Practical Spanish Grammar: A Self-Teaching Guide, 2nd Edition

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.

coming from a town that has no spanish teachers or good spanish teaching tools it was hard finding a way, ANY WAY, to learn spanish.after reading a lot of reviews i have decided to purchase this book and do not regret it at all even though i have had to order it in an international shipping! true the shipping plus book price are expensive but a lot cheaper than books around here! so i was more than pleased when i got this book and it was twice the quality and half the price from other books!true there are some typos and some answers are wrong but if you do have a private teacher detecting these are easy, and even if you study by yourself like i do you can easily check everything online: like google translate and so on...-i love their word lists! which i copy onto flash cards and read anytime i have even 5 minutes of free time, the words are organized in batches of words that sound or spell almost alike but have different meaning, or words that sound the same in english but don't have the same meaning. so it really focuses on those tricky words you can get confused from.the exercises are great for memorizing the grammar and words you learn.last but not least the book does focus a few units and tips on castilian spanish so i am very very happy! ill recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn beginner spanish easily!

Good book as a grammar reference.

So easy to work through. I love the explanations.

I was trying to use Babbel to learn Spanish, but I felt it was going very slowly. Perhaps it's because I am an old school, paper book guy, but it is easier for me to devote a lot time working in the book than on my telephone. The book seems paced very well for a beginning/intermediate like me. I had several years of Spanish in high school, but have forgotten almost everything over the years. Having a tangible book makes it much easier to go back and review the sections you have the most trouble with. I hope to find another by this author or publisher when I am done with this one.