Teach Yourself Latin American Spanish: A Complete Course for Beginners

Rating:
Summary: ¡Different accents!
Review: Although I am Brazilian, what makes Spanish easier to learn, I found the method quite efficient and the different accents are a must, its main feature. Congratulations to the author! Worth the price!

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, practical, and helpful
Review: As you may know, some words that are common and acceptable in European Spanish settings happen to have a vulgar meaning in some regions of Latin America. For example, "coger" (a very common word in Spain, used very extensively in every textbook of the European Spanish) has an extremely embarrassing sexual meaning in countries such as Argentina and can be considered a taboo word. Since most Spanish speakers in North-America (and in the world) are native Hispano-Americans, it is crucial for us to learn their particular language. This book and audiotapes contain practically useful information on the variations in the Latin-American Spanish vocabulary and pronunciation. The book and tapes will teach you how the pronunciation and the meaning of some words differ from country to country on our American continent. It covers some of the basic unique features of the Argentinian and Chilean Spanish as well as some salient features of the Mexican Spanish, Venezuelan, Carribean, Peruvian, and Columbian Spanish. I have much enjoyed the audio-tapes. They are made with the native speakers from these various countries and will help you to comprehend some of the regional dialects of Latin-American Spanish. The tapes deal with practical situations that most tourists are likely to face in these countries. These tapes are well suited for those who want to learn while commuting to work. There is more emphasis in the audio-tapes on teaching you to understand spoken Latin-American Spanish than on the grammar. The dialogues on the tapes indirectly provide much information about many of these Latin-American countries, the lifestyle, and some of the problems that may be encountered by travelers, as well as about enjoyable places to visit or the special types of delightful food you may enjoy while traveling in some of these countries. I have studied Spanish from other audio-tapes and textbooks for several months before starting this particular textbook and tapes. However, I have always wanted to know about the regional differences in Latin-American Spanish and this textbook and tapes were more helpful for me in this respect than any other course so far. The book is written in a refreshing, tactful, and likeable modern style that is pedagogically superior to and more practical than the outdated language textbooks and tapes commonly seen in urban bookstores that have not been properly revised since early 1960s (with boring repetitive references to household items or class-room equipment used 50 years ago). I have enjoyed reading this book. It is an introductory book. If you have never studied Spanish before, this course will teach you to communicate fairly well in most basic situations and in the most basic ways. If you wish to engage in complex conversations or in business negotiations in Spanish, you may need to use another course or textbook and tapes later on to practice using the Spanish grammar in more detail and also to expand your vocabulary as the next step. However, if you have to speak in Spanish with Latin-Americans or would travel in Latin-America, this book and tapes definitely give precious help in areas not covered by other sets of books and tapes. This particular book and the tapes are enjoyable and helpful. You may actually fall in love with Latin-America while reading this textbook and listening to the tapes.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, practical, and helpful
Review: As you may know, some words that are common and acceptable in European Spanish settings happen to have a vulgar meaning in some regions of Latin America. For example, "coger" (a very common word in Spain, used very extensively in every textbook of the European Spanish) has an extremely embarrassing sexual meaning in countries such as Argentina and can be considered a taboo word. Since most Spanish speakers in North-America (and in the world) are native Hispano-Americans, it is crucial for us to learn their particular language. This book and audiotapes contain practically useful information on the variations in the Latin-American Spanish vocabulary and pronunciation. The book and tapes will teach you how the pronunciation and the meaning of some words differ from country to country on our American continent. It covers some of the basic unique features of the Argentinian and Chilean Spanish as well as some salient features of the Mexican Spanish, Venezuelan, Carribean, Peruvian, and Columbian Spanish. I have much enjoyed the audio-tapes. They are made with the native speakers from these various countries and will help you to comprehend some of the regional dialects of Latin-American Spanish. The tapes deal with practical situations that most tourists are likely to face in these countries. These tapes are well suited for those who want to learn while commuting to work. There is more emphasis in the audio-tapes on teaching you to understand spoken Latin-American Spanish than on the grammar. The dialogues on the tapes indirectly provide much information about many of these Latin-American countries, the lifestyle, and some of the problems that may be encountered by travelers, as well as about enjoyable places to visit or the special types of delightful food you may enjoy while traveling in some of these countries. I have studied Spanish from other audio-tapes and textbooks for several months before starting this particular textbook and tapes. However, I have always wanted to know about the regional differences in Latin-American Spanish and this textbook and tapes were more helpful for me in this respect than any other course so far. The book is written in a refreshing, tactful, and likeable modern style that is pedagogically superior to and more practical than the outdated language textbooks and tapes commonly seen in urban bookstores that have not been properly revised since early 1960s (with boring repetitive references to household items or class-room equipment used 50 years ago). I have enjoyed reading this book. It is an introductory book. If you have never studied Spanish before, this course will teach you to communicate fairly well in most basic situations and in the most basic ways. If you wish to engage in complex conversations or in business negotiations in Spanish, you may need to use another course or textbook and tapes later on to practice using the Spanish grammar in more detail and also to expand your vocabulary as the next step. However, if you have to speak in Spanish with Latin-Americans or would travel in Latin-America, this book and tapes definitely give precious help in areas not covered by other sets of books and tapes. This particular book and the tapes are enjoyable and helpful. You may actually fall in love with Latin-America while reading this textbook and listening to the tapes.

