Customer Reviews

The Oxford Spanish Cartoon-strip Vocabulary Builder

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From the perspective of a Spanish teacher, this is a wonderful book to help build your Spanish vocabulary and comprehension.

The way the it's set up is: On one page there is a FULL page cartoon strip in color. There is a lot of dialogue, idioms, and basic vocabulary. One the opposite page is a list of vocabulary found in the comic strip in Spanish and English, divided into categories. The book is organized by cartoon title and topic. Some topics include: food & drink, money, travelling, etc. There are 30 cartoons in total, a well-organized table of contents, a glossary and a verb conjugation help section.

I definitely think this would be a great way to expand your knowledge (or your students' knowledge) of Spanish in a very interesting and humorous context.

The content is appropriate for high school and college level students, and for any level of study, although first and second year students would need help understanding the more complex structures.

Teaching with cartoons, what a fine idea! Why are so many books so poorly executed.

My complaints here are small. I need my reading glasses for the small typeface, the cartoons are not from real comic strips (they are drawn just for this book), I find it a bit basic. Still, these are nit-picks, in general I like it. It builds thematic lexical sets.

The best cartoon book for Spanish students remains "Laugh 'n' Learn Spanish : Featuring the #1 Comic Strip "For Better or For Worse"

Nothing beats a good context for picking up foreign language vocabulary. Many books simply push lists of words into the reader's head and hope that something catches to make the words stick. Unfortunately, rote memorization unaccompanied by usage typically results in horrificly low retention rates. This book has none zip nada of those problems. True, it includes lists of vocabulary words and lots of them. But the comics set it apart from other books that claim to expand one's vocabulary. Instead of sitting on a neuron impatiently waiting for an opportunity for use, the comics give the words a context. The word lists then becomes more of a map to help navigate the comics, and retention skyrockets.

The comics focus more on European Spanish (or Español Iberico) than American Spanish. Nonetheless, the word and phrase lists also include references and idioms unique to Latin American Spanish. Words and phrases not used in Latin American Spanish get an asterisk next to them, so it's easy to tell them apart. Regardless, this book will probably better suit those wanting to speak Spanish in Spain. But anyone learning Spanish can benefit greatly from it.

Probably the best way to get the most out of this book is to read all of the vocabulary for a particular comic first, then read that same comic a few times through to cement the words in memory. Repetition and context will fuel retention, and returning to previously read comics will yield surprising results. Some words will stick like paste on a first reading; others may take a few times through. Nonetheless, many rewards await those who read through the entire book more than a few times.

Lastly, this is not a beginner's Spanish book. It assumes much foreknowledge from the reader. Basic grammar and very basic vocabulary are not covered in any depth. Probably the best time to go through this book would be after completing a basic Spanish class or book (i.e., know more than just present indicative verb conjugation, sentence structure, same basic vocabulary, pronouns, etc.). The level of learning can best be described as beginner intermediate. Those in the advanced level will likely breeze through it. So get going, read some comics, and learn a load of Spanish words.

I learned everyday English by reading a lot of comics and I always wanted a comic strip in Spanish. This book is exactly that and has a vocab reference for each strip. Great way to learn!

The vocabulary it builds is more casual vocabulary. I did not know that when I bought it. But the reason for the 3 star rating is the pictures. On many strips the pictures are the same from one scene to the next, not giving many contectual cues. It is interesting because in the preface to the book, it states that as an important feature of the book. Then it doesn't follow the features. There is at least one sequence that is almost the same from the top of the bottom all the way to the bottom of the page with just different mouths moving. What can of contetual cues are supposed to be gathered from that?

I love comic strips and I couldn't think of a better way to build my vocabulary than with cartoon strips. I spend a little time each day practicing and translating. ¡Es muy fabuloso!

`The Oxford Spanish Cartoon-Strip Vocabulary Builder' is pretty much as the title describes, Spanish cartoon strips to improve your reading skills and vocabulary. Each double page spread has one page with the cartoon strip and the facing page has translations of key words in the text, key structures/phrases, as well as additional words and phrases that may be relevant to the text. There is also a Spanish-English glossary at the back. The cartoons are quite humorous and get progressively more difficult as you go through. This is a fun way to start for those new to reading Spanish and you will see improvements come quickly as you work your way through the book. If this is a little advanced to start with I recommend you start with `Spanish a la Cartoon' by Albert Small, which has a similar layout but not in a cartoon strip format, he uses single cartoon pictures. Overall a good place to look as you progress in your Spanish studies.

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I'm enjoying this book and find it a good diversion in my long list of books that help me learn Spanish without getting bored...I don't think it's very funny, but I find it helpful.

The Oxford Spanish Cartoon-strip is an excellent resource for those who desire to speak the Spanish language as it is truly spoken in everyday, informal social situations. If you're looking for the standard language that is spoken on the radio, television or in formal settings, then this book is not for you. This book contains an introduction, a how to use the book breakdown, a list of abbreviations, a pronunciation guide, thirty stories, a glossary and a list of verbs. Designed to teach students the "spoken language" of Spanish, The Oxford Cartoon-strip is centered on thirty cartoon strips and themes which appear on a double-page spread.

Each comic strip is accompanied by three sections namely understanding the text, key structures and vocabulary. In the understanding the text section there's a list of the key words used in the adjacent comic strip along with grammatical notes and contextual translations. Under the key structures sections there's a list of phrases which are difficult to comprehend along with explanations. In addition, information is provided on those phrases which are commonly used in the spoken language. The vocabulary section, on the other hand, combines the fundamental words and phrases used in each comic strip. There's also grammatical information on gender for nouns and feminine forms for adjectives and nouns. There are also notes that distinguish the different words and expressions that are used in Spain and Latin America. Words and expressions used in Spain are denoted by an asterisk, and the Latin American version is noted alongside with a label [LAm]. Furthermore, text bubbles provide notes about culture-specific situations that appear in the text.

Some other products that I recommend for Spanish language learners are Rosetta Stone Spanish. Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1,2,3,4 & 5 Set with Audio Companion is pretty good if you are a visual learner like me. My only complaints are that in Rosetta Stone Spanish the Spanish is rather basic and the course is also very expensive. In order to speak Spanish fluently, you must also learn lots of new words. For increasing Spanish vocabulary, I recommend Quick Study-Spanish Vocabulary Flash Cards-1000 cards You get 1,000 of these cards at an excellent price.

To speak Spanish fluently besides having a stand alone course as your base and a method to learn new Spanish words, you will also need to master conjugating Spanish verbs. The best product for that is the Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) software. The Verbarrator software does a great job of replacing the boring Spanish verb conjugation books and makes learning Spanish verbs enough fun that you will want to use the software every day. And the more you use the tool the quicker that you will learn how to conjugate Spanish verbs and reach fluency. The Verbarrator is probably the best investment that I have made in my journey to learn Spanish because it is a product that I will use daily until I reach fluency. Unlike some learning-Spanish products such as books that you will only read one time or some Spanish courses that you will at the most review 2 or 3 times from start to finish.

The last product that I recommend for anyone who is really serious about learning Spanish is The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice w/CD-ROM (UItimate Review & Reference Series). This Spanish grammar book covers every aspect of Spanish grammar imaginable. To get the equivalent learning-Spanish value of this one book you would have to buy 3 or 4 books in the Practice Makes Perfect series.,

This is a bathroom book, it's easy to digest in small doses. I love this book!!