Anyone can read, write, and speak Spanish in only a few short weeks with this unique and proven method, which completely eliminates rote memorization and boring drills.
Madrigals Magic Key to Spanish
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Book Description
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Language Notes
Text: English, Spanish
From the Publisher
Anyone can read, write, and speak Spanish in only a few short weeks with this unique and proven method, which completely eliminates rote memorization and boring drills.
Original B & W illustrations.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
350 of 357 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I got decent grades in college Spanish; two “A-‘s” and a “B+.” However, when I needed to actually speak Spanish, I was lost. I couldn’t say much except “Mas cervezas, por favor (More beer, please)!”
"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.
143 of 146 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Magic Key to Spanish is one of those rare books that you come back to again again, it inspires progress and there's so much to learn from it- it's certainly not going to be a dust gatherer if learning Spanish is what you truly want. If I've convinced you already buy it- if not read on.
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.
I recommend that you buy this book and use it in tandem with an audio course either the Pimsleur series (expensive) or Michel Thomas would be great- as these will give you the pronunciation which you will require to progress further. Both the audio courses are structured so that there is no repetition and so you have to consciously form the language and remain motivated not bored. If you would like more in-depth information on Spanish grammar I highly recommend 'Buscalo'
Hope this helps you with your introduction to the beautiful and very useful Spanish language- buena suerte!
114 of 117 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have searched for years to find good books to teach myself Spanish, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest. The clear structured organization and presentation make it easy to read and to study. Most others are too basic or, it seems, oriented to very young students. If you are seriously interested in teaching yourself conversational Spanish, then this book will be very helpful. It progresses at a good rate, integrates vocabulary painlessly and uses excercises that build conversational ability. If you are interested in teaching yourself Spanish, then this book is very effective. It uses some very effective shortcuts. For example, it omits the familiar form which reduces the number of verb forms without limiting your ability to comunicate. Many books seem oriented to college course work and seem tediously and academically oriented to stucture and detail, rules and form. This book does not suffer these defiencies. It is committed to teaching you to communicate in Spanish easily (at least as easily as possible)and effectively. I am just someone who wanted to learn to speak Spanish and for that purpose, I found it very effective.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great!
We bought Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish because we were going on a holiday to Panama and wanted to be able to say a few words in Spanish. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Jill
Best Book Yet for Learning Spanish
I am in my mid 60's and have chosen to move to Ecuador for the remainder of my life. Never having learned Spanish before, I have tried many products and courses including ones... Read more
Published 12 days ago by cjtecuador
Working with the Migrants.
Although I can't really add a whole lot to what has already been said about this magnificent Spanish bible I would just like to say that it has definitely helped me on my personal... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Deadhead Nate
Espanol in a hurry -- the easy way...
Madrigal's book is a classic, still in print for many years, and it's easy to see why: her approach to learning the language is intuitive and quite possibly in stark contrast to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Bruce
Brilliant for quick learning
After spending about 15 minutes with this book, I had a spanish vocabulary of a couple hundred words. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Wisdom Shop
best anyone could want
This book is simply the best ever ,not boring at all. You will learn right from the get go. Not ony learn to read ,write and speak spanish, even pick up on a little lost english... Read more
Published 2 months ago by joseph moore
nice but...
Good book, good approach and easy to follow. Learned a lot already in 80 pages. HOWEVER........
Pretty much everything is in the usted form, which is very formal. Read more
Pretty much everything is in the usted form, which is very formal. Read more
Published 2 months ago by P. Lee
Great!
I am doing Rosetta Stone (l.a. spanish) and some things I just don't understand. This is actually a decent book to read. The lessons are very small and it's to the point. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Matt
Great!!!
This is a great method for retaining Spanish vocabulary as well as grammatical structures of the language. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Josh
How do you say?
This would be an excellent Spanish teaching book, except for one thing. It doesn't tell you exactly how to pronounce the words. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Linda Kuehn
Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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third man form, cartas esta mañana, escribir muchas cartas, periódico esta mañana, nonconformist club, clase esta tarde, absolutamente ridículo, trabajó muy bien, compró usted, cine esta noche, unas rosas, unas toallas, radical changing verbs, casa anoche, una fiesta anoche, habló por teléfono, hacer dulces, single completed action, trabajar mañana, que tenga suerte, muchas fiestas, semana pasada, usted español, usted mucho, vive usted Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Francisco, Lección Número Diez, Nueva York, Costa Rica, Coca Cola, Did Charles, Don Quixote, Lección Número Cuarenta, Test Your Progress, América del Sur, Lesson Number Thirty-seven, New York, Pepsi Cola, Lección Número Cuatro New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
third man form, cartas esta mañana, escribir muchas cartas, periódico esta mañana, nonconformist club, clase esta tarde, absolutamente ridículo, trabajó muy bien, compró usted, cine esta noche, unas rosas, unas toallas, radical changing verbs, casa anoche, una fiesta anoche, habló por teléfono, hacer dulces, single completed action, trabajar mañana, que tenga suerte, muchas fiestas, semana pasada, usted español, usted mucho, vive usted Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Francisco, Lección Número Diez, Nueva York, Costa Rica, Coca Cola, Did Charles, Don Quixote, Lección Número Cuarenta, Test Your Progress, América del Sur, Lesson Number Thirty-seven, New York, Pepsi Cola, Lección Número Cuatro New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Books on Related Topics
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