Rating:
Summary: Only for the experienced
Review: I agree completely with the previous reviewer about for whom this book is most appropriate for, although I am not as harsh with my rating. I have used four books by Teach Yourself in my spanish studies: Spanish, Further Spanish, Business Spanish, and this book. Each book is very helpful for one with a basic background in spanish, but many words are not translated in the chapters (you have to look them up in the index) or not translated at all. Most of the dialogues on the tapes for each series were uneven at best, with one speaker talking very quickly and one more slowly. The dialogues should have started out more slowly and perhaps provided two versions of each dialogue, one slow and one faster. There certainly is room on the tapes for more dialogues; perhaps TY could offer a longe-running tape in their next versions. I found the book exercises challenging and helpful, and each chapter presents language skills that are immediately usable. I did, however, find that many of my Latino friends disagreed with some of the usage. As it is said, you learn spanish by the book, and then by speaking it with native speakers you learn "real spanish". I have been overall pleased with all the TY books (I have also used Italian, Japanese, Chinese, German, and Finnish), and for the money they are a great bargain, but I would be willing to pay a few dollars more for a more perfected version.

Rating:
Summary: Only for the experienced
Review: I agree completely with the previous reviewer about for whom this book is most appropriate for, although I am not as harsh with my rating. I have used four books by Teach Yourself in my spanish studies: Spanish, Further Spanish, Business Spanish, and this book. Each book is very helpful for one with a basic background in spanish, but many words are not translated in the chapters (you have to look them up in the index) or not translated at all. Most of the dialogues on the tapes for each series were uneven at best, with one speaker talking very quickly and one more slowly. The dialogues should have started out more slowly and perhaps provided two versions of each dialogue, one slow and one faster. There certainly is room on the tapes for more dialogues; perhaps TY could offer a longe-running tape in their next versions. I found the book exercises challenging and helpful, and each chapter presents language skills that are immediately usable. I did, however, find that many of my Latino friends disagreed with some of the usage. As it is said, you learn spanish by the book, and then by speaking it with native speakers you learn "real spanish". I have been overall pleased with all the TY books (I have also used Italian, Japanese, Chinese, German, and Finnish), and for the money they are a great bargain, but I would be willing to pay a few dollars more for a more perfected version.

Rating:
Summary: not for beginners
Review: I bought the book first, because it used the conversational method, and thought it was great -- all it needed was the cassette tape to go with it. So I bought the tape, and it's a big disappointment. It has one fatal flaw: the spoken phrases and conversations begin at rapid-fire rate from the very beginning. There's no pause between sentences, no pause between speakers, no time to listen. There's no way a complete beginner can listen to something like this on a cassette player without constantly pausing, pausing, pausing, desperately trying to hear what these people are saying. It defeats the whole purpose of a language tape. I notice that the two reviewers who liked this tape both have previous Spanish language experience. If you don't know a word of Spanish, find something else.

Rating:
Summary: not for beginners
Review: I bought the book first, because it used the conversational method, and thought it was great -- all it needed was the cassette tape to go with it. So I bought the tape, and it's a big disappointment. It has one fatal flaw: the spoken phrases and conversations begin at rapid-fire rate from the very beginning. There's no pause between sentences, no pause between speakers, no time to listen. There's no way a complete beginner can listen to something like this on a cassette player without constantly pausing, pausing, pausing, desperately trying to hear what these people are saying. It defeats the whole purpose of a language tape. I notice that the two reviewers who liked this tape both have previous Spanish language experience. If you don't know a word of Spanish, find something else.

Rating:
Summary: Nearly there
Review: This is a good course. I am using it and I am happy with the lessons. It is good that we now have proper courses for latin america rather than having to use peninsular spanish and then you are not understood, which has happened to me. This is a step forward, but in my view is not enough. Within latin america there are many differences. There are important pronunciation differences, in the vowels, in final s, in h for x, and many others. There are also important structural differences, like the verbs that go with vos and the tuteo. In my view, we should have at least two separate courses, one mainly for Mexico and one mainly for Argentina. If we are serious about courses that really teach the language for the country where you go, we cannot iron out the differences.

Rating:
Summary: Quite good but not enough
Review: This is quite a good course in itself. I like the method, the practical teaching, the exercises, etc, etc. But I have a problem with the fact that differences in the language of a number of countries are simply ironed out under the umbrella name of "Latin American Spanish". The language of, say, Costa Rica and that of Mexico have deep differences. If you are serious about addressing the needs of learners with different destinations, then you have to do more than just offering an alternative to Castilian Spanish. You have to give us, the learners, a course that provides the local language we need, so we can communicate. If it weren't for my native speaker teacher, my Mexican Spanish might not have been Mexican enough.

Rating:
Summary: Different regional dialects
Review: What led me to buy this book and audio cassette set was the use of different regional dialects. Most of the audio cassettes I've purchased have native speakers from Spain. I enjoyed listening to the different conversations by the speakers from Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, and Argentina. However, I think that the book is better suited for non-beginners. (I started learning Spanish when I was 14, so this was a review for me.) The speakers speak a little too fast on the cassettes for the beginners, but overall this is a good buy.