forward to much more from you, and best of luck with your channel!
Life is short we should learn how we want! Thanks for the kind words. Still don't know what I'm doing yet! I would rather give an honest review but I'm glad it was helpful
Followed the link from Days of French and Swedish (and Spanish, I guess) here. Very well done review. I took the leap before seeing this review (after having been subscribed to Olly's channel for a couple years) and finally purchased all of the French courses. I'm excited to get started on that soon.
And yes, I subscribed to you. :)
Hey Jared! Thanks for checking it out. French is on my list one day too!
Before I bought Spanish uncovered, I tried Spanish with Paul, Synergy Spanish and Spanish Pro UK and Unlimited Spanish, and even Speakly. So I tried Spanish uncovered because of Black Friday Sale. I find it very useful and a different take. This is one course I have recommended friends. So for those of you who are considering, this is a really good choice.
Hey Adrian, thanks for sharing. Yeah, each course will have their own take on it. As a standalone program for beginners this is a decent start I think
I’m enjoying being one of the early subscribers because unlike most channels that have awkward and poor quality videos, you’ve definitely got your video editing and quality dialed in. Can’t wait to see it develop over time.
Still a lot to improve on chap but I really do appreciate the support. Glad you’re enjoying the videos 👌
Thanks for the review. I have been thinking of buying the German Uncovered course and will now take advantage of the Black Friday sale.
Nice - let us know what you think of it
9:15 thats why there is an audio book to listen to at the same time, for pronunciation of words you dont understand. if you check out his yt, in one of his videos he highly recommends reading along with the audio book
I know it's recommended, I just prefer to read or listen rather than doing both. I also think it takes significantly more time to get an ear for the language and get accustomed to it
I’ve done German Uncovered, which is structured exactly the same way. The story even seems essentially the same too lol. As far as your first criticism reading on day one without knowing pronunciation: in the German course at least, the instructions are to listen to the mp3 first multiple times without the text, and then read while listening. Idk if that’s different depending on the language though.
Hi Kristine, thanks for checking out the video. Yeah, the Spanish course is the same. I don't know how much listening input is required to internalise the pronunciation of native like sounds. Would be very interested on any research into it. I know Pablo from Dreaming Spanish is very much a speak and read later kind of a guy so I am trying that at the moment
@@matt_brooks-green It is a spinning plates situation, listening and reading, then listening to the recording on repeat for a few hours will definitely help, as Lingq for example allows. There is a lot going on in languages that grammarians haven´t even scratched the surface of, but for a student of a language generally awareness is the key issue, rather than an accurate imprint of pronunciations. Even if a learner fully understands how something should be said they can often have trouble replicating it a conversation. King Charles was giving speeches in German, but he was definitely reading it and rehearsing it. With prompts he can probably achieve a much better pronunciation than without them as his internal picture of the words is not so perfect. This is a bit like classical music and improvised music. To improvise you must improvise, to play classical music you must learn to read music and replicate it. They are completely different skills and being amazing at one you can still be utterly useless at the other. A good resource for this kind of training is youglish which has about 20 languages and you can put in a phrase you have difficulty with and find it said hundreds of times in different contexts. This helps to speed up the natural process of having multiple encounters with a word and how they bend together (yes, if you´re saying words in a particular phrase you probably pronounce them differently than in another). Therefore having "one" internalised pronunciation is a booby prize. A course like this is just one of many ways to learn a language and should only be taken in a constellation of approaches (reading news, talking to friends etc).
I guess like a lot of your new subscribers, I was sent over here by Lamont at Days of French n Swedish, and I subscribed on his recommendation. This is the first video of yours that I've watched, but it won't be the last! I'm in the input-first school, and I probably wouldn't do all the worksheets, either.
Great content and presentation! I'm sure I will benefit from your insights.
Cheers Steve. Yeah, input works (obviously). I was amazed how many people I knew were trying to learn a language by starting with grammar, hence why I decided to start doing these videos. Appreciate you coming and checking out my videos
Awesome thorough review thanks! I have been really interested in his method for awhile but haven't had time to start a course. I really think it's a good idea and i think he has made some great progress in this technique from what you said and should continue developing and improving it.
