Teach Yourself Latin American Spanish Complete Course

Rating:
Summary: All-in-all, quite helpful
Review: A great idea, especially for Americans who are much more likely to go to hispanoamerica than Spain. Lots of info, but not really specific enough. One day maybe there will be a version for each country (Mexico, Agnetina, etc.) It is too easy to confuse local idioms and receive confused looks when you try to use this book as gospel. Still, it is helpful, and well-formatted.

Rating:
Summary: Only for the highly motivated
Review: I bought this book (and several others) as part of a plan to learn some Spanish prior to a trip to Ecuador.

I will readily admit that I did not make it very far into this book. While I liked the fact that it teaches Spanish for the Western Hemisphere, I had real trouble trying to learn to speak by reading. I did not buy the cassettes that are available for use with this book. I think I would have been more successful if I had.

The book also moves very quickly. So if you don't want to go through 3 chapters of "hi, how are you" conversation at the beginning, you might like this book.

I eventually purchased a learn-from-tape program (Pimsleur, no book needed) that worked for my personal style.

Rating:
Summary: conversations -- at last!
Review: When I took French in college, the emphasis was on everyday conversations, not rote memorization of vocabulary and verb endings. For a long time I've looked for a Spanish book that used the conversation method, and, for me, this book is it. I find it far easier to remember Spanish words and phrases in the context of casual conversation, as in this book, rather than from a lengthy vocabulary list. I do think the audio tape will help with pronunciation -- otherwise, I recommend this book heartily.