Customer Reviews:
Mastering Spanish.......2007-02-16
I was very pleased with the availability of this item that is difficult to find in stores. I was thrilled with the price. The order and delivery was very efficient and rapid. My only complaint was with the quality of the printing in the book. Thank you for your service.
Mastering Spanish Level Two.......2007-02-06
GENERAL: This is the continuation of the Level One course. All of the comments to this course apply to level one. The course starts with the introduction of the subjuntive mood via drills.
STRENGTHS: This audio is excellent in terms of verbal drills. The exercises train the mind and body in applying grammatical rules. By replaying sections of the CD, it is possible to train not only the mind, but the tongue and mouth to speak Spanish clearly with minimum English accent.
Being forced to vary sentence structure in the exercises, translate from English to Spanish and build sentences using phrases are exemplary in inculcating Spanish into the subconscious.
The lessons present many nuiances of speaking Spanish, particularly intonation patterns, which are not presented in any other course.
WEAKNESSES: Readers are primarily Mexican and have strong Mexican accents. Voice tones of a couple of the readers are very similar and it is difficult to differentiate which character is speaking. The reading presentations are often stiff; the readers are definately not trained actors. The lack of verbal emotion make contextual understanding a little difficult.
There is no practice in the Vosotros forms. The grammatical explanations of the textbook are weak. This course should be used following or in conjunction with a rigorous grammar training course.
SUMMARY: An essential supplement to rigorous grammar course, but it is not a stand alone course.
What is Barron's Mastering Spanish or Foreign Service Institute Spanish as it is commonly known?.......2006-09-08
I buy any Spanish lessons that are named FSI. That includes Platiquemos FSI, FSI Programmatic Spanish and Barron's Foreign Service Institute (Barron's Mastering Spanish). I think that enough reviewers have already established that the FSI method is only for the serious student of this language, not a traveler that is looking for a crash course just before he takes a trip to Mexico, Spain, or the Dominican Republic. FSI is only for the person that is looking to one day speak Spanish fluently. These lessons are great for that purpose.
One of the things that I like most about Foreign Service Institute Spanish Level Two (Barron's Mastering Spanish II)
is that this course covers Indirect Commands better than any other Spanish course. Next to the subjunctive, the topic of Indirect Commands has given me the most trouble in my pursuit to learn Spanish. Here are few things that you will learn from this course:
Que alquiles la case. (Hope you rent the house).
Que no abran los libros. (Don't let them open the books).
Que diga la verdad. (Make him tell the truth).
No Spanish course that I know of (and I am very familiar with many of them) teaches Indirect Commands as well as this course. For that reason alone, you'll want to purchase this course. Unfortunately, Foreign Service Institute Spanish Level Two doesn't do a good job teaching the subjunctive. If you want to learn the subjunctive, then you have to buy FSI Programmatic Spanish II - Remastered. The remastered version has better or digital sound quality.
Foreign Service Institute Level One (Barron's Mastering Spanish Level One) covers lessons 1 to 15 in this series. Foreign Service Institute Level Two (Barron's Mastering Spanish Level Two) covers lessons 16 to 30 in this series. FSI Spanish 3 covers 31 to 45. And the final level in the series, FSI Spanish 4, covers 46 to 60.
When you buy FSI Programmatic Spanish I or II Remastered here at Amazon you also get, FSI Spanish 3 and 4 as bonus downloads.
If you are really serious about speaking Spanish fluently, at some point you will have to buy this course as well as FSI Programmatic Spanish II (unless you have the chance to skip
the self-study courses because you can live in a Spanish
speaking country). If you buy this one before FSI Programmatic Spanish II, just know that this course only covers up to lesson 30, and that to continue in this series you can get downloadable remastered versions of FSI Spanish 3 and 4 (lessons 31 to 60) as bonus gifts when you buy FSI Programmatic Spanish I or II Remastered here at Amazon.
This information really had me confused at first so I wanted to clarify it for other Amazon learners of the Spanish language.
