Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A Good Beginner's Book June 2, 2006
C. Nolan
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
As an absolute beginner of Spanish, I was attracted by this book when I saw its no nonsense approach and useful phrases. Unlike most other books, which merely focus on "holiday" or "business" language, in this book you find the useful everyday Spanish.
I bought this book without the CD and it shows you how to do the pronunciation so that was not a problem. I am two and a half months into the course now and cannot wait to finish because I know I will have a really good standard of Spanish to continue.
Everything is explained with examples, so if the explanation is a bit too long-winded it doesn't matter.
Good for some learning styles December 8, 2004
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I like this book for its structure. For example you actually see the Spanish alpahbet early on, and it presents grammar clearly and simply. Yes you need to remember basic grammatical ideas from school, but I find the no-nonsense approach helpful, unlike BBC books with too many pages of cheesy pictures, immediate immersion in random dialogues, and dumbed-down content. I've already learned a little Spanish, and the book is helping me to consolidate. Maybe it's best used alongside other sources.
good start in Spanish October 16, 2003
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Having moved to Barcelona 3 months ago, this book has helped me make a good start it seems pretty basic at times, but will help you know what you really need. However you do need to get CD's or move to Spain to hear pronunciation!
 Not a beginners choice!! August 28, 2003
25 out of 36 found this review helpful
I have used various Spanish courses and I can speak fairly good Spanish but this book is about the worst I've seen labelled as a "Beginners" book. If you are a beginner at Spanish I would leave this book well alone.The writer, Isabel Cisneros, obviously hasn't consulted any beginners before publishing this book and it is arranged very poorly. It's starts off with some very complex Spanish and will soon put off anyone looking to learn. Some of the English is hard enough to understand let alone the Spanish. A quote from page 29 "Estar is also used with the present participle of the verb to form the continous tenses."
The book is peppered with phrases like this. This is no boost to a beginners confidence when they're starting a new language, having trouble understanding the English let alone the Spanish will definitely put many people off learning a fantastic language! Don't make this your first Spanish book..... Choose another course!! Only buy this book if you have a good standard of Spanish and want to improve it!!!
Stick to the rules! August 11, 2003
Si Matthews (West Midlands, UK)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've tried a number of various learning tools to help improve my Spanish but this is definately my favourite to date. The book itself is structured clearly into "learning weeks" where you need to ensure you learn the chapter thoroughly before progressing on to the next week. I have found that it has helped me be more thorough and has tempered my enthusiam to learn everything at once. If I am not convinced I have learnt something throughly enough (easily monitored by using the different exercises at the end of each week) then I stay with the same chapter until I am sure I understand. The key to using this aid is don't necessarily stick to the weeks. If it takes longer than a week, then fine, you'll remember everything. However don't cut it shorter, it won't do you any good by doing so. The cds are also very useful as a supplementary aid to the book in order to improve your pronunciation. They have some English on them to get you started but as the book indicates, use them when you understand the details in the book. I would recommend this to anyone looking to start learning and those who need help with their verbs.
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