Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish

Rating:
Summary: an excellent complement to a textbook
Review: I read this book during my 4th class of Espanol at the university level. This is not an introductory book, so don't bother to read it unless you have a solid understanding of Spanish basics, including basic conjugation, the subjunctive mood, etc.

This book has a lot of tips to sharpen your Spanish. Chapter 8 has "sentence starters" to help you start off your spoken Spanish; evidently these are the equivalent to English's "well..." or "the thing is..." Chapter 9 has "snappy answers" organised according to how you want to respond (e.g. in disbelief, with surprise, etc.) The answers for affirmation are quite useful (e.g. esta bien, claro, de acuerdo). Of course, you can easily get this information from any college-level textbook, but the distribution of these words into nicely organised categories is quite useful. There is also a chapter on how to swear effectively (evidently chingar is a strong word), which I never did in my classroom. An earlier chapter on how to use 64 key verbs was invaluable as well.

One particular chapter I loved was how to choose the correct Spanish word for particular English verbs. This can get tricky for some English infinitives like "to become" and "to happen." Another chapter on the history of the Spanish language was very interesting to read.

One thing I didn't like was the treatment of the subjunctive mood -- it left me a bit more confused, and my Spanish teacher actually told me that some information was incorrect. Finally, one glaring omission that I hope the author writes about in any later edition is the use of "por" vs. "para". To me, this trickiness is right up there with "ser" vs. "estar."

Rating:
Summary: Excellent but not for amateurs...
Review: I moved to Mexico two years ago and enrolled in a language school right off the bat. I also bought this book. After reading it, I thought it was helpful, but not excessively so because I didn't quite "get" everything it was trying to tell me. I stuck it on the bookshelf.

Now, two years later, I'm going through it again and discovering a virtual gold mine of information. My point being: Take the book's title seriously. This is a book for people firmly at the intermediate level or above. For these people, it answers a ton of things that have proved baffling. For these people, the book is a gem. If you are departing the beginner stage, this stupendous book will answer lots of those things you've been scratching your head over. Immensely valuable.

But don't buy it for Spanish 101.

Rating:
Summary: More Spanish Books Like This One, Please!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish
Review: My personal thanks to Joseph Keenan for this book, which has been most helpful and invaluable to me. If you are looking for a step-by-step guide to the nuances of grammer, this is not it! :o) This is an entertaining cultural guide to the language! It is funny, which helps me to remember the material presented. I am part Latina, have studied Spanish for years, and have traveled to 7 Spanish speaking countries, and no one thing has done more to improve my Spanish than this book! Now when I speak native speakers comment with surprise at how natural my Spanish sounds. Another plus for this book is that the author goes to great pains to teach you how not to slip up, sound stupid, or unintentionally offend. Joseph Keenan remembers what it was like to be the gringo struggling with the language, and plays the part of the fluent friend you wish you had with you on that last trip to Latin America! Thanks Joseph!!!

Rating:
Summary: an excellent book for intermediate students
Review: This book was required for a university class in Spanish conversation. There is so much information in this book that is invaluable to the Spanish student. It is written to show the intermediate student how to "break out" of the textbook Spanish into real, conversational Spanish. It tells you what aspects of the language are really used in common language and speaking, and it tells you what you should and should not say in order to sound more like a native speaker.

This is a book that can be read over and over again, and it is a very good reference tool. You should not expect to be able to remember everything, because there is so much information. It will tell you everything from how to vary your speech, to how to better learn and improve your Spanish, to how to recognize profanity. It gives you information that you cannot get anywhere else - information that they do not teach you in the classroom. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book as soon as you finish Spanish 101!
Review: (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.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: this book is awesome- essential reading
Review: The world really needs more writers like Joseph Keenan. I just returned from Mexico, studied spanish for three weeks in a school. Everything I read in this book worked, with pleasant results. People thought I was a lot more fluent than I really was, and I shined above other students at my own level from studying this book before I went. This book gives verb usages and phrases that you're not going to learn in the language class. It also helps you get around English verb/preposition concepts that don't have a direct translation in spanish, that's what you need to start thinking in your new language. If you want to learn spanish, you should study this book right along with your verb conjugations and grammar constructs. This book is totally useful.