Book Description
The new edition of this intensive language-immersion course has been updated with new references, and up-to-date vocabulary and idioms. The program package consists of a textbook and a set of 12 compact discs. This comprehensive language program is the same as the one used by the U.S. Government to teach Spanish to personnel in the diplomatic service and other internationally related government agencies. Students who complete the course successfully will have much more than a few foreign phrases at their disposal, but will possess a solid understanding of a new language. The program is ideal for classroom instruction but is also designed so that serious individuals who want to become fluent in Spanish can teach themselves. This course teaches every aspect of the language: vocabulary, grammar, conversing, reading, writing, and listening comprehension.
Customer Reviews:
Very Comprehensive.......2007-05-12
This learn Spanish set is exellent value. I wish to learn Spanish for my work, and have checked out many products. This looks like the most comprehensive, user friendly on the market.
What is the Barron's FSI Method?.......2007-05-10
I am probably the biggest FSI Spanish fan that you'll ever meet. I have done every version of FSI, including the Programmatic series, Barrons, and Platiquemos. I even completed FSI 3 and 4. I have also written numerous posts on Amazon raving about the FSI method and have told others that one of the best methods for learning Spanish is the FSI method.
I think that enough reviewers have already established that the FSI method is only for the serious student of this language, not a traveler that is looking for a crash course just before he takes a trip to Mexico, Spain, or the Dominican Republic. Barrons FSI and all of the other FSI courses are only for the person that is looking to one day speak Spanish fluently. These lessons are great for that purpose.
One of the things that I like most about Foreign Service Institute Spanish Level One (Barron's Mastering Spanish I) is the drills. After completing the drills 4 or 5 times, I was a lot more confident about speaking Spanish than before I did the drills. Incidentally, the drills is also the feature about this course that many do not like. Some people consider the drills tedious. They may be somewhat tedious, but the amount of Spanish that you will master is worth the effort.
Foreign Service Institute Level One (Barron's Mastering Spanish Level One) covers lessons 1 to 15 in this series. Foreign Service Institute Level Two (Barron's Mastering Spanish Level Two) covers lessons 16 to 30 in this series. FSI Spanish 3 covers 31 to 45. And the final level in the series, FSI Spanish 4, covers 46 to 60.
When you buy "FSI Programmatic Spanish I Remastered" or "FSI Programmatic Spanish II Remastered" here at Amazon you also get, FSI Spanish 3 and 4 as bonus downloads. "FSI Programmatic Spanish Remastered" is not to be confused with this course, Foreign Service Institute Level One (i.e. Barron's Mastering Spanish Level One). "FSI Programmatic Spanish Remastered" and this course, Foreign Service Institute Level One (i.e. Barron's Mastering Spanish Level One) are different spanish courses. Both were created by the U.S. government's Department of State's Foreign Service Institute back in the 1960's.
This information really had me confused at first so I wanted to clarify it for other Amazon learners of the Spanish language.
The only Spanish courses that I know of that come close to teaching as much Spanish as the FSI Spanish courses are the Learning Spanish Like Crazy Level One and Two. Both Learning Spanish Like Crazy One and Two taught me just as much vocabulary and grammar as the FSI courses but the vocabulary that I learned in LSLC was more useful. The Barron's FSI courses covered a lot of military vocabulary from the 1960's. With the rate that technology has changed for the military since the 1960's some of the vocabulary words taught in Barron's FSI Spanish are now obsolete. Besides the fact that Barron's FSI Spanish requires the user to use a textbook with the lessons (in other words, this is not a learn-in-your-car-user-friendly course), another major difference between the FSI courses and LSLC is that the LSLC teaching method is actually fun and certainly easier to do than the FSI teaching method.
To sum it all up, if you are serious about learning to speak Spanish fluently, then this is a great choice. If you are not serious about reaching fluency, then you will want to steer clear away from this course.
Mastering Spanish level 1.......2006-11-18
A very thorough course, FSI (Foreigh Service Institute) and State Department courses have to be good. Nothing is free though: all foreign language study requires 100% participation which can be a lot of work!
FSI Programmatic Spanish or Barron's Mastering Spanish? You decide.......2006-07-02
I am the owner of Toni Roman's LearningSpanishVideoReviews web site, and I am glad to review of this wonderful resource for the serious learner of Spanish.
Barron's' Mastering Spanish is a course that I would rate somewhere between good and excellent. But as multiple reviewers have already pointed out, it is a course that should only be used by the serious student of Spanish.