I very much agree with your criticism about reading first. Not sure how much the accompanied audio would help. I often have an issue with technology's ability to sync audio with my reading, especial with a frequent need to adjusting the audio speed and going back over certain words and phrases at random intervals.
My biggest surprise from his course promotions was his advice not to lookup words in the dictionary while reading your story. It's something i do constantly while consuming media and reading in Spanish. The tools to help accomplish this feat are getting better and better and i keep waiting and hoping for the next. Though i do agree with him that the time and distraction takes you away from the natural learning through context, his supplimental and what seems to be required study material may be doing the same. To me, the process of learning foreign language vocabulary by pivoting off of a very similar idea/words in your native tongue, with a dictionary/translation in the middle of your involvement, may still be the most effective strategy. In any case, with or without a dictionary/translation while reading and consuming media i think a lot more can be done to develop content with gradual difficulty increments and I'm glad he is making strides.
Glad you liked the review. Yeah, for all of us it's about finding a balance in looking up words. I have found that the easier the content the more I learn the word automatically without having to do any translation with it when I see it again. That said, it takes a large amount of input in order to get this so depends on how much time you have too
It's brilliant!
Thanks for the review.
In last few months I have notice large part of "language learning" community "shitting" on Olly. While I haven't used any of his Uncovered stuff their books did help me tremendously with Russian and with Italian.
This might be a cheaper introduction to "their" way. Around 3-5 euros for Kindle version. Stories are not the best (but not that bad) but it might be an option for people not being able to spend more money right now.
If money is an option there is loads of free stuff online. I know people pay for LingQ for reading but I just use my translate feature inbuilt into my phone to look up words I don't know. The course isn't for everyone but it does give a structured start for complete beginners which is what many could benefit from
@@matt_brooks-green Yeah I agree. I just wanted to mention it cause people might like try "Olly's" way to see if they like it before they buy the course.
And yeah I gladly paid for few months of LingQ at the start of my language journey. It's not the best but even the free version will get you far.
Ahhh, the kettle. I'm a dirty bean water drinker myself, but that's okay!
Jokes aside, thanks for making this, Matt! This is excellent and I'm glad to see someone who's willing to take the time to do this (especially since Spanish is my TL). Glad to be more informed before I drop some cash on this! Subscribed. Looking forward to more of your excellent and up-and-coming content!
Hahaha. I am partial to a bit of that too but obviously we know which the real winner is! Glad you liked the video. Got a few coming out over the next couple of weeks which I think people will enjoy. Really appreciate your comments and sub 🙏
Interesting video. Thank you. Given that motivation - sustained over time - is so important to language learning, I think your comment on the story content used is important. If the story line is something you would never otherwise read/listen to (the subject matter, the language style, etc) then that is going to be a disincentive even if you are committed to learning the new language.
Hi Christopher, thanks for checking out the video. I know what you mean. What I would say in favour of the course is that it is for beginners to get going. The course is just the start and after that learners will quickly need to continue on to more material once they finish the story. It isn’t huge and I think the novelty of reading a story in Spanish will be enough for most. I would have liked a more gripping story ideally with a bit more Spanish culture if they ever update it though
Nice video!
Thank you 🙏
@@matt_brooks-green De nada
Im thinking of getting the Chinese version of the course…Thanks for the video my guy
Hi Jonathan, I haven't looked at the Chinese version so can't comment much. Lets us know what you think if you go for it as I'd be really interested. There is also Chinese Zero to Hero which is very good (a fairly traditional approach but teaches characters early on) - worth a look as well
Like your style.
Montages of making coffee were a youtube thing ten years ago, though.
Thanks dude. Good point 😅
Hi Olly best teacher! What does he speak like you? You are unique for to me. I do love Spanish Language but I don't have free time to learn ot
I would like. Any way, congrat from Brazil. Thanks a lot for this video.🤝
Lamont was right, great content! :)
Thanks Laura! 🙏 Still a long way to go but so grateful Lamont gave me a shout out. What a weird day! Thanks for checking out my video. I appreciate your kind words
Hi Matt. Just wondering what accent the audio is in (hoping you say Mexican)?
