Spanish in 32 Lessons (Gimmick) (Her Gimmick Series) [Paperback]

Adrienne Adrienne (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393313050 | ISBN-13: 978-0393313055 | Publication Date: May 1, 1995

Here is a practical and rapid way for tourists, students and businesspeople to master the basics of Spanish and begin speaking the language. This book encourages creativity, allowing the learner to discover his or her own style. It gives the reader the essential, simplified grammar without force feeding, operating from the premise that grammar comes easily once vocabulary is properly learned.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Adrienne's vocabulary lists are contemporary, practical, and uncensored--you'll find words here that aren't in any other language book--and they group together families of words, which makes expanding your vocabulary painless...Whether you're trying to learn the rudiments, travel with globe-trotting panache, or get out of a prickly situation, Adrienne will show you the way. -- World News Features, Gordon M. Quarnstrom

Language Notes

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393313050
• ISBN-13: 978-0393313055
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,389,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Riddled with typos, grammatical errors, and bad translations, February 2, 2005

By 

Keith Law (Boston area, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spanish in 32 Lessons (Gimmick) (Her Gimmick Series) (Paperback)

This book should never have left the printer's, as it is full of errors of every imaginable variety. For example, in Lesson 23, two of the exercise answers are clearly wrong:

"Have we earned a lot of money yet?" is translated as "¿Ha ganado mucho dinero ya," which means "has he earned..."
"Have they visited their mother-in-law yet" is translated as "Ha visitado a su suegra ya?," again turning the subject into "he"

That's to say nothing of another sentence that the reader is supposed to translate: "¿Ha pegado ya a su mujer?" That means "has he beaten his wife yet?"

In the same chapter's vocabulary list, the word "paliza" is defined as a "spank," when it actually means "a beating." Elsewhere, irregular verbs are conjugated incorrectly, with extra letters showing up in odd places.

Unless you're prepared to double-check everything in this book against a dictionary or book of verb conjugations, you should spend your money elsewhere.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For intelligent self-motivated learners only., January 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Spanish in 32 Lessons (Gimmick) (Her Gimmick Series) (Paperback)

This book moves presumes that you can figure out a good deal for yourself -- it might be a good idea also to get a book on grammar to check out the finer points that may be unclear to certain readers. Furthermore, this book offers no instruction on pronunciation. This is a fast, no-nonsense way to Spanish, and I for one love it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helpful approach to vocabulary, but be careful!, July 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Spanish in 32 Lessons (Gimmick) (Her Gimmick Series) (Paperback)

The Gimmick series uses a technique of learning several synonyms/antonyms at once to increase vocabulary rapidly, and that is very helpful. But two MAJOR cautions about this book:
1. Some of the answers in the back and some of the definitions themselves are wrong. Often the wrong person of the verb is given in the answers, and I have run across at least one completely incorrect verb definition. Furthermore, when the author teaches vulgar terms (part of the gimmick) her English definitions often fail to capture the offensiveness of the Spanish words.
2. The lack of a complete glossary and the author's habit of using words not yet introduced in the exercises make the translation drills tedious.
That said, this is an interesting review of Spanish basics for people who already know some Spanish. Despite the author's claim in the introduction, it is difficult to use this book to learn Spanish from scratch all by yourself.