[.ca] Breaking Out of Beginners Spanish (ISBN 029274322X)

More Spanish Books Like This One, Please!:
Where was this book when I was in college? Most textbooks are boring sleep inducers. Most books confuse rather than enlighten when it comes to explaining grammar and vocabulary. Not this one. Keenan's explanation of the subjunctive mode is soooo easy and simple. It's the best I've ever seen and I have been teaching a long time. His answer for the future tense is great also. Just recognize it and forget about using it. His examples for the specific use of vocabulary and idioms are full of humor and cultural insight. It's a book that you wish had a sequel.

Buy this book as soon as you finish Spanish 101!:
(By Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One" (ISBN:1591133343)) Students of the Spanish language can always use more books that can help them progress beyond the basics. This one does the job in a fashion which is both engaging and informative. The author, who learned Spanish as a native English-speaker, is acutely aware of the subtle points of the language that English speakers are most likely to bungle. I particularly liked the opening section on pronunciation. Since Spanish is not as difficult to pronounce as languages like Thai or Arabic, many students develop bad habits in this area. Keenan's tips will help set the phonetically wayward down the path of proper pronunciation. There is also a lot of useful information about verbs--which are sometimes tricky for "gringos." (I wish this book had existed 20 years ago when I began studying Spanish.) You should own this book as soon as you have a solid grounding in the fundamentals of Spanish.

Excellent!!!:
I have been living in Chile for a year and was struggling with all the rules, verbs and vocabulary in my head. This book is helping me put it all together. It's written from a gringo's perspective of Spanish, which is very different than a native speaker's. I highly recommend this book to any beginner to intermediate Spanish student.

Great book:
Good reading. I've learned alot from this book and found it to be very interesting. It is quite entertaining; the author is very humorous.

Almost Perfect:
I own many spanish books, but this is the only one I pick up and read again and again. From the section on tricky words that look like English words but mean something TOTALLY different in Spanish to healthy advice on grammar, to lists of useful verbs (including new twists on old verbs ... who knew you could "puedo con" something or that "penso ir" was planning to go). To round out the full experience the author even included a comprehensive section on swearing (and how to avoid it). Well worth the money. I especially enjoyed the section on how NOT to sound like a gringo. My only beef with the book was the grammar section. After explaining what a subjunctive was, when it was needed, why you needed it and thoroughly sold you on your dire need to master this portion of the language he left out HOW to make a verb subjunctive. Fortunately a bit of looking on the internet popped up that information for me. I've had the book for about 6 months and still read it again and again getting new phrases and insights from every read. Worth every penny.