20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lessons have translations for everything, February 22, 2008
This review is from: Spanish Verbs For Dummies (Paperback)
I particularly like this book because every excercise provides both the correct spanish answer and the english translation. Many books don't do that - and you are left to make assumptions as to the exact meaning of certain phrases or context.
The book is easy to work on, you can move quickly from lesson to lesson, and the tips are quite helpful. But above all, those translations are what sets this book apart from many others.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not for Dummies or those who need to learn about verbs, January 6, 2011
This review is from: Spanish Verbs For Dummies (Paperback)
This book will not teach you about verbs and conjugations. It assumes that you already know and undersstand how grammar works and just jumbs into review. The writer does not know how to explain the subject and just assumes that someone else has done the hard work of teaching you the subject matter. I knew that I had wasted my money when reading the Introduction the author states that she assumes that you already have a background in Spanish, and have learned all of the verb tenses, then she goes on to recommend Spanish for Dummies if you are a rank beginner. Spanish for Dummies is also a worthless teaching guide, save your money and avoid the whole Spanish for Dummies series. The editors need to find authors who know how to do the hard work of explaining how a language works.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spanish Verbs For Dummies, October 13, 2010
This review is from: Spanish Verbs For Dummies (Paperback)
Students who study Spanish Verbs For Dummies can expect an in-depth explanation at the beginning of each chapter on verb tenses such as the present tense, preterit, imperfect, and the future. This serves as a little refresher for those who require a Spanish learning booster after taking a hiatus, or who have temporarily disembarked from the Spanish learning train. The book is geared toward those who have been exposed to the topic of Spanish verb tenses as opposed to someone who has only learned Spanish words and phrases. This book is arranged in seven parts which is divided into twenty-six chapters. Each chapter highlights a tense and shows learners how it is conjugated in Spanish.
Examples are provided to illustrate how the tense is used, and exercises conclude each chapter to test students on the lessons studied. The exercises are composed as true/false questions or actual translations. A short set of instructions are also provided for each exercise, so that students can immediately delve into the activity. An answer key appears at the end of each chapter where students can compare their answers and gain insight into their strengths and weaknesses.
Conjugation boxes can be found throughout the book displaying the Spanish word, its English meaning, and the conjugated verb with the singular conjugations and plural conjugations occupying the left and right columns respectively. For those interested in increasing their word bank, there are vocabulary charts with common words and expressions. Some vocabulary charts display the Spanish word in the left column and the English word in the right column, while other charts contain additional columns to highlight different verb tenses such as the present participle.
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. Rather expensive but excellent for the visual learner like myself and great for a person who has never studied any Spanish before. In order to speak Spanish fluently, you must also learn lots of new words.
A resource that highly recommend for adding new words to your Spanish vocabulary is
Quick Study-Spanish Vocabulary Flash Cards-1000 cards It is a tremendous bargain for the price since you get 1,000 of these cards.
For learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs, the best product is the
Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) software. This Verbarrator actually replaces the boring Spanish verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs one of the most fun parts of learning Spanish. And, of course, the more you use the tool the quicker that you will learn how to conjugate Spanish verbs and reach fluency. It is one of the best investments you can make in your learning-Spanish studies. Another feature that I like about this interactive software is that it really helped improve my pronunciation.
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.
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