BBC Muzzy Spanish Early Advantage Set Language Course for Children

Back in the 1980's we were homeschooling our 3 children, and wanted them to have a second language. We chose the Muzzy German program to start because they were so young and we didn't want to overwhelm them. They loved it and memorized the whole thing - actually taking what they had learned and communicating with each other with German phrases that were taken from the program and rearranged in original, creative and correct ways. When they were older, we advanced them to a traditional curriculum that was aired on a cable "educational" tv channel. They did well, and seemed to take to it better because they already had an elementary understanding of the language from Muzzy.Now they are all adults, and our eldest is fluent in German, our middle is passable in German, and our youngest doesn't have a second language because she chose not to pursue it seriously (she kept changing her mind about which language to learn and gained a basic understanding of several languages without ever mastering one). However they all have a better grasp of the English language and grammer as a result of their early exposure to other languages. Now, our grandchildren are getting started on Spanish with Muzzy, and just like their parents before them, are beginning to speak to each other in little bits of Spanish. They are even inventing little games in which they are experiencing the same incidents in the Muzzy story - especially the part where Corvax creates hundreds of Sylvia clones. It is so funny to hear my 5 year old granddaughter exclaim that she sees herself everywhere! LOL! The story is cheesy, but it seems very real to my granddaughters, and they are deeply invested in this immaginary world!Muzzy will not teach another languge all by itself, but it is a good place to start with preschoolers. And it never hurts to add other Spanish language childrens videos that you can get on PBS or the public library. As some of the negative reviews stated, the graphics are poor and the storyline is silly, but our kids seemed to get past that pretty easily. In the 1980's, it did not seem as outdated as it does today, but the video quality and cheesy storyline do not get in the way with kids who are allowed very little TV exposure - even in 2010. Anything of this sort is novel to them and they hang on every word.I gave it only 4 stars because it is too expensive for what it is. However, you can easily find used sets on Amazon, Ebay, garage sales and thrift stores for much better prices than new... in the 80's we didn't have all those resources for purchasing used programs and were forced to pay top dollar for a spanking new set; it stung our very thin pocketbook, but we were still glad we did it. These days, this program can be had for almost nothing. We are borrowing the Spanish sets for our grandkids FOR FREE from the public library in our town. I highly recommend it for people who realize that truly learning another language requires a degree of dedication that makes a person willing to advance past these beginning steps. Our eldest became fluent because she actually lived in Germany as an exchange student for a year. It was a long road to genuine fluency, and she started with Muzzy.NOBODY WILL COMPLETELY LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FROM MUZZY, BUT THIS IS A GREAT AND FUN START FOR TODDLERS AND PRESCHOOLERS WHO ARE AT A PRIME AGE FOR ABSORBING LANGUAGE SKILLS.

MY KIDS WANTED TO LEARN A NEW LAUNGUAGE AND DECIDED ON SPANISH. I FIGURED SINCE THEY ARE YOUNG WE WOULD LOOK INTO GETTING MUZZY. THEY ENJOY IT CAUSE IT CARTOONS, AND I LOVE IT CAUSE THEY ARE LEARNING. I WOULD RECOMEND THIS PRODUCT TO ANY PARENTS WHO WANT THEIR KIDS TO ANOTHER LANGUAGE WHEN THEY ARE YOUNG.

We bought Muzzy in French for our then-two year old. She's heard it in the car dozens and dozens of times but really only watched the video one dozen times :). Fast forward two years later (now), with the impact Dora and Diego have had on her interest in Spanish, I obtained Spanish Muzzy for her, and she's enjoying it just as immensely, really picking up on the language.Using a simple story, catchy songs, breaks in the middle to reinforce vocabulary, children really do learn the basics of foreign language. Muzzy is just amazing...I highly recommend it.

The materials listed in the packet did not match what was included. The contents were to be in Spanish and they were in English. I asked for my money back and that did not happen. We agreed not to send in the mail again, as it would not have been cost effective. He did respond when I called.

I love this program. My child loves it more. This is a replacement for one that we previously had. She started listening to Muzzy at 9 months old. She's almost 2 years old now and she is speaking spanish fluently.

My kids LOVE love love muzzy. They already know the Spanish alphabet, the numbers, colors...I Would recommend it to anyone wanting their kids to learn or be introduce to another language..

Very disappointed, only received the Vhs tapes in English. Kind of defeats the purpose. And one Spanish cassette tape. Thanks a bunch.

Great fun & great way for children to learn another language.