There are many reasons why people want to learn Spanish. Some people just want to learn because they have an upcoming trip to Spain or Latin America and just want to learn enough Spanish to impress the natives. If that's your motive for learning Spanish, save yourself a disappointment as well as the cost of this course and buy something more suitable for your needs.
Other people are just interested in learning numerous languages and only want to learn enough to carry on a basic conversation before moving on to "conquering" the next language. And if that's your motive for learning Spanish, you'll probably find that this course is overkill. But if your ultimate goal is to speak Spanish fluently, this is one of only a few courses that will ever help you achieve your goal.
If you like the teaching method in this course, you may also like another course called FSI Programmatic Spanish. Both Barron's' Mastering Spanish and FSI Programmatic Spanish were originally developed by the Foreign Service Institute. Both courses make you use text that comes with the CDs. And both courses were recorded before the invention of CDs. And maybe even before the invention of cassette players if not 8 track players. But both courses are very effective when it comes to learning how to speak, write and read Spanish.
The dialogs in FSI Programmatic Spanish take place in a classroom with the professor and three students: Nancy, Clark and Jones. The dialogs in Barron's' Mastering Spanish take place in a fictitious country in Latin America called Surlandia. The two speakers in Barron's' Mastering Spanish are Senor White and Senor Molina.
Which is my favorite? Without a doubt, I prefer FSI Programmatic Spanish over Barron's' Mastering Spanish. Why? FSI Programmatic Spanish does a better job teaching the topics that I struggled with as a beginner when learning Spanish.
For example, FSI Programmatic Spanish does an awesome job teaching the following:
1. Reflexive verbs
2. commands (including plural commands, negative commands)
3. conjugating regular verbs and irregular verbs
4. double negatives
5. pronouns
6. last but not least, a topic that at one point I thought I'd never really grasp: Word order for questions or interrogatives.
If you've ever wondered if you should ask "usted habla espanol?" or "habla usted espanol?" then you haved shared my frustration and know exactly what I am talking about.
If you are a serious learner of this language, you will do well with either course. But my personal preference is clearly FSI Programmatic Spanish.
Slow & steady - Caters to a very specific learning style.......2006-06-11
I bought this because I wanted to learn Spanish fluently, not just conversationally. However, I have had a hard time sticking to the program. It is completely focused on pronunciation. I'm sure that in the end, after a long, long process, this is helpful, but it just doesn't hold my interest. Plus, I don't feel that I'm only learning pronunciation and not the rest of the language - vocabulary, grammar, etc. If I knew everything but great pronunciation I could communicate with Spanish speakers, but all this program leaves me with is the ability to read words without knowing what they mean. Maybe I just need to keep plugging along, but personally, I know I will learn better with something that breaks down the information in a more structured manner and allows me to integrate all aspects of Spanish. Could be great for someone who learns best by listening. Also great for someone who has the potential to have a great Spanish accent. I can't even trill my rrs so I'm very discouraged and going to try a new method since I'm typically good at learning languages.
Book Description
Revised and updated, this self-teaching book covers the fundamentals of English grammar for Hispanic students who have intermediate-to-advanced knowledge of English. The text deftly deals with parts of speech, rules for capitalization and punctuation, and correct usage for Spanish speakers learning English as a second language. Special features include a pretest with answers, separate exercises that focus on every part of speech and verb tense, and a section on important differences between standard and non-standard English.
Customer Reviews:
English instruction for Spanish speakers.......2005-07-20
This is an exellent reference book. It is structured in a logical and easy to follow way. It is appropriate for Spanish speakers who have some knowledge of basic grammatical concepts. I has very good explanations and examples. The appendices and the exam section along with the responses are very useful. It is best used with an accompanying text book that applies the grammatical concepts in the sequence covered in this book.
Book Description
This pocket-sized reference emphasizes Spanish commercial vocabulary with terms and translations covering banking, labor and management, accounting, transportation, manufacturing, communications media, computers, electronic data processing, and much more.
Customer Reviews:
Boring layout, more dictionary-like than anything.......2007-03-11
Very thorough as far as words used in various business types, but very straightforward (boring). Not enough real life examples for my liking. Any more cut and dry and it would be a dictionary. Blah. I'll use it for reference than as a study guide as I had intended.
