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Original B & W illustrations.
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"Madrial’s Magic Key", along with the expensive (but quite worth it) Pimsleur tapes, have corrected the “mis-education” I was subjected to. The drills Ms. Madrigal presents are easy to remember and fun to do, not like those tedious translations and verb conjugations that college texts are so fond of. In two months, studying this book in my spare time, I retained more Spanish than I did in an entire academic year. And, for the first time, I can actually say that I understand Spanish.
I would supplement this book with a comprehensive book on Spanish grammar (I have the Barron’s, but I suppose any would work) and a dictionary. I would definitely recommend “Breaking Out of Beginner’s Spanish” by Joseph Keenan for an in depth take on colloquial Spanish as well. Further, if you have the money, buy the "Pimsleur Comprehensive" series as well. Get vol.’s 1-3, even though they are pricey. If you are an audio/tactile learner like me, I guarantee that you will retain more Spanish idioms using the Pimsleur method than any other.
The book starts with a very positive introduction and goes on to explain that an English speaker already knows hundreds if not thousands of words in Spanish and it gives you the rules that unlock this 'magic key' to Spanish. It then moves on to teach you grammar in a very novel way, none of the boring conjungations that had to be learnt by rote when doing languages at school. She starts with the past tense as this is how we speak to friends and then moves through much of the essential grammar required to Speak, Read and write Spanish.
I would recommend this book to all beginners in Spanish. It has got two downsides which are the layout, which is now dated (it was written in the early 1950's with Andy Warhol as the illustrator) and also (for me living in England) the fact that the emphasis is on South American Spanish not peninsular Spanish.
I wish the Magic Key to French and German were still in print as I have made substanital progress with my Spanish using this book, the method obviously works. If the publisher is reading this, please consider a reprint of the other two editions given the success of the Spanish version.
The late Margarita Madrigal was ahead of her time as the method she used in this book is akin to what trainers would now call Accerlerated Learning. A word of warning, make sure that you do all of the exercises and tests or you will not be learning to your full potential.
... Read more ›Old form: ví, vió, dí, dió, fuí, fué
New form: vi, vio, di, dio, fui, fue
(NOTE: this is not a complete list!)
Old spellings also appear in exercises using these words.
These changes don't change the pronunciation of the words! Accent marks are used to show how a word should be written in accordance with the way it is pronounced. The rules on pronouncing weak-weak, weak-strong, strong-weak and strong-strong vowel combinations apply: so, for example, vio (new form) sounds the same as vió (old form).
This is a great book for learning Spanish. Don't let the age of it throw you.
My plug for a top-notch dictionary: get the Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary Second Edition (2000).
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