It has both actually. Well, it's not "Mexican", but there's European Spanish and Latin American Spanish. As far as people tell me, Latin American Spanish is basically just Mexican but with the "Mexico toned back".
@@daysandwords thanks Lamont. I love the sound of the Mexican accent, particularly the Northern Mexican accent (southern is more toned back than the north). Not a fan at all of the European Spanish, particularly the lisp/th sound.
What this guy said 👆. He seems to know what he's talking about
Can you make a video on Xiomanyc Street smart Spanish course
Replied to your other comment dude but might check it out!
Interesting review. I can here from Lamont’s channel by the way, just so you know he’s giving you a shout out!
So I’m about half way through the Turkish Uncovered course. I’d agree with you about the story not being the most riveting, but I accept that any story at this level is going to be so basic language wise… how exciting can it be? I’ve imported the text and audio in to LingQ so I can listen as I do other jobs, and it makes it easier for me to review the story in greater depth using LingQ. This probably makes it a little more boring, listening so many times, but I accept this is a necessary part of language acquisition when we first start.
Subvocalising: in the Turkish course it recommends listening first, and then reading the transcript while you listen. I did this when I learned Swedish too, always read and listened together. I wanted to make sure the ‘voice’ I was hearing in my head was correct, so I found always listening prevented me from ever learning words ‘wrong’. I intend to do the same with Turkish.
Again, in the Turkish course the tutor (who isn’t Olly) started speaking Turkish every now and then at around chapter five.
I also don’t do the worksheets. I love that the grammar lessons give an insight in to the grammar, but then I’m happy to try and notice things myself once I’ve been given the initial hints.
And finally, I also don’t speak. I won’t speak until I’m ready. I hate not understanding what someone is saying to me, and for me it’s very demotivating. I don’t have a problem with being embarrassed to not speak very well, that’s normal, but if I can’t understand the other person’s reply I find that soul destroying! So I’ll speak when I feel I have a decent understanding level. I’m guessing that’ll be around a B1 level, well after I’ve moved on from this course.
And with that I’ll subscribe and head off to watch some of your other videos!
Thanks for checking out my channel Charlotte😊. Very interesting point about the subvocalisation. Good luck with your journey!
I totally agree that I'm more afraid to listen than to speak.
I was wondering about the russian language course. Russian has a very different script and pronunciation is extremely important! I cannot imagine it being very good for learning this language….Anybody has any experience with this russian course? I learned English by being immersed in it 24/7, French the traditional way with schoolbooks, which was the least enjoyable and German I learned by reading a lot because I need to master a lot of vocabulary before I will speak. How does the russian course fit in please? Thank you!
Nice review. Did you only check the beginner course? I'm interested in how this course helps word retention. How big of a vocabulary does it teach, do the stories use the basic words introduced earlier often enough to reinforce them so you don't need something like a flashcard system to review them sufficiently? For the high price I would hope it is an all-encompassing method that does not need to be supplemented with anything.
I followed the Italian sequence to upper intermediate. I thought it was well threaded and took me from knowing essentially nothing (granted I am a native Spanish speaker) to being able to converse at a reasonable level. The courses have testing in every chapter, including Flashcards (not my favorite tool). I did not contact a tutor until I was past the beginner level, which was a wise decision for me. As the video clearly indicates, you have to be active and let your brain figure the language out. Almost daily routine is needed, but that is a true with any method. I tried with gamified software and those didn’t work for me. Hope this helps.
I have only just done the beginner course but am now working through his graded readers. Honestly I don't think you need anything outside the course at this stage. Just re-reading and re-listening to the story is enough spaced repetition I think. It does come with worksheets etc but it's down to you to do the things you enjoy. Hope that helps
Thanks for sharing Vladimir. I agree. Personally I didn't do much of the worksheets after the first few chapters. I was really only interested in input. Glad to hear you thought the other courses were useful though
@@matt_brooks-green Thanks for the reply from both of you. I'm still undecided whether to invest in the course but you both made excellent points.
I have a question, and i hope you see it: Would you recommend Olly for Chinese course or was that a different courses you mentioned?