Not bad, needs update.......2007-01-04
I work as a translator and occupational Spanish instructor at a university in the US. I use about 12 sources of information when I translate and this is one of them. I purchasd the book simply due to a lack of other options.
This dictionary of sorts is organized into functional business areas such as accounting, sales, human resources etc. The authors did an extensive amount of work putting this together but I would say it is past due for an update to make itself useful in the US.
Here are some observations:
PROS
- Very nice size and the print is easy to read.
- Price is reasonable.
- Thoughtfully laid out.
- The authors seemed to really know what they were doing
in terms of language expertise.
CONS
- The Spanish used is that from Spain, so for someone learning US Spanish, it has great limitation. Although, a large part of the vocabulary is the same and translating is a moving target. But if you are working with the Spanish or studying there, it could be a good resource.
- The showstopper here is the fact that there is no English to Spanish glossary, and the reason I would recommend buyers go elsewhere. In other words, if you want to quickly find a word in Spanish and you know the word in English, you are out of luck. Strangely, it does have a Spanish to English glossary so you must first know the word in Spanish, so you can learn it is English. Just plain bizarre considering the cover is written in all English. But, this is something the authors could remedy in another version and make it very useful.
[...]
For now, I would recommend looking at another book.
Only has 3,500 entries, and is over 10 years old........2006-05-11
I am a business translator, and have bought every English-Spanish dictionary published for almost 25 years now. This dictionary has only 3,500 entries, and was translated in 1997 from a 1995 German book. Hence, the book is not current, is very limited in scope, and worse of all, not even oriented towards English or Spanish.
I gave it two stars because its sample sentences may be helpful for beginners. This book will be of no use to anyone of an intermediate of advanced level in either language. It is completely inadequate for business translators.
I recommend your buying one or both of the following: Webster's New World English-Spanish/Spanish-English Business Dictionary, or The Oxford Spanish Business Dictionary. If you only need one, then buy Webster's New World English-Spanish/Spanish-English Business Dictionary. Do not buy Mastering Spanish Business Vocabulary : A Thematic Approach, unless you are aware of and accept these limitations.
Thematic Approach helps you master one thing at a time.......2000-06-14
This book is very helpful. I read it before studying marketing for a year in Mexico. It helped me get a grasp on the vocabulary in my classes.
Later I was offered a job because I spoke Spanish and knew about business. This book helped forge the foundation of an international business career.
Currently I manage an import/export business in Monterrey, Mexico. This book has been extremely helpful.
I highly reccomended this book to a professor at the University of Tennessee for required reading use in his classes. (Spanish for Business)
Very Helpful.......2000-03-28
This book has proven very benificial to me. I am in the process of moving to South America with my employer. I am a Human Resource Manager and this book has helped me greatly with my spanish buisness vocabulary. Another book that I have found to be even more indispensable for me and a definite "5" star is the book "Spanish for Human Resources Managers."
Customer Reviews:
Mastering the Spanish.......2007-09-03
A "CLASSIC" One of the very best books on explaning the
Ruy Lopez opening..
Other authors should learn from this style.......2005-03-05
//
I hope this under-appreciated book does Not go out of print.
This book deserves 4-5 stars. I am giving it 5 because it is as innovative as any chess opening book I have ever seen.
The chapter names will give you a feeling for the relatively innovative approach of these two authors:
1. Tension in the Centre
2. The Blocked Centre
3. The Exchange Centre
4. The Mobile Centre
5. The Little Centre
6. The Open Centre
7. The Marshall Centre
8. The Fischer Centre
9. The Schliemann (Jaenisch) Centre
10. The Bird Centre
Table of Variations
If you are interested in the Ruy Lopez gambit or "open" variation (5...Nf6:e4), you will eventually figure out it is covered in the chapter "The Open Centre".
If you are interested in the variation 3...Bf8c5, you will learn it is partly covered in chapter 1, continued in chapter 4, ch 6, and finally ch 9. Hummm, good and bad.
The glaring weakness of this book concerns the inadequate "Table of Variations". It is only a few pages long, skimpy, and it is an eye-sore. For instance, some variations are listed starting with move 6, and reading the table to figure out which moves 1-5 it relates to is like reading a bus schedule.
