Read Practical Spanish Grammar A SelfTeaching Guide 2nd Edition Marcial Prado Books
Download As PDF : Practical Spanish Grammar A SelfTeaching Guide 2nd Edition Marcial Prado Books
The fast, easy way to master the essentials of Spanish
Now, learning Spanish can be as easy as uno, dos, tres! Combiningthe quick- reference virtues of a phrase book with the learningtools of a full-fledged language course, this popular guide givesyou a solid start. Completely revised and updated for today'susage, Practical Spanish Grammar gives you
* A proven interactive format that has been tested, rewritten, andretested to ensure you can teach yourself at your own pace
* Exercises to reinforce what you've learned
* Clear explanations of approximately 80 percent of Spanishgrammatical structures
* Over 1,000 of the most frequently used Spanish words
* Sample dialogues with cultural notes and lists of terms
Read Practical Spanish Grammar A SelfTeaching Guide 2nd Edition Marcial Prado Books
"I found this book at the library. I used it for a few days and knew it would work for me so I ordered it and the advanced version. It will take a while to get through the book but for a low cost will self teach one a good working understanding of Spanish. It's no longer cheap to take a 2 year college course of Spanish so coming across these books is cost saving. I also downloaded a Spanish course for about $19.00 that helps me to put simple sentences together. Very happy with this find."
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Practical Spanish Grammar A SelfTeaching Guide 2nd Edition Marcial Prado Books Reviews :
Practical Spanish Grammar A SelfTeaching Guide 2nd Edition Marcial Prado Books Reviews
- I don't usually write reviews, but I recently spent a lot of time with this book and I want to help folks decide if this is the right fit for them. I have spent the last five weeks with this book trying to brush up on my Spanish. I put aside three hours every day to work on a lesson or review material from this book. I typically worked through three lessons, or two lessons and an exam, in a week. This speed worked well for me and I was able to learn a lot. I'm giving the book 3/5 stars because I do think it helped improve my Spanish, but there are many problems with the book that I think people should be aware of before they use it.
Let me begin with the positives. I really enjoyed the presentation and particularly the progression of the material in this book. The lessons are thoughtfully laid out and each builds upon the previous one. The book is meant to build knowledge and it does this quite well. I also enjoyed the dialogue sections in each chapter - they were a nice way to practice vocabulary and become familiar with phrases used in daily conversation. I also liked the practice sentences where the student has the opportunity to build sentences either entirely on their own or to use several disparate words to construct a sentence. This helped me generate sentences in Spanish, rather than just translate them.
Now let me discuss the negatives. The first third of the book seems to have been thoroughly edited, but the final two hundred pages could have really used some extra attention. There are numerous typos (mostly in English) that glare at you. I caught several verb tense mistakes in the exercises (again, later in the book). It was common for the dialogue or practice sentences to contain words and verb tenses that were never discussed or introduced before. Some of the descriptions for words in Spanish were incorrect or misleading. Many of the new vocabulary terms are repeated, along with the descriptions of them. (Each section of the book introduces new vocabulary and students should master this material before moving on. However, I found that dozens of words introduced in previous sections would wind back up in "new" vocabulary lists later in the book.) One of the biggest problems I had with the book is that it desperately needs to be updated. Many of the scenarios and practice sentences are outdated. (Who is concerned about smoking on public transportation today?) Many lean toward a heterosexual, masculine point of view and many reinforce problematic "traditional" male-female roles. And many of the new vocabulary terms are not useful — better vocabulary selections could have been made. In the preface, the author defends not updating much from the first edition (1983), but I find this defense ineffective. I also found the exercises that immediately follow the grammar sections rather pointless. Students are asked to repeat the same material found in the grammar section without adding to them or learning anything new. Finally, many of the words that were taught throughout the book are missing in the vocabulary lists featured in the back of the book. In short, if the book was better edited, updated, and trimmed down it would earn 5/5 stars.
To summarize, then, the core information taught by this book is very useful. It teaches you the necessities while avoiding reductionist lessons. However, the book desperately needs to be updated, better edited, and trimmed down. - I bought this book because it appeared to emphasize grammar and grammatical exercises, and because it is full of tips of differences in vocabulary and usage between Spain, Latin America, and Mexico, that are very important and often hard to find.
I'm disappointed in it. First, it is organized around the classic trip to a Hispanic country. You spend the first several chapters in fancy restaurants, learning concepts, like shrimp and lobster, that few people will ever need. And my purpose for learning Spanish has nothing to do with fancy restaurants or visiting another country. I was spending too much time fishing for words I'll never need instead of focusing on learning grammar, which was what I bought the book for.
Second, each chapter throws sixty or seventy vocabulary words at you, and gives you very limited chances to practice them. This book couldn't even be useful to a biginning student of Spanish. I notice that the previous owner of the second hand book was writing the answers to the exercises in the book, and never got past chapter 3. - I know few will get down the list to reading this review, but here is a different perspective. I am not a salesman for the book (though maybe I should be).
I started studying Spanish from this textbook with a private tutor over 10 years ago. I now teach Spanish for the fire department of a major city still using this textbook. I learned more about the language through the approach presented in this book than an other I've seen.
My oldest daughter has had a year of Spanish in high school. Her textbook was horrible as are most school Spanish books. She couldn't speak a simple complete sentence without great difficulty by the end of the year though she had the highest GPA in the class. Late this summer, I began reviewing for her and teaching my younger daughter in preparation for the upcoming school year. Within 2 weeks of using the approach presented in this book, even my youngest is conversing (roughly) in Spanish.
Weak points of the book have been mentioned in earlier reviews. Mentioned have been misspellings, scenario vocabulary and I'll add that even some of the exercises have wrong answers. All that aside, I don't think you can find a better book. If you need vocabulary specific to your profession, there are many such books to supplement your learning for that purpose. Oxford also makes a pictoral dictionary covering almost any imaginable scenario you can think of from cotton gins to strip bars. It too has its weak points, being geared more for Castillian Spanish of Europe over Latin America.
Nothing will replace a native-speaking teacher as first choice to amplify your learning experience. Multiple instruction tools also assist in learning by teaching from different approaches. Buying aids like Rosetta Stone, a good textbook ("Practical Spanish Grammar"), a good thick dictionary, a spanish reader, and a good hand-held translator will help you to learn the language more profoundly and quickly. Combined, they are all cheaper than a tutor if you can't afford one. Above all, take every opportunity to speak and to listen in Spanish as this is most likely how you will use it most. Commitment is the biggest factor in learning a language. Few persevere. - I found this book at the library. I used it for a few days and knew it would work for me so I ordered it and the advanced version. It will take a while to get through the book but for a low cost will self teach one a good working understanding of Spanish. It's no longer cheap to take a 2 year college course of Spanish so coming across these books is cost saving. I also downloaded a Spanish course for about $19.00 that helps me to put simple sentences together. Very happy with this find.
