Customer Reviews

See It and Say It in Spanish

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great little book which I am using to learn Spanish so that I can communicate with a friend who speaks very little English. I know some French which is also in the Romance language family, so this has been really easy to pick up.

Because all I wanted was to quickly learn some basic vocabulary and make simple expressions, this little book was perfect, especially for those of you who also have a short attention span and never finishes a thick self-study language book.

The teaching approach in the book is very unique. For instance, you will first learn that "voy al" means "I'm going to (some place)", then you will see the phrases in spanish for "I'm going to the hotel", "I'm going to the bank", "I'm going to the market", etc, and in a minute you will have learned the basic expression for going somewhere, and some vocabulary for names of places. Then the book provides you will a list of drills will new vocabulary. It's very quick and useful.

This book taught me more than my high school spanish class! In school I just couldn't grasp all the grammer rules and so forth. I figured I just wasn't capable of learning another language. After relocating to Texas and now living in a metroplitan community with many Spanish-speakers I decided to try once again.I bought numerous books and tapes that either confused or bored me so I didn't continue my Spanish studies....until I picked up Margarita Madrigal's little book. At first I thought it might be juvenile and a bit too easy....well it was easy,....and it worked! I was remembering without really trying! This little book got me hooked. I picked up her other book- "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish". My Latino coworkers were and still are impressed with how fast I am learning Spanish. I also bought an audio Cd to help with my pronunciationn - "Pimsleur." Another great course - although a bit expensive. I still refer to See it and Say it in Spanish. It's a great book.

I bought this book this past weekend while meandering around a local big name bookstore, while looking at the Spanish language books i was so frustrated because of the high prices on almost every book in print! I stumbled upon this little gem and was quite surprised by its novelty...its definetly from the 60's, kinda old fashioned, very insignifigant looking and super inexpensive BUT it IS a TOTAL gem and im SO glad I bought it.

I lived in Southern California for a long time and ofcourse had to pick up basic conversational Spanish just to get along, its been about 6 yrs since I left that area and ofcourse my Spanish skills went down the drain from lack of use. I have a few other really good Spanish books, but you know, it can be tedious at times working with them because of the long word lists, intense verb conjugations from the get-go or the annoying "tourist" coversations they expect you to memorise. Hence i pretty much put them away and forgot about them for quite a few yrs.

This book is NOT that!
This book does NOT focus on "touristy" phrases or anything like that and there isnt anything very daunting or intense about this book. I think pretty much anyone could use this book and understand whats going on.
Its refreshing how you can do a short lesson, how ever many pages you want to do and not really have to commite to some intense study regime, so its great if your a busy person.

In a nutshell, while it might look simple and insignificant...dont let appearences fool you...this book totally rocks, i'd suggest this book FIRST for someone who wants to refresh their spanish or are a brand new, newbie to Spanish. You wont get frustrated.
The ONLY drawback is you have to know how to pronounce certain Spanish sounds, there is a sound chart and thankfully, Spanish unlike French or English for that matter is pronounced in a pretty straight forward manner...and its pronounced how its written and vise versa so just alittle bit of outside work on your pronounciation might be useful but other than that...i reiterate...this book ROCKS!

The drawings really help imprint the words into your memory. A perfect first book for someone who wants to learn Spanish. The verb conjugations in the back alone are worth the cost of the book. Won't help with pronunciation, but no book really can.

I bought this book with Madrigal's Magic Key, and they complement each other very well. With this book I'm learning vocabulary at my own pace and in a way that's easy and entertaining. I like to write down words and post them around my apartment ("los vasos" in my cabinet next to my glasses; "jugo de naranja" on my orange juice) so that as I'm brushing my teeth, or fixing dinner, or just getting dressed, I'm still reading and learning. I don't think I'd recommend this book on its own, but combined with Magic Key it's a great way to learn Spanish, and it's small and lightweight enough to keep in my purse and take with me wherever I go.

This book is like no other for helping you to learn the practical use of the Spanish language. The little line drawings are great and speak for themselves. I have three copies--one at home, one in my car, and one in my suitcase and never tire of refering to them.They have helped me immensely. A real bargain!

The line drawings in the book are the reason I use it in my Spanish classes for 4-7 year olds. While I give instructions in Spanish, the children choose the correct color and color while repeating phrases or just the new vocabulary word. Afterwards, the children are asked what they think of different pictures in the book and they respond in Spanish. If you have a leg up on pronunciation, this is a great book for some basic introduction to the Spanish language, at any age! If not, something with a CD will be better for you.

Other good choices are Ana Lomba products (not designed for coloring in, but still great!) or board books by Boynton or Wemberley - though some of the translations are iffy.

Sra. Gose
Bilingual Mother of Five,
Teacher,
Author of Flip Flop Spanish Series & The Key to Learning Anything

Before i encountered this book by sheer chance, i thought learning a foreign language was a waste of time and impossible. but the instant i picked it up and looked through it i became hooked! After working my way through it and then the pimsleur program, the audio forum fsi sequence, david burkes street spanish sequence and spending lots of time in the barrios i am now fluent in spanish and starting on chinese! This book is inspiring in the way it makes learning fun and quite adictive through the word and picture method. If you are wanting to learn spanish, this is the best place to start. i believe it made my efforts in my later courses more effective because no matter how advanced i got into the 50 hours of pimsleur and the 55 hours of the foreign service institute sequence i was still running into material that was familiar to me from see it and say it in spanish. And i have begun a whole new career now and it all started with this book! Ms. Madrigal is certainly an extraordinarily gifted teacher.

This little paperback--See It and Say It in Spanish--has benefited me in my endeavor to gain a basic knowledge of the Spanish language. I have had the German language version of this guide for many years, so I knew that I would not be disappointed with getting See It and Say It in Spanish. Even though I completed a Spanish language audiobook course before using this book--hearing the language spoken is important--I still have utilized See It and Say It in Spanish as a reinforcement tool. This paperback is not intimidating and presents a nice way of learning the language by the word-and-picture method. Other features of this guide besides the conversation lessons are a pronunciation guide, a traveler's handy word guide, a grammar section, a Spanish-English vocabulary section, and an index. See It and Say It in Spanish is a solid reference, and I recommend it.

I read that this book has been around since the 1960s and it probably needs some updating. Nonetheless, the material can still serve as a good introduction to conversational Spanish. Obviously, you won't achieve total fluency after reading this book. However, you will be able to express yourself a little bit in Spanish. This is one of my first books in Spanish and I still go back to it every so often. Este libro es muy bueno. Cuatro estrellas!