The Oxford Spanish Cartoon-Strip Vocabulary Builder

Rating:
Summary: Great supplement for learning Spanish!
Review: From the perspective of a Spanish teacher, this is a wonderful book to help build your Spanish vocabulary and comprehension.

The way the it's set up is: On one page there is a FULL page cartoon strip in color. There is a lot of dialogue, idioms, and basic vocabulary. One the opposite page is a list of vocabulary found in the comic strip in Spanish and English, divided into categories. The book is organized by cartoon title and topic. Some topics include: food & drink, money, travelling, etc. There are 30 cartoons in total, a well-organized table of contents, a glossary and a verb conjugation help section.

I definitely think this would be a great way to expand your knowledge (or your students' knowledge) of Spanish in a very interesting and humorous context.

The content is appropriate for high school and college level students, and for any level of study, although first and second year students would need help understanding the more complex structures.

Rating:
Summary: Vocabulary builder is great
Review: I learned everyday English by reading a lot of comics and I always wanted a comic strip in Spanish. This book is exactly that and has a vocab reference for each strip. Great way to learn!

Rating:
Summary: Fill your head with boatloads of words in context...
Review: Nothing beats a good context for picking up foreign language vocabulary. Many books simply push lists of words into the reader's head and hope that something catches to make the words stick. Unfortunately, rote memorization unaccompanied by usage typically results in horrificly low retention rates. This book has none zip nada of those problems. True, it includes lists of vocabulary words and lots of them. But the comics set it apart from other books that claim to expand one's vocabulary. Instead of sitting on a neuron impatiently waiting for an opportunity for use, the comics give the words a context. The word lists then becomes more of a map to help navigate the comics, and retention skyrockets.

The comics focus more on European Spanish (or Español Iberico) than American Spanish. Nonetheless, the word and phrase lists also include references and idioms unique to Latin American Spanish. Words and phrases not used in Latin American Spanish get an asterisk next to them, so it's easy to tell them apart. Regardless, this book will probably better suit those wanting to speak Spanish in Spain. But anyone learning Spanish can benefit greatly from it.

Probably the best way to get the most out of this book is to read all of the vocabulary for a particular comic first, then read that same comic a few times through to cement the words in memory. Repetition and context will fuel retention, and returning to previously read comics will yield surprising results. Some words will stick like paste on a first reading; others may take a few times through. Nonetheless, many rewards await those who read through the entire book more than a few times.

Lastly, this is not a beginner's Spanish book. It assumes much foreknowledge from the reader. Basic grammar and very basic vocabulary are not covered in any depth. Probably the best time to go through this book would be after completing a basic Spanish class or book (i.e., know more than just present indicative verb conjugation, sentence structure, same basic vocabulary, pronouns, etc.). The level of learning can best be described as beginner intermediate. Those in the advanced level will likely breeze through it. So get going, read some comics, and learn a load of Spanish words.