Customer Reviews

ˇArriba!: Comunicación y cultura Student Edition (5th Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is expensive and practically useless for self study, but a required text at my university-- and if you are reading this, then it is assumable that you are in the same situation and you're about to have to suck a mighty sour lemon. I am sorry to tell you that this book along with the workbook, which you will have to purchase separately if your school requires this text (for an additional $56 at the time of this review), are a big waste of money.

It is disorganized in it's approach and introduction to the language, the pertinent information is skimmed over, and some of the lessons presented are written in an ambiguous and confusing manner. For example, there are many short articles written in Spanish throughout the text which lack translation, which is a pain, but to top it off, some of the words used aren't in the glossary either.

Admittedly, the book is attractive, with many beautiful photographs and cute illustrations dealing with cultural aspects, but IMO, it is a substandard learning tool considering the hefty price tag. The publisher must make back-room deals to get colleges to require this text, forcing students to buy it. And if the student(s) receive Pell Grants or other financial aid, the taxpayer is actually buying it.

Unfortunately, you can't really get away with buying this textbook used because of the accompanying MySpanishLab (but you can save some money by buying the workbook used). The professors usually utilize the online MySpanishLab to assign homework and the new books come with a product key that is required for access-- but for one user only. The exception being that if you happen to be able to take your Spanish courses during the summer sessions. As of now, the publisher has not set up templates for the MySpanishLab for the 3 week summer classes, so you won't need the key. But this may soon change.

However, to be fair, this book may not such a bad deal for a college class because it is used for Spanish 1 and 2, so you don't have to buy another text for the 2nd class. Still, it is a disappointment because it is not worth keeping after completing the course work for a future reference, nor does it have resale value because of the need to buy it new to get the key to access the lab.

The "Practice Makes Perfect" series by Dorthy Richmond and "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish" are far superior to "Arriba!" for learning, and much more affordable. I wish my university taught from them. Since they are great for self study, I can only imagine the superior learning experience I would have had if these books were the ones used for my classes. Fortunately, I had a fabulous professor and she compensated for this book's inadequecies.

Sets up student well to learn spanish. Has pictures of celebrities such as Shakira inside, and is a great reference when used in combination with the online program. Expensive, but what books aren't?

Bought this book for my husband, who is taking an introductory spanish course at the university. He has never studied another language and was worried, until he saw the text. It is easy to follow and illustrates the points well. However, the best part is the supplemental web site, which has practice quizzes, flash cards, pronunciations and conversations to listen to. A bit pricey if you buy it new.

I'm taking a college class that is using the 6th edition.
To keep the costs down I'm using a combination of 6th edition and 5th edition since I had to purchase the mylanguagelabs.com part.
I highly recommend getting the 5th edition to save money.

This is not a self study book but a textbook for college or adult study. Also available from Arriba to accompany this book, and very helpful, are some language CDs for audio practice and a exercise workbook. My current Spanish teacher, who is a very good teacher, Hispanic himself, and has taught Spanish in the US for 18 years, rates this book and the accompanying materials as excellent. This newer edition reorganizes the conjugation of verbs and makes it easier for the student, compared to the previous edition. If this is your assigned textbook for class it is good for several levels of Spanish and should serve you well. Utilize the exercise workbooks. I have heard some students complain about the cost: good textbooks are usually expensive and this book is good for several semesters.

This book posseses the same problem as old math books of the 1970's and 1980's . The math publisher finally discovered that math books typically used symbols and verbiage before they were defined and students did poorly using these old math books.

With Arriba the author does the same error in liberally using Spanish words throughout the chapter before they are well defined or translated. However, the author apparently did see their error and their madness in Chapter 1. Here they do make an attempt to add translations of some key words in the beginning Spanish Conversation presented; but after this they stop making any efforts to help the students.

For example, nowhere in the book do they define the title "ARRIBA" ! So for a beginner Spanish student this book is awful. Their many exercvises they go out of their wasy to make them more difficult than necessary. For example, they use Matching Type questions in their tests and student workbook! How silly when a beginner Spanish student is struggling to master the pronouncaition, spelling and grammar when these authors go on and add more complexity by having the student trying to figure out how to use the matching type of question systems. Keep it simple for beginners.

My attitude to this autor, who made it more complicated by ignoring beginner studetns needs: Screw YOU authors of this book !

There has to be better textbooks out there who are more sympathetic to beginners students.

Then to add insult to injury I have had 2 Spanish instructors at HVCC college in TROY, NY ( Monica Hope and Thelma Valdes) who both insisted on making their first few test as difficult as possible and when the grades came in low I told them that they were going too fast and they should have used multiple choice type questions. Instead they used the textbook data test Bank and poor grades resulted. Over half of the class dropped out! Gee I wonder why?


gerard_sagliocca@yahoo.com

I ordered the least expensive book available and got one with minor cover damage and some writing (pen & pencil) inside. This is just what I had expected and it arrived in less than a week. I am happy with the overall experience.

Will purchase from seller again. Book was exactly as described and received it promptly in the mail.

I was surprised at how good the condition of the book I ordered was. It was almost brand-new. It took a few days to recieve but no longer than their estimated delivery time. I will work with this company again!

I was a little worried about the version. BUt when I went to the University bookstore, it was the one on the shelf and it saved me big bucks