But even this section shows innovative intent, by rating each chunk of variations in win-loss-draw percentages, strategy numeric ratings and tactical numeric ratings, and relative frequencies. Opening books need MCO-ish tables of moves, sorted the way Eric Schiller sorted opening variations in his physically huge book Standard Chess Openings: a powerful presentation, like what we get from computer databases. If I cannot quickly lookup a variation in the book, its practical value to a weekend warrier like me is significantly reduced. The move tables were not the problem with MCO, it was their utter lack of textual explanation for each line that has caused that style to fall out of favor. But the newer styles have thrown out the good with the bad.
The book has many diagrams. These are smartly chosen, and they are illustrated with arrows that accurately map to the nearby explanatory text: very nice. I have seen somewhat similar books, and they trumpet the style by labeling it the "Read and Play" method. Here authors King & Ponzetto have outperformed the other authors that have tried to utilize this style.
The usage of center pawn structure types to organize the whole book is innovative. However, without the MCO-ish move tables, this book cannot serve low rated players (below USCF 1500). The is great info in this book, and lots of explanations of plans. How can anyone say Reuben Fine's good book about the "ideas behind the openings" really has the ideas when one has been spoiled by this book -- there is no comparison! If Fine's book deserves 4.5/5.0 stars, then this book deserves 11.5/5.0 stars.
The drawback of this book makes mining the great info in this book real hard work. An above average memory will help you too. It seems odd to hear myself say that an extra good memory is important when reading a book that delivers the conceptual ideas of an opening in clear rich explanatory text complete with arrowed diagrams; yet who among us amateurs can seriously hope to remember 248 pages of explanations of 10 different game types? Chess is a hard game.
Perhaps the "mistake" of this book is in devoting this style to such a difficult opening. The Ruy Lopez is more complex than most openings, so this book has more ground to cover than most people have time to study this deeply. I would like to see these two authors write a similar book on say the Petroff / Russian Defense, maybe narrowing their focus down to one 3rd White move per book (e.g. 3. Nf3:e5).
It seems a shame that those mediocre EveryMan opening books sell by the boat load, while the excellence of this book goes unnoticed. EveryMan must be succeeding by keeping the info it presents to a minimum, so as not to overwhelm its customers and make them feel bad -- instead they leave them wanting more info.
Thank you.
Book Description
This Spanish word-power builder presents more than 5,000 words and phrases with translations into English. The feature that makes this vocabulary book distinctive is the way words are divided into themes, grouped together so that the foreign traveler or language student can find words related by subject. The subject themes include business terms, medical terms, household terms, scientific words and phrases, units of measurement, clothing, food and dining, transportation, art and culture— 24 separate themes in all. The new second edition has been expanded and updated with increased vocabulary.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant way to enlarge your vocabulary.......2007-09-21
Barron's series Mastering Vocabulary is a great tool for language learners! As another reviewer points out, this is not a book for teaching yourself grammar. It is, though, a great way to move on from knowing the basics to being competent in the language.
Using a normal course, such as one in the Colloqial series, you will end up with knowing the grammar relatively well and with a vocabulary of 1500 words. That's a good start, but you need to know more words to get moving. The Mastering Vocabulary series is a great help along the way. By doing one chapter each week, you will know more than 7000 words after half a year. That is enough to live in a language where the language is spoken and use it in all everyday interactions and communication. My only real complaint with the series is that it's not available for more than four languages.
A Very Novel Approach to Teaching Spanish Vocabulary .......2006-11-06
As the editor of the Learning Spanish Products Reviews (LearningSpanishProductsReviews) site, one of my responsibilities is to review learning-Spanish resources. I am also a native Spanish speaker from Argentina, and a professional private Spanish instructor.
MSV uses a very novel approach to teaching vocabulary. Instead of giving the student a long list of vocabulary words and instructing the student to memorize the words, MSV groups Spanish words and phrases according to 24 different themes that the reader is likely to encounter in everyday life.
