Conversational Spanish in 20 Lessons (Cortina method)

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended book:Conversational Spanish in 20 lessons
Review: Dear Sir, I will be very short! I bought the book some time ago. I am a Spanish teacher. From all the books I have, the one that more fits the group that I am working with is this one.

I had been looking a long time for books;I am giving lessons to people in the horeca f.i.who knows nothing about Spanish, in a short time the basics of the the spanish language. I am now asking you if it is possible for me to order 25 books. What are the costs and how long will it take to deliver the books.

If possible just send me an e-mail with some more information about the possibilities, costs, ways to pay and so on.

Sincerly , A.S.

Rating:
Summary: Good reference, but not a modern text
Review: If you want a good grammar reference, this is the book. However, the text is old. There are several vocabulary items that reveal the original age in which the course was written (1882). For example, in the travel chapter, it has the Spanish word el vapor, steamship. Hey, we don't even call them by that term in English!
Also, the pronunciation guide is for the Madrid dialect only, with no variation for Latin America. Sr. Cortina had a good idea in 1882, but the methods and language have changed over the last 120 years. Perhaps the publishers should consider either updating the material or taking this one out of print.
By the way, I am a Spanish teacher who was looking for a simple conversational book for adults with little or no background. Needless to say, I had to do a lot to supplement this text.

Rating:
Summary: Good reference, but not a modern text
Review: If you want a good grammar reference, this is the book. However, the text is old. There are several vocabulary items that reveal the original age in which the course was written (1882). For example, in the travel chapter, it has the Spanish word el vapor, steamship. Hey, we don't even call them by that term in English!
Also, the pronunciation guide is for the Madrid dialect only, with no variation for Latin America. Sr. Cortina had a good idea in 1882, but the methods and language have changed over the last 120 years. Perhaps the publishers should consider either updating the material or taking this one out of print.
By the way, I am a Spanish teacher who was looking for a simple conversational book for adults with little or no background. Needless to say, I had to do a lot to supplement this text.

Rating:
Summary: mediocre
Review: this book is a good resource in despite of my rating. however, it is a good resource only for someone with previous knowledge of spanish. the final chapters are literature excerpts, but contain no translation which i would find frustrating if i were a novice.