<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: For my classes
Review: I teach a Beginners' Basic Conversational Spanish course at a local recreation center. This is the second time I'm ordering copies of this book for my group. I find it clear, not for kids and with a little humor to boot. It could be used as a do-it-yourself course too. The CD that comes with it is essential.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been better
Review: This book has a good price for a language book with a CD, but they didn't put all the dialogues on the CD. This was clearly an oversight on the part of the person responsible for producing the CD. Here's the problem: There are 2 dialogues per lesson. Up through lesson 10, both are on the CD. But starting with lesson 11, only the first dialog is on the CD. (The last lesson, 20, has both of them again). Another problem is that the book does not say which CD track corresponds with the book. (For example Track 21 is for Chapter 11, Dialog 1). I ended up writing the track numbers in the book myself so I could find them on the disc. On the plus side, the layout is entertaining, with lots of fonts, consistently used, good use of space and shading. The author is not writing a book for a classroom. Translations for each chapter are at the end of the chapter, a much better place to find them, than looking at the end of the book. One feature that a lot of other books don't work much with is the personal you (tú) form of address. This book uses it a lot, especially in the dialogues. Another feature is that the book is written for an adult, not a student, so you can learn how to say hangover. I was a bit distraught that the section where you say how old you are in Spanish was before the number that I would need for my age! Another feature is that the author, Pilar Munday, is a woman, and doesn't mind telling MEN that THEY have to say certain words differently, rather than the other way around. There are some minor errors in the text. I went to the LivingLanguage website looking for an errata sheet. All that's there is a miserable on-line shopping cart.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: This book has a good price for a language book with a CD, but they didn't put all the dialogues on the CD. This was clearly an oversight on the part of the person responsible for producting the CD. Here's the problem: There are 2 dialogues per lesson. Up through lesson 10, both are on the CD. But starting with lesson 11, only the first dialog is on the CD. (The last lesson, 20, has both of them again). Another problem is that the book does not say which CD track corresponds with the book. (For example Track 21 is for Chapter 11, Dialog 1). I ended up writing the track numbers in the book myself so I could find them on the disc. On the plus side, the layout is entertaining, with lots of fonts, consistently used, good use of space and shading. The author is not writing a book for a classroom. Translations for each chapter are at the end of the chapter, a much better place to find them, than looking at the end of the book. One feature that a lot of other books don't work much with is the personal you (tú) form of address. This book uses it a lot, especially in the dialogues. Another feature is that the book is written for an adult, not a student, so you can learn how to say hangover. I was a bit distraught that the section where you say how old you are in Spanish was before the number that I would need for my age! Another feature is that the author, Pilar Munday, is a woman, and doesn't mind telling MEN that THEY have to say certain words differently, rather than the other way around. There are some minor errors in the text. I went to the LivingLanguage website looking for an errata sheet. All that's there is a miserable on-line shopping cart.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: This book has a good price for a language book with a CD, but they didn't put all the dialogues on the CD. This was clearly an oversight on the part of the person responsible for producting the CD. Here's the problem: There are 2 dialogues per lesson. Up through lesson 10, both are on the CD. But starting with lesson 11, only the first dialog is on the CD. (The last lesson, 20, has both of them again). Another problem is that the book does not say which CD track corresponds with the book. (For example Track 21 is for Chapter 11, Dialog 1). I ended up writing the track numbers in the book myself so I could find them on the disc. On the plus side, the layout is entertaining, with lots of fonts, consistently used, good use of space and shading. The author is not writing a book for a classroom. Translations for each chapter are at the end of the chapter, a much better place to find them, than looking at the end of the book. One feature that a lot of other books don't work much with is the personal you (tú) form of address. This book uses it a lot, especially in the dialogues. Another feature is that the book is written for an adult, not a student, so you can learn how to say hangover. I was a bit distraught that the section where you say how old you are in Spanish was before the number that I would need for my age! Another feature is that the author, Pilar Munday, is a woman, and doesn't mind telling MEN that THEY have to say certain words differently, rather than the other way around. There are some minor errors in the text. I went to the LivingLanguage website looking for an errata sheet. All that's there is a miserable on-line shopping cart.
<< 1 >>
| 