The themes that are covered include:
a. Personal Information
b. Human Body
c. Health and Medicine
d. Mental Processes and states
e. Shopping, eating, drinking and clothing
f. Living arrangements
g. Private life, social relations
h. Education, school, university
i. Occupation and the job world
j. Leisure time
k. Travel and tourism
l. Visual arts, music, literature
m. History, religion
n. Government, science, Politics
o. Business and the economy
p. Communications and Mass Media
q. Traffic, Transportation
s. Nature, Environment, and Ecology
t. Time and space
u. colors and shapes
v. General concepts
w. Structural words
x. Americanisms
If you include the various subthemes that this book covers, you can say that this book easily covers about 100 different vocabulary topics consisting of over 9,500 useful terms. One of the strong points of this book is that it sometimes covers both the Latin American vocabulary word and the European Spanish vocabulary word. This can be very helpful especially for the traveler that travels to Latin America and Spain or the student interested in learning the Spanish that is spoken in the Americas as well as Europe. Here's an example straight from MSV:
el duranzo - el melocoton - peach
la banana - el platano - banana
(I have intentionally omitted any accent marks because they sometimes appear as strange characters on my Amazon reviews).
In terms of content, MSV is well-deserving of 5 stars. The only issue I have with this book is that it does not provide the student with the tools to retain the 9,500 plus words and phrases. Without visual or audio aids the student may have some difficulty retaining the over 9,500 words and phrases. But MSV is such a comprehensive Spanish vocabulary book with a such an inexpensive price tag, that I still must give it 5 stars and recommend it to the beginner, intermediate, and advanced student seeking to increase her vocabulary.
A wonderful help.......2006-03-10
I have to admit that I've never had a Spanish lesson in my life, but I would really like to learn it, at least well enough to read Spanish books and magazines. While I've had French and have done considerable reading recently in that language, I have not had any serious exposure to Spanish vocabularly, so I purchased this volume to assist in developing a basic vocabularly. While I find it a little daunting, I'm surprised at how much I've been able to learn. The book is arranged in a manner that presents primarily nouns and adjectives in logical classes. The reader learns a word and its meaning and then sees how it is used in a sentance, thereby passively learning something of sentance structure and other word forms like verbs and adverbs. I find this method works well for me, because I really am a noun-adjective person more than a verb-adverb person. I can remember the concrete more thoroughly than I can actions and ideas, probably because I'm a visual person--not to mention a not very active one. I've purchased several children's books in Spanish: Lemony Snicket, Harry Potter, and the Spiderwich Chronicals, and in my attempts to read them, I can actually see progress being made. I'm quite pleased.
Good reference book for more advanced students.......2005-08-22
This is a great book to have if you're also pairing it with Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish, or something along that lines. Not for the one who is looking to buy Spanish for Dummies. However, it's categorized well, and very logical in its presentation.
If you ARE beginning Spanish study, this is a little too detailed for you. Get the major verb tenses and conjugations down first, and then buy this book after at least a year of class or self-study.
This is laid out for the older student - upper high school and adults. For the much younger student, Flip Flop Spanish is a good one for a simple approach as well.
Get used to listening.......2005-02-10
Studying Spanish only in my home, I soon knew how to say more in Spanish than I could understand by listening. This was a very easy way to start listening for comprehension. I put it on my NOMAD MP3 player and listened to while I walked back and forth to my place of employment. The book that comes with it has both the Spanish words of the song and a literal English translation; so, for those words that I could not understand, it was very easy to look them up. Since then, I have moved on to other recordings, but this is the one that got me started, and I highly recommend it if you are having some problems "hearing" Spanish. One caveat: My native Spanish-speaking friend, upon listening to about one second of one song said: "Aha! Spanish from an English-speaking singer." My next step was to learn to "hear" Spanish sung by a native Spanish speaker.
Book Description
The perfect travel companion!
The Everything( Spanish Verb Book is your handy pocket-sized guide to the most difficult part of the Spanish language: verb conjugation. Featuring more than 250 of the most commonly used verbs, along with their multiple conjugations, students and travelers alike will be able to recognize and use these verbs in everyday Spanish conversation. From differentiating between similar verbs to being able to quickly form sentences, this complete resource guide will have you speaking with confidence and enjoyment.
The Everything(r) Spanish Verb Book features:
An introduction to Spanish verbs
More than 1,000 conjugated verbs
Instruction on using the correct tense
Recognizing different verb types
An English-Spanish verb dictionary
Whether traveling the globe or preparing for a quiz, The Everything(r) Spanish Verb Book is your one-stop reference for conversing well, and having fun, in Spanish.
