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| Easy Spanish Step-By-Step (Step By Step) | 
 enlarge | Author: Bregstein Barbara
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $11.95
Buy New: $5.94
You Save: $6.01 (50%)
Buy New/Used from $5.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  (14 reviews)
Sales Rank: 103253
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.3 x 1
ISBN: 0071463380
Dewey Decimal Number: 468.2421
EAN: 9780071463386
ASIN: 0071463380
Publication Date: November 30, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A proven grammar-based approach that gets you communicating in Spanish with confidence, right away . . Easy Spanish Step by Step proves that a solid grounding in grammar basics is the key to mastering a second language. Grammatical rules and concepts are clearly explained in order of importance, and more than 300 verbs and key terms are introduced on the basis of frequency. Numerous exercises and engaging readings help learners quickly build their Spanish speaking and comprehension prowess. . .
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Closest book to one stop shopping and affordable too! November 8, 2008
I agree with some of the reviewers below who say this book has shortcomings in terms of being an ALL things to ALL people text. However.... it is the CLOSEST thing I've every seen to a one-stop shopping solution for the student of Spanish. It introduces vocabulary in order of importance, is very logically structured and presents grammar in chunks along with vocabulary and reading material so that the reader can integrate it.
I have spoken Spanish for a many years and own LOTS of books. This book is dollar-for-dollar one of the best values out there and I have a shelf of just Spanish books. However, this resource can't stand alone. If you are serious about learning Spanish I think you will find that you need Spanish I - 2nd Rev. Ed.: Learn to Speak and Understand Spanish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Comprehensive) or the less expensive Conversational Spanish: Learn to Speak and Understand Spanish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's) to get good at listening and speaking at conversational speeds. Don't make the mistake that Pimsleur materials are like any of the other recorded material out there.... they are NOT... they are hands-down the best audio only program I know of to get things into long-term memory.
Another excellent, but wow... expensive product is Rosetta Stone V3: Spanish (Latin America), Level 1, 2 & 3. While this product is expense, you can buy it used or one piece at a time. Unfortunately, I like Level I the least.... but the other levels are well worth the expense in terms of speeding up your learning process, solidifying concepts and getting you to think it Spanish. It also teaches grammar by immersion.... similar to how a baby learns language.
In short.... you can't go wrong with this inexpensive, but well-organized, dense and manageable book. It is not superficial, but it is also fun and a good reference.
This is a good place to start learning Spanish November 6, 2008
This book does what you would expect from a beginners workbook on Spanish. This is my second self-help book for beginning Spanish and I found it very helpful. The book requires that you complete numerous written exercises to help you understand Spanish grammar. I found that this really helped me understand sentence structure. After completing the book I feel I can read Spanish reasonably well and I am much better at it now than when I started.
That being said, when listening to a native speaker I can still do little more than pick out certain words and I do not yet have any confidence in my ability to speak Spanish. So, this will not be the last Spanish workbook I'll ever need.
The stories are good, the instruction is easy to understand and exercises are very helpful.
Not perfect, but the best I found September 28, 2008
There is no "one size fits all" book or other language learning material. This book will work best for people who have a background in another romance language. I would not recommend it for language novices, especially not for self-study, as it is probably too fast-paced. This book has exactly what I was looking for - review of basic grammar rules without too much detail to bog it down, and alot of exercises and practical vocabulary. Alot of grammar books do not go into the vocab adequately, which means you have to find another way of boning up on this. What this book does not have are pictures and a visually-appealing layout - something visual learners will miss, but which you cannot expect in a $12 book. I've worked through the first three chapters and skimmed through the rest. While I do not think I could find a book more closely matching my needs, I will definitely have to supplement this book with my own "exercises" - lots of written and out-loud practice of what's covered (not to mention separate conversational and listening comprehension practice).
Finally, no book on its own will teach you to properly speak a language unless you already have a 2nd language or are naturally gifted in languages. The problem with this and most other books is that they market themselves as "the book" that is the exception. If Spanish is your first foreign language and your goal is to speak it properly (not necessarily fluently, but not butchering it), you really should have outside help - a tutor, Spanish class, or a Spanish speaking friend who's willing to help you practice - and if you can't find this help, then you should use study materials with multimedia, e.g., listening CDs that you can practice along with. If you just want to learn some conversational phrases, then a conversation book (i.e., not this book) would be better.
 Not easy and not fast January 2, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
The book advertises that you can learn Spanish in 15 easy lessons. For one thing, the lessons are quite long and dense, containing a lot of information to learn in just one lesson. Why not break up the information into shorter lessons that would be easier to digest?
Another frustrating thing about using this text is that it won't help you to speak in anytime soon. Isn't part of the fun and impetus in learning a foreign language conversing with others? You don't even get to the past tense until 200 pages into the book. Try conversing with someone and not using the past tense...it's frustrating and just doesn't work.
Also, my native-speaking tutor is constantly pointing out inaccuracies and unnatural language usage.
I've discovered the Madrigal book, and this has made learning fun and easy!
Clear and concise textbook July 13, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I began teaching a community enrichment class in Spanish and was looking for something less cumbersome in a textbook. After considering many different texts I chose Easy Spanish. This book is not overwhelming for most people having their first experience with Spanish and is very inexpensive. It lacks graphics which may account for the reasonable price but I was able to make up for that with handouts in class. Most people were interested in travel and this book is small enough to take along allowing for continued study; right when its needed most. I also like the organization, although its a little fast as regards grammer, it does allow people to develop some basic conversational skills quickly. All of the grammatical concepts and vocabulary are reintroduced in readings in the following chapters which provides great reinforcement and a sense of achievement.
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