Customer Reviews

Buscalo! (Look It Up!) : A Quick Reference Guide to Spanish Grammar and Usage

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Last year I attended a language school in Mexico for six months. And this book, which I had stumbled onto in a Texas bookstore and brought with me, was a life-saver, better than anything the school provided. It's an excellent reference in an easy-to-use alphabetical format. It is cross-referenced in Spanish and English. It gives tips on precision, pronunciation and sentence structure. If you are confused, this stupendous little softback will steer you in the right direction. If you have but a single book to back up your class struggles with Spanish, this is it, mis amigos. Trust me on this. If you find yourself scratching your head in befuddlement, simply look at the appropriate alphabetical entry. And before you know it, you will be speaking like a native. Or something close to it.

I'm taking Spanish lessons, and I've spent countless hours researching various grammar tips from a myriad of sources and scribbling them down in a notebook. At times, I get frustrated when my notes start to contradict themselves or otherwise spin out of control. Sound familiar? I've checked with other students of the language and I know this to be a common problem.

That's why coming across 'Buscalo' was such a revelation to me. Here's a *complete* guide to Spanish grammar, beautifully arranged and presented in easy-to-reference alphabetical format. Each item is explained clearly and all exceptions to an item are catalogued and presented in a way that makes proficiency of the langauge seem (finally) within my grasp.

The examples provided always seem to clear up what little ambiguity may have been left by the explanation. My particular hangup has always been when exactly to use the subjunctive mode. It takes 3 and 1/2 pages to do it, but you'll never see a clearer list of examples giving you a flavor of when to employ it.

Get this book + a good dictionary + '501 Spanish Verbs' (Kendris) and you've got a great foundation for learning Spanish.

This is a nicely organized book that covers basic topics of Spanish grammar that often confuse people new to the language. It is well organized so you can easily find answers to common questions. The editing is good and I found none of the typos that mar other books on Spanish grammar. All in all I would highly recommend this book to students of the language. It's size is fairly compact so it would be easy to carry on a trip. The reason I gave it only 4 stars is not because of the quality -- which is excellent -- but because of the brevity. I wish there were more examples and some more obscrue topics were covered. Having said that, what the book does cover is extremely well done and I'm very happy to have added this book to my collection.

This little grammar book has just the right information for someone like me, who's constantly on the go. It's organized alphabetically, which makes it extremely easy to look something up. I think it covers the major and most common grammar points quite well. In addition, it's size and portability make this book a must have. Good job!

If you want to start learning Spanish, this book is a valuable tool. It is alphabetically set up, and gives you insight as to how the languauge is structured, various idioms, and notable exceptions. Even my instructor uses it frequently!! it is a great asset while you are taking classes.

This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog). A highly effective, easy to use reference guide, Buscalo! is one language book that you will find yourself reaching for again and again. The primary difference between this volume and other grammatical reference guides is that is is organized alphabetically, letting you look up words super-quick. Topics covered include verb conjugations, pronouns, prepositions, the subjunctive, numbers and many more grammatical elements.

All of the 500 entries are listed and cross referenced in both English and Spanish, and laid out in an easy to read format. As well as offering the general rules, any exceptions are also listed and fully explained along with examples to let you see how each element is used in a complete sentence. Idiomatic or slang expressions are also noted, helping you to see how an element might be used in a non-literal sense by a native Spanish speaker. All of these examples give you a clearer understanding of the context for each item, as well as helping you to build your vocabulary.

In addition to the grammar references, there are also helpful notes on other items such as pronunciation which help to improve your general command of the Spanish language. Ideal for beginner to intermediate level Spanish students, the book offers a good range of grammatical elements, covering the most common topics that the average Spanish student will come across without getting bogged down with too many complicated or obscure issues. Although other reference products are more comprehensive, Buscalo! provides a quick way to shed light on any grammar issues that are causing you confusion, and students of all levels will appreciate it's clean and clear format.

As well as being a great way to find answers to common grammar questions, the book is also a handy study aid, letting you brush up on verb conjugations and other grammatical elements that you may need extra revision on.

Partnered with a good dictionary, Buscalo! should form part of every Spanish student's reference library, and it's handy size means that you can carry it anywhere for use in classes, study sessions or while traveling.

In closing my review of this product, I'd like to share with you the three Amazon products that I have found most helpful in my pursuit to learn Spanish. If you are truly serious about achieving fluency, I'd recommend getting all 3 of them if you can afford it.

1. Lights, Camera, Spanish (Book + DVD): Learn Conversational Spanish by Watching a Romantic Adventure This is actually a 90 minute movie for Spanish-language learners. It gives the option to watch the movie with subtitles but I'd recommend not using them to improve your Spanish. This "movie" also includes a workbook so that you can reinforce the Spanish vocabulary words and phrases from the film. The workbook also has lots of exercises to keep you engaged in the film. But be prepared to hear Chilean accents. Although pleasent to the ear, the accents from Chile are very different from most Latin American accents.

2. Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) This software replaces the traditional verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an interactive and fun activity. This should be a required resource for anyone who wants to improve their ability to conjugate Spanish verbs. Especially anyone who is challenged by the drudgery of learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and who is looking for a new way to make learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an easy and fun activity

3. Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition) If you are really serious about speaking the language fluently, then at some point you will need to replace your Spanish-English dictionary and get a pure Spanish dictionary with both the vocabulary words and the definitions entirely in Spanish. I use this one only because it was highly-recommended by a friend from Spain who teaches Spanish. According to him, in academic circles in Spain as well as Latin America this Spanish dictionary is the standard.

Búscalo! turns out to be a handy reference Dictionary of Difficulties of the Spanish Language. For the language learner, every page has a sought-after explanation and it's all in alphabetical order.

This a handy quick reference Spanish grammar book alphabetically arranged that tackles queries that don't require much explanation. This book cannot be used to learn Spanish however, I would say it serves as a reference for advanced students and teachers. It does not cover all grammar topics and definitely not any complex structures but can definitely act as a handy resource if you are looking to clarify a doubt or if you are in the middle of writing a composition or an essay in Spanish thus not having to consult a text book and search through several chapters and grammar points to hopefully address the one or few queries that you have. As an educator of the Spanish language, I did find it handy because whenever I had a query that can be researched in Buscalo I was able to find what I was looking for within seconds. Some examples of the grammar concepts that the book covers are: verb conjugations, moods- indicative, imperative, subjunctive and their usage, prepositions- por, para, a, de , en etc. , the usage of "hay", "hubo", numbers, pronouns of all kinds (subject, prepositional, reflexive), verbs-reflexive vs. non-reflexive, the usage of "gustar" and like verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. The purpose of the book is to clarify key grammar concepts and the most problematic ones without going into depth on the subject matter. If you are an advanced student, be it high-school or university level, a native speaker or an educator of Spanish, "Buscalo" will prove beneficial to you for quick, hands on clarifications. This is a reliable and worthy reference material for those who want to maintain grammatically correct usage when speaking or writing in the Spanish language.

i have problems with a bunch of spanish rules in grammar and I enjoyed this group. I'm not completely sure of all of the rules now that I've used most of the book, but I'm better at them.

I found this guide to be invaluable as a professor to give me ideas on how to teach challenging topics from different angles. I can give no advice on whether this book would be of any use to a student.