Customer Reviews:
Worthwhile.......2006-03-13
For anybody who has to conjugate a bunch of verbs for their Spanish class, this is a must! It is also great as a quick reference when writing papers, if you want to be certain you got it right.
A Great Find.......2005-09-29
Ihad been studying Spanish for a while and basically was getting nowhere. My problem was an elementary one. I wanted to learn to speak flawless Spanish without studying too hard. I bought every book, tape and study guide on the market.And I do mean every book, or so I thought.I had spent thousands. Quite by accident, I picked up this book by Laura Lawless. Hmmm I thought here is one I don't have. It was the best purchase I ever made. In just a few short pages she cleared up the clutter in my brain which was really the source of my problem. I just did not understand verbs. Her book showed me the way, so to speak.Once I understood the purpose of certain words I was able to study. Yes, I said study. I was able to study with a purpose because my understanding had been greatly increased.I am now able, for the first time, to put sentences together without stammering. I am improving to the point where I am able to converse,using complete sentences. I found that ,yes you must do some memorization, but not as much as I feared. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is having the type of trouble I experienced. If you are not having trouble, well, when you get to reflexive verbs and the like, try this book. You will be having trouble without it.
Bill Vanson
NYC
Albert E Webb New Zealand........2005-02-28
I have been learning Spanish for just over a year and was dreading the time when I would have to start conjugating Spanish verbs, but I purchased the "Everything Spanish Verb Book" and found it would not be as difficult as I first thought.
The book is of a handy size, the introduction to conjugating is laid out in a way that is easy to understand, following this are over 250 verb charts set out for easy reference, and in the appendix another 1000 verbs are listed. I am very happy to have this very useful book.
The Everything Spanish Verb Book.......2005-02-27
This is a really great reference guide to the conjugation of common Spanish verbs. The first section of this book explains verb conjugation and the different tenses in a very clear and concise way. It made it easier for me to understand the different tenses, and when to use what tense. The second section contains the conjugation of over 250 verbs. And the third section contains a listing of 1,000 more verbs that are conjugated similarly to those in section 2. I use this book quite frequently and keep it handy when I am reading a Spanish magazine. I can quickly see what the author is saying when I come across an unfamiliar verb. Although I do also own the book 501 Spanish Verbs, I find that I always reach for the Everything Spanish Verb Book. It's compact size and clear and concise explanations make it so much easier to use. I highly recommend adding this book to your library of Spanish reference books.
Customer Reviews:
Doesn't cover fue vs. era.......2007-05-13
This book was recommended by someone on the AP Spanish listserv, and while it is a fine book for high school and university students, I was disappointed that it wasn't more thorough. One of the great difficulties with Spanish grammar for English-speakers is understanding the differences between the uses of fue and era, and this book doesn't deal with that at all. I am disappointed that the book is so elementary.
Ser and Estar thoroughly reviewed.......2003-05-26
This book will successfully clarify any queries that you have with regards to the correct usage of the verbs ser and estar, which traditionally present difficulty for learners of the Spanish language. When I bought this book a few years ago I was quite surprised with the level of detail and the approach of the authors used to clarify this grammatical difficulty. The explanations are in English with examples in Spanish. The approach of the logic of usage is from Spanish to English rather than from English to Spanish which most textbooks use and perhaps that's where the confusion begins. It does clarify the notion that Ser and Estar are sometimes interchangeable (and they are not) and using one or other will definitely change the meaning of a phrase. This is the only book that I have come across thus far dedicated to the analysis and usage of these two verbs. If you are looking for an accurate and concise clarification of the usage of these verbs this book is highly recommended and not to mention is very economical.
The logic in this book is amazing.......2001-12-04
The way this book explains the difference between ser and estar makes it so much easier to remember. It seems much more intuitive and logical when I think about why I am using one over the other. I struggled with this concept before this book and I would highly recommend this to anyone who is learning spanish on their own.
