Berlitz Self-Teacher: Spanish [Paperback]

Berlitz Editors (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (March 6, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399513248
• ISBN-13: 978-0399513244
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book to get a good start on Spanish, January 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Berlitz Self-Teacher: Spanish (Paperback)

I found this book an excellent way to get started in Spanish. Each lesson takes you through a conversation, illustrating a grammatical point (and teaching you vocubulary along the way). The grammar is illustrated through the conversation first, then certain grammatical rules are pointed out. This way, one can learn Spanish the way one usually learns their own native language; specifically, by hearing the sentence structure over and over again and "absorbing" the rules.

However, be warned that the pronunciations provided in the book are characteristic of Spanish as spoken in Spain, and not Latin American pronunciations. I think this book works best if practiced along with a audio tape.

The only other complaint is that the present tense is studied for the first two-thirds of the book. Then in the last third of the book, they cover three additional tenses very quickly. But, I still think it is a good book to get started in Spanish.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pues........., March 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Berlitz Self-Teacher: Spanish (Paperback)

This book is a good introduction to Castillian Spanish as spoken in Spain. Gramatically it is disappointing as it only covers in any depth the present, preterite (past),and future tenses. There are in total fifteen verb tenses, including another past tense,the imperfect. The other tenses including the emotion rich subjunctive are barely covered! !Qué lastima!(What a shame!)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes learning fun, July 7, 2011

By 

josephus - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berlitz Self-Teacher: Spanish (Paperback)

I used this book for learning Spanish many years ago, and it was just plain fun!
Fortunatly, I had some some help from my Mexican friends, and lots of laughs along the way.
All in all, a great learning experiance.