Practice Makes Perfect Basic Spanish

5 Responses to “Practice Makes Perfect Basic Spanish”

1. I. Dielschneider says:

   August 30, 2010 at 1:54 pm

   I am honestly new with Spanish having only taken a fleeting 8 week community course at our local library. This book is a perfect place to go from there. You should not use this book to learn pronunciation or absolute basics. As a replacement for, this book will help you erect upon your basic vocabulary and help you to start forming sentences.

   I already feel more confident in my Spanish after only a few lessons. If you’re just starting out, I would supplement this book with either a fleeting course in Spanish or some audiotapes. Otherwise, I reflect this is a fantastic resource for teaching yourself Spanish!
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
2. James Williams says:

   August 30, 2010 at 2:30 pm

   This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog). This book is a fantastic textbook for Spanish students who find grammar a small overwhelming. Each lessons clearly focuses on a single grammar element and clarifies it painstakingly before offering examples and plenty of practice exercises to help you get to grips with the concept. Although each element is covered in depth, the lessons are deliberately kept fleeting to prevent frustration, and you should be able to fully know each element with under thirty minutes of study.

   Ideal for beginners, the lessons walk through some of the key building blocks of Spanish grammar, such as how to conjugate common verbs in the present tense, when to use the verbs “ser” and “estar” as well as covering many adjectives, pronouns and additional essential parts of sentence structure. Having a concrete understanding of these fundamentals will give you confidence as you progress through your Spanish learning experience.

   There is plenty of everyday vocabulary open in the lessons, covering clothing, family tree, animals, food and drink, days of the week, emotions and additional basic topics that are excellent for new students. Some of the verbs covered are also the most commonly used, for example “hacer”, “poder” and “saber”. Combined, the book presents a strong basic introduction to Spanish grammar and the language in all-purpose. A clear pointer lets you find and revise point topics and grammar fundamentals as needed.

   As the title suggests, there are lots of exercises included for each lesson, encouraging you to practice, practice, practice what you have learned in order for it to sink in. Each exercise is open clearly, with spaces to fill in the answers, letting you work through the book at your own pace and record your progress. Although not an in depth study text by any means, this is a fantastic introductory book for new learners.

   Fantastic for revision of key concepts as well as initial learning, Practice Makes Perfect: Basic Spanish is a excellent choice for students looking to strengthen their grasp of the basic grammatical fundamentals of the Spanish language.

   In closing my review of this product, I’d like to share with you the three Amazon products that I have establish most helpful in my pursuit to learn Spanish. If you are truly serious about achieving fluency, I’d recommend getting all 3 of them if you can afford it.

   1. Lights, Camera, Spanish (Book + DVD): Learn Chatty Spanish by Watching a Romantic Adventure This is really a 90 minute movie for Spanish-language learners. It gives the option to watch the movie with subtitles but I’d recommend not using them to improve your Spanish. This “movie” also includes a workbook so that you can reinforce the Spanish vocabulary words and phrases from the film. The workbook also has lots of exercises to keep you engaged in the film. But be prepared to hear Chilean accents. Although pleasant to the ear, the accents from Chile are very different from most Latin American accents.

   2. Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) This software replaces the traditional verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an interactive and fun activity. This should be a required resource for anyone who wants to improve their ability to conjugate Spanish verbs. Especially anyone who is challenged by the drudgery of learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and who is looking for a new way to make learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an simple and fun activity

   3. Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition) If you are really serious about language the language fluently, then at some point you will need to replace your Spanish-English glossary and get a pure Spanish glossary with both the vocabulary words and the definitions entirely in Spanish. I use this one mainly because it was highly-recommended by a friend from Spain who teaches Spanish. According to him, this is the “standard” among university level Spanish professors.

   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
3. S. Horton says:

   August 30, 2010 at 3:10 pm

   I bought this book along with others in the series, to help with my quest to relearn the language. I like how the leader makes it very simple to follow along, and I like how she uses humor, and pop culture to help in the learning process. The chapters are not very long, and it is very simple to answer the questions at the end of each. There is also an answer key in the back of the book, to help you see how you did. Overall, this book has been very useful, and I can’t wait to continue on in the series. Certainly worth buying, if you are looking for a fantastic way to start learning Spanish.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
4. Monica M. Rech says:

   August 30, 2010 at 4:55 pm

   I use this book with my students. It has all the basic grammar for non-spanish language students. I like it, fantastic book, very thorough, brilliant oral and written practice exercises.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
5. John Lauritzen says:

   August 30, 2010 at 7:23 pm

   Devney Richmond does an brilliant job of going step by step with the most basic skills required in Spanish language, mixing in vocabulary, and continuing to use these as the course progresses.
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5