Hi there! I haven't tried Olly's course so I can't comment too much. I suspect it's good on the basis of the Spanish one, though the beginners Chinese Uncovered course is only HSK1 which is a low level. I suspect Chinese Zero to Hero is better value for money and I like their HSK4 & 5 courses - though this is more structured study rather than simply comprehensible input, though as the courses advance they just teach the course in Chinese so it actually ends up being comprehensible input weirdly.
I would say check them both out and see which one you prefer. Olly has a summer sale on at the minute so his course is half price if you wanted to go with his: geni.us/SLSummersale2023
Hope that helps!
@Matt Brooks-Green Thank you! I think I will do Olly for the beginner course and switch over to the other one for higher level learning. Mainly since Olly is having the sale right now. I already watch TV shows in Chinese, but I wanted something a little structured, too. Thank you for replying to my question.
So, my opinion on your first criticism, and I may have this wrong, but, if you’re getting audio on each chapter, why would you not listen to it whilst reading to hear the pronunciation right off the bat? That would combat any internal subvocalising because you’re hearing it along with reading it.
I agree with you about adding Spanish (or whatever language you are studying) to the tuition/instructions as you go along. It would definitely add to it and enhance the lessons.
I have wanted to try one of his courses, but wasn’t sure if they would be any good. Thanks for the review. I will try one out.
Hi Loki, thanks for sharing. Yeah, I know what you mean. What I would say is that for a complete beginner it is difficult to genuinely read the words at the speed of the narrator. I could imagine you end up looking at them without genuinely reading them. Also, I think that to get a good accent takes a huge amount of time and so it would take a while for the subvocalisation to have a decent accent. I would genuinely be interested to hear research on this though
Lamont sent me. There were threats involved, and he's holding my cats hostage until I prove to him that I've subscribed. I hope to see them again someday very soon. And yes, this would make a good story.
That escalated quickly... If you need help on the rescue mission, give me a call. Thanks for the sub and checking out my videos 🙏
ouuh nice! thanks for this! Nice summary of all the things I wanted to know. :) I'm considering buying one for the Black Friday sale so this is very helpful.
uhhh, this is a bit random but I apologise for not being able to leave you a like with this account because for some reason my like, dislike, share etc buttons have disappeared when I use this account and I haven't been able to find a fix. it's very freaky, cos it's not an issue on my other non-language-learning related account.
gave you a like with that one tho :P
Love your content already btw, so much effort you've put into these videos already O_O
Thanks Jill! I do genuinely think it is a good course to get people started. There is a lot of stuff in there so just do the things you enjoy. Really do appreciate your support and kind comments 😊
How can I contact you Matt?
Twitter's your best bet
Not sure I got it... so the stories have no audio in the course?
Hey, thanks for checking the video out. It does have audio for each of the chapters. The suggestion is you listen to the audio as you read along
@@matt_brooks-green Thanks for answering, that's great! I might wait for the Arabic course to come out 😄
Hey there, if you know anyone that took his course in Russian, please share with us their honest opinion as a video in the future.
I don't, but I think the layout of most of the courses are similar for the Uncovered courses
Hi, so I’m kinda late to the party, but what apps would you recommend for learning French?? Are Olly’ courses the most reliable?? What’s your opinion on other language-learning apps??
Looks like I also missed Black Friday to have purchased the discounted deals. I always thought Olly was a pure scam when I heard those absurd prices. Sounds like a shady car salesman.
If you can give me some advice and more insight that’ll be great.
Greetings from Miami, Florida 🌴
I like the conclusion, that for me is the issue with German. I am now supposedly B1, but I’m not, I can’t follow spoken German, I haven’t ingrained the language habits, or acquired them in Krashen speak, so I can only stumble along. I can’t yet use comprehensible input. However, this course is very expensive, for some that is a lot of money.
Yeah, it's not cheap but is a good start for those that want to try this method
@@matt_brooks-green Thanks. I am tempted, it definitely needs thinking about, in the meantime I’ll rob a bank.
Lamont sent me 😎
What a nice guy!
The only reason why I will never buy this course is because it’s extremely expensive.. like ridiculously expensive. Just for the beginner course it’s almost 300 dollars, That’s a lot of money to trust in a course where you can’t get a free trial or even a sample of what it will be like and if you’ll even like it.
