Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Spanish (The Complete Idiot's Guide) [Mass Market Paperback]

Gail Stein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0028644514 | ISBN-13: 978-0028644516 | Edition: 3rd Biling

An updated edition of the popular beginner's guide to Spanish presents the fundamental principles of Spanish vocabulary, grammar, and usage for immediate use, along with an expanded Spanish/English-English/Spanish dictionary, a guide to pronounciation, cultural information, useful phrases, and helpf

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

For those interested in a simple method for learning Spanish, this guide can help listeners feel confident about speaking the language and communicating with native speakers. The audio includes exercises covering grammar and usage, understanding unfamiliar words and phrases, and pronouncing words properly. Ways to learn idioms and slang, as well as helpful cultural tips and information, are here, too. Listeners are provided with solid suggestions about learning any language: practice, purchase a good bilingual dictionary, and practice. There is a great deal of good data provided, but sometimes it is at the expense of rudimentary, basic information. Overall, the tape provides a simple but explanatory way for folks to learn a little Spanish or brush up on what they already know from high school. Jonuel Pozo's presentation is clear and easy-to-understand. Recommended.
-Denise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From the Back Cover

You're no idiot, of course. You know the difference between a verb and a noun, know "adios" means good-bye, and can even order margaritas with just the right flair. But when it comes to mastering a language, all you can do is order the "taco grande." Don't rip up that menu just yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Spanish on Your Own, Second Edition makes learning the language fun and easy. Whether you're planning a vacation or a business trip, this new edition adds new phrases and vocabulary words to help you gain confidence in speaking Spanish. In this fully revised and updated edition, you get: --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 3rd Biling edition (July 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028644514
• ISBN-13: 978-0028644516
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #670,910 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I wasn't a complete enough idiot, July 22, 2000

By 

Paula S. Bryant (Lemon Grove, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Spanish,Second Edition (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I'm studying Spanish with several self-study guides. I was excited about this one at first, because it seemed modern, practical, and fun. However, I didn't use it as often as the other self-study guides because the organization is so scattershot. The author jumps from one thing to the next without much development. My desire to write this review, however, stems from finding some errors that have shaken my confidence in the book's accuracy. Some are merely typos that I tried to overlook, except their frequency began to worry me. Examples: "he" being rendered as al rather than el. Phonetic pronunciations that are wrong. Other misspellings that are obviously just typos. But what got me really worried was when Ms. Stein finally gets to the past tense, she says that the yo form of regular -ar verbs in the preterite tense ends in a. Actually, it ends in -e. I looked this up to make sure in three other sources. So, it's just wrong, and the mistake didn't get caught by the publisher. Would a beginner catch this mistake if this were his only source? In addition, Ms. Stein gives the translation for to hurry as apurarse. Apurarse means to fret or worry oneself. To hurry is actually apresurarse. I'm sort of perversely proud for catching these errors, since I'm a beginning Spanish speaker, but I'm also very disppointed that these errors are in the book.

93 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great! I wish learning all languages were this easy!, July 16, 1999

By 

Marcia Hopper (Jamestown , NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Spanish,Second Edition (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I love this book! I think it is good for someone who is learning Spanish for the first time as well as people like myself who are trying to "relearn" a language. I like the way this book gives out cultural information. It is good to be educated about a culture as well as learning about a language. My friend from Spain is disgruntled by the lack of usage of the "vosotros/as" forms in other language series. If you are going to Spain, the speakers there use the "tu" and "vosotros" forms instead of the Latin American forms of "tu" and "ud". The side notes and pictures are fun. Gail Stein has done an excellent job of presenting the Spanish language. I hope the "Idiot's Guide" people expand their language series as well as putting their language series on cassette.

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing for an "Idiots" book, August 10, 2000

By 

Scott Lynch - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Spanish,Second Edition (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

"Idiots Spanish" is disappointing on the scale of "Idiots" books. I've purchased and read several of their series for research at work and all have proven very helpful, but this one falls short of being fun, interactive, or relevant information. The teaching methodology used in this book is useless. It's more of a reference-type book than a book you could use to learn the language.

My recommendation: skip this "Idiots" book and go with a combination of Pimsleur's Spanish tapes/cds to learn the spoken and "Practical Spanish Grammar" to learn the written.

Buenas suerte!