Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way [Paperback]

Gene Hammitt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764125508 | ISBN-13: 978-0764125508 | Publication Date: November 2, 2002 | Edition: 3

Updated with helpful facts and tips for international travelers, this new third editions of Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way is suitable as language teaching book for adults as well as for older children. It instructs beginners in the basics of reading, writing, understanding, and speaking Spanish. The book lightens language-learning routines with cartoon-style illustrations, language games, and puzzles. A set of vocabulary flashcards and a small staple-bound bilingual dictionary booklet are bound into the book's spine and can be easily removed for supplementary use.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Available in: Chinese (book only) * French * German * Italian * Japanese * Russian * Spanish & Aprenda Ingles Facil y Rapido (Learn English the Fast & Fun Way)



It’s easy... It’s practical... It’s fun!



In just minutes a day, you’ll pick up the language you need for most everyday situations—from meeting and greeting people to asking directions and handling simple business transactions. You’ll learn the basic vocabulary for: introductions * finding your way * entertainment * dining * shopping * banking * using the telephone and mail services * medical help and emergencies



Plus: days of the week * months * seasons * weather * time * numbers * basic grammar * even a guide to road signs!



Special Bonus for Business and Vacation Travelers: Pull-out Bilingual Dictionary complete with Food and Drink Guide * Wine List * Tipping Information



Added Features: Two Quizzes (with answers) to test your growing skills * vocabulary cards give you practice with words and phrases

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; 3 edition (November 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764125508
• ISBN-13: 978-0764125508
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Spanish
  • #34 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > Spanish
  • #67 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Spanish

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice middle ground between a textbook and a phrase book., June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way with Audio CDs (CD-ROM)

This book seems to be a nice compromise between courses that just teach you a bunch of phrases and the highly rigorous treatment of the language found in textbooks. I used this as part of a conversational Spanish course a couple of years back (the course used the book for Spanish I and II. I am working through the book again at a slower pace (the courses were very fast moving) and feel like I am getting enough of a foundation to either pick up the rest of the language "on the fly" or to move on to more serious study.

The focus of the book is on the traveller, with chapters on things like "at the hotel", "in the market", "time and seasons" etc. However, plenty of language structure is worked in along the way to give a little bit of meat to the material.

The book deals only with the present tense forms of the verbs so if you are looking for something more comprehensive, you will need to supplement your study elsewhere.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, useful little set., July 13, 2001

By 

Jeffery S. Herman (Baxter, Tennessee) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way: With Cassette (Audio Cassette)

I am very impressed with the workbook and accompanying workbook. This book was very helpful to me in acquiring everyday vocabulary. For example, this book has the words for "flat tire," "I need a tow truck," various articles of clothing, how to size clothing, etc. It has a very thorough section on foods and ordering in restaurants. I didn't expect the included flashcards to be very helpful, but I was pleasantly surprised in how much they aided me in memorizing the new vocabulary. The cartoon-like illustrations have been surprisingly helpful in memorization. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to use the tapes in my car without the book. The tapes also include various sections which focus on listening comprehension. I was not very impressed with the included dictionary. It is so limited that by the time you're able to use Spanish with non-english speakers, you will already have most of it memorized.

I wouldn't recommend this series for an absolute beginner because it doesn't have the degree of practice in pronunciation, especially two-vowel combinations, which is necessary for someone learning a new language. However, once you have basic pronunciation down, the new vocabulary is given with an extremely helpful phonetic spelling (much clearer and easier to understand than the Mastering Spanish series, by the same company). It is also a little weak in grammar and sentence building. However, it does provide the most gentle introduction to verb conjugation that I have seen.

I used this book after the Barron's Mastering Spanish Levels 1 and two series, but I was amazed at how much practical vocabulary I was able to acquire from this book. I think the Mastering Spanish series does a far better job teaching pronunciation and sentence structure.

My only complaints about this set are that I didn't find it sooner and that there isn't more of it. I really hope they will expand this very easy-to-use format in the future. I'll be their first customer.

In summary, I would recommend this set very highly for the person just past the absolute-beginner stage. You will not learn Spanish with this set, but it will help you in acquiring very useful vocabulary. The tapes are of very high technical quality, and the words are spoken very clearly, but slightly slower than I usually encounter with hispanics.

If you are an absolute beginner, I would suggest the Success in Spanish CD-ROM. I found this after struggling to learn pronunciation from the Learn in Your Car Spanish tape series. After acquiring basic pronunication, I would use this series before going onto the Mastering Spanish series, which provides much further practice in sentence construction.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly composed and edited., January 30, 2005

By 

Asa E. Whetstone (Rancho Cordova, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way (Paperback)

Preparing for a trip to Mexico I focused on this book only to find that it was poorly composed. The irritations I had were:
1. Many of the chapters were not picked to be of as much use as I would like: e.g., Camping, A Trip by Train, The Beauty Shop, The Shoemaker and the Optometrist. 2. A dictionary is a separate book but it doesn't have all of the words that are in the Learn Spanish lesson book. 3. There is no index for being able to go back to certain words or grammatical subjects when you wish to refresh your memory. 4. The pages in the back of the book are supposed to be used for "flash cards", having a question on the front of them and supposedly the answer on the back of the flash card, but most of the flash cards have answers on the back that correspond to questions on one of the other flash cards, which makes most of them unusable. The pictures are useful but not particularly well done. Overall I was very disappointed.