Yeah, it’s not cheap but I found it beneficial having a course that was structured by someone with a track record of learning multiple languages. The price is clearly a barrier to entry for some. I don’t know if any of their Black Friday deals are still running?
@@matt_brooks-green Interesting.. I have used pretty much every language app you could think of from Pimsleur, Duolingo, babble, language transfer, Speakly and so on. All of those apps definitely have helped me a little but were more of just a tool than anything, I would say right now I’m a B1 in spanish but I do want to get better at it. Would you recommend the beginner course for a B1 learner and do you think I would get my money’s worth out of it? I appreciate the advice, and last I checked I didn’t see any specials going on rn
@@christiang8758 Hi Christian, if you’re B1 then the course is not advanced enough for you. I now use Dreaming Spanish and highly recommend it. The paid service is ridiculously good value in my opinion for the amount of content available
@@matt_brooks-green Awesome I’ll check it out, thanks for the advice!
2 things. You can get a 7 day free trial. You could pone around for a few days and see what you think. Then just be sure to cancel if you don’t like it. Also, it looks like there is an uncovered intermediate course. I think I am also too advanced for the beginner course. I missed the Black Friday sale ( which means I need to tune into DofFS more regularly) but am going to hope for a holiday sale. The price drops dramatically with the sale.
I got the storylearning for latin but I just can't wrap my head around what people consider on that course to be fun. I love strories, but reading a story and then watching 15 minutes video telling me what words are similar to english ones just seems to me boring. It is advertised the way that you don't recognize you are actually learning... I don't know, this concept of videos makes me feel exactly like boring school class. Also, giving me words similar to english is not so effective as I'm not native english speaker, sure, I know it is english to latin but I guess I expected something more... internationally friendly. And for the grammar part, also, another 15 minutes video making me sleep away, I need an action, I need to do something myself, not sit and hope I get to remember something of the said stuff. If I grab any text with translation, dictionary and grammar book, I can do that all on my own without needing to pay such a big amount of money.
But really, what you find there to be fun, guys? Maybe I'm just not seeing it yet.
I just wonder how much story content there is for that price tag if much of the rest of the content doesn't excite someone.
For beginners I think the story is adequate. If it is just stories you want though you can buy a lot of basic graded readers for the same money. This course does get you to the point that you can start reading beginners graded readers which I would argue complete beginners wouldn't quite be able to use efficiently. I have done the mini stories at LingQ and preferred this course by a country mile
@@matt_brooks-green Thanks! I'm already intermediate and was considering the next course up from this one, but I suspect the amount of reading and listening material may be a bit light.
@@TalkingAmerican I haven't tried it so can't say. If you do let us know. If not, as an intermediate you can just start to immerse in the right content on TH-cam plus a pile of graded readers
@@matt_brooks-green I've begun to find some great TH-cam channels with human-made subtitles that I think are great for moving up from the beginner stage, especially with a little help from lingq.
One immediately of interest is "Curiosamente," but I'm always glad to share more.
@@TalkingAmerican There is a great TH-cam plug-in I mention on my learn Spanish with TH-cam video - worth checking out if you use chrome as you can read the subtitles like LingQ but inside TH-cam. Also Mr Beast now has a Spanish channel if you are lower intermediate it should be somewhat comprehensible
300 Dollars 🤣😂🤣 Wtf!
No way!
If I understood this video correctly then ...
then part of the lesson is to read along in Spanish with the teacher.
Hmm .. as if the average person could do that? Not likely. For the average person, this would be like expecting a student to read along with the Chinese while the teacher narrates the same content.
Yeah, it would have been too fast for me when I first started. I get the sentiment though. I just preferred to separate them and listen multiple times to start to build my listening ability
@@matt_brooks-green - If that method is to benefit anyone, then it would surely help if the words were highlighted or underlined as they were each spoken. I was once a foreign language teacher.
The best method to learn to speak is a program which includes a lot of speaking. But knowing a language well also includes comprehending the spoken language, even differences between various dialects. English is my native language, but I'm surely occasionally confused by some sorts of British English, and by some English from the deep south in the USA. I'm from the inter-mountain west, so my English tends to have a slight western twang, and some of the vocabulary is weird if you've never encountered it.
The biggest challenge for me might be Appalachian English.