Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for those of us int the 21st century, May 21, 2003
This book get 5 star for a number of reasons, but the main reason its near and dear to my heart is because it actually address things like email addresses and other technology and how they translate in spanish, None of my other book on learing spanish devote any time to things like e-mail. Being that I work in I.T. in a city that is around 75% hispanic I find this to be a nice touch. The Tapes are nice, and the book is well laid out. I recomend it to fill in all the gaps that spanish 'textbooks' have.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Why didn't i have this sooner!!!, May 20, 2006
For my situation this product is great. I have been a pitiful excuse for a spanish major. Though i have studied in class,i still have very little ability to communicate verbally in Spanish. I checked this book/Tape series out at my library ONLYA WEEK AGO. The tapes work to connect my full brain in Spanish. I do have a certain familiarity with the language already. But have found myself unable to use the knowledge. I can see that if i had this long ago, i would be much more coherent in Spanish, and be of a mind to be able to quickly reply in spanish, when spoken to. I wish i would have had it long ago. The book,i see, is very comprehensive, and clear, and well laid out. It appears to cover what you need without a lot of extras to get lost in. Better than any textbook i've ever seen. For someone taking a class in Spanish, or who has studied in the past in a class or on their own, this is a great tool. IF you have no understanding of Spanish whatsoever, I would advise you to begin somewhere else, or if you are a beginner who is serious about speaking it,perhaps incorporate this book/tape series with another more basic learning tool. The first half of side one tape one is very very very basic, then after that it is more for the intermediate student as i am. There is no in between level in this course. It should not be for the complete beginner as it was created for, at least not on it's own. However, for my purposes,I like it, and the price is very cheap. I spent over 200 dollars on another course, and i find this inexpensive one has helped me much more in the one week i've had it,than in the year i've had the other,much more boring course. A note: I do have to utilize my pause button frequently when i am participating with the tape. For this reason it is not a good "learn in the car" resource, unless you are particularly good at hearing spoken spanish. But, it is NOT necesary to use the book to benefit from the tape,provided you are not a complete beginner. THis is nice, because sometimes i am too lazy to read while listening. One disapointment is that there are only two tapes included.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent grounding in Spanish for beginners, March 24, 2009
This review is from: Colloquial Spanish of Latin America: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series) (Paperback)
I've used this book twice now for trips to Mexico, going through most of the written exercises from Chapters 1-13 a few times, and I highly recommend it. I also purchased the CDs, but never really used them much as I didn't find them too practical for actually learning to speak/understand Spanish. What this book will do: give you a good basic grounding in all the key grammar and structures of Latin American Spanish, help you in learning to read and write colloquial Latin American Spanish and have basic conversations, give you a good grounding in key vocabulary (traveling, writing emails, using the computer, shopping, renting hotel rooms, etc). It's well structured and well organized, but it's paced so quickly that I found it hard to retain some of what I learned--I ended up creating flash cards and doing some of the exercises repeatedly to make them sink in better. It's also a great reference and supplement to other language-learning programs (the one I have used with the most success is the excellent Fluenz Spanish 1+2 Learning Suite Mac, Including DVDs, Audio CDs, Podcasts, and Fluenz Navigator. Next-Generation Spanish Language Learning Software.) As the title suggests, the book takes a conversational approach--the kind of real-life language you need in actual situations. What this book won't do: give you much practice in spoken Spanish (understanding, pronouncing and speaking it yourself). Still, I found it very useful!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