A lesson in spanish cultural understanding.......2000-06-09
I am of hispanic decent and this book explains the spanish speakers way of thinking in a nutshell. Written by two hispanics, this book is the only book you'll ever need to understand how to think when thinking in spanish. I as a high school student was mistaught like everyone else in my class on the two verbs Ser and Estar...and to my surprise the first pages referred to the often misteachings of these two verbs right from the start and retaught me what my 4 years of high school spanish never did teach me. If you are a serious spanish learner...buy this book. For $9 you can't take the chance not to. I have it in front of me now and I high light many spots in the book to refer to for future use...buy it. :)
Book Description
With this MICROSOFT MASTERING learning system, programmers with basic C++ and object-oriented programming skills learn how to build Windows(r)-based solutions using the Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) Library and the Visual C++ 6.0 development system. Instruction begins with an introduction to the Visual C++ environment (though some familiarity with Visual Studio(r) tools and Windows architecture is assumed), and progresses through essential development topics?including user interface design, working with controls, data access strategies, debugging and error-handling, and building Internet applications. The companion lab exercises provide "learn-by-doing" practice with critical MFC development tasks. By the end of the course, students have created a full-featured Windows-based application?ready to run.
Customer Reviews:
It's Always Something.......2005-08-05
In 1999 I bought the Microsoft CD-ROM of the same name but didn't get around to using it until a few days ago.
If the book is anything like the software course, it is well laid out, the examples work, etc etc, but, there is no way on Planet Earth that someone who hasn't used MFC recently (like, the last 7 or 8 years) could learn this material.
This course (and probably the book) assumes a level of skill with MFC that almost negates the motive to buy the course (and book.)
That is all. I'll return to the course when I have time and after I write the software that is my present goal.
Pas très fameux le style d'enseignement.......2004-05-18
Ce livre est probablement bon, mais en termes d'approches d'enseignement, il est le pire de tous les livres de programmation que j'ai lus. Bon, ceci est mon avis; j'ai peut-être eu la chance de n'avoir lu que de très bons livres . . .
Il faudrait par exemple expliquer le code généré par le AppWizard, sinon, il y a des choses qui demeurent ésotériques; on achète un livre pour mieux se sentir en confiance à la fin de chaque chapitre; mais ce n'est pas nécessairement le cas ici. Bref si pour vous le style d'enseignement est un facteur important, passez à autre chose. Pour moi, ça importe alors je ne suis pas très satisfait.
Really good.......2003-03-18
This is a good book for those who want to learn MFC. It shows all that basics stuffs about MFC. It also shows a little bit about components and ADO.
Really a good book.
Not a good book for covering MFC.......2001-11-11
This book is not very well written (content-wise).It goes into detail about the basics (using controls, toolbars, the view class, blah blah...) and then jumps right to using OLD DB, ADO and builing internet applications. None of the internet or DB programming here isn't anything you can't get from a better book on the subject or even a different book dealing with MFC's relation to these subjects. As a begginer's book, the first 5 chapters are appropriate, but the rest is over your head (because he doesn't lead up to it). As a more advanced MFC course it is woefully lacking in it's decriptions of MFC's relation to other programming components. I believe the idea was to lure people in by the cover. There are sections of the book that are usefull and the book is not a waste, but there are much better beginner books for the uninitiated and there are better books for the more advanced topics. I would consider this an addition to the library of an intermediate MFC programmer seeking to branch out into understanding how to write some DB or internet stuff.
Confusing Book........2001-06-08
This book is not for the beginner. I've read through the first three chapters and I'm still confused on what it's explaining. The first book I used was Learning VC++ in 21 days & this explained in better reproducable detail as to how to make workable code. MFC Development does not explicitly tell you where to put code and the code generated by the class wizard does not look anyway like the code in the examples. I've got more use out of my WROX & Learning VC++ in 21 days books than this one.
Books:
- Bat Boy Lives!: The WEEKLY WORLD NEWS Guide to Politics, Culture, Celebrities, Alien Abductions, and the Mutant Freaks that Shape Our World
- Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community
- Breakfast with Sharks: A Screenwriter's Guide to Getting the Meeting, Nailing the Pitch, Signing the Deal, and Navigating the Murky Waters of Hollywood
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
- Bushido: The Way of the Samurai (Square One Classics)
- Busting Loose From the Money Game: Mind-Blowing Strategies for Changing the Rules of a Game You Can't Win
- Call of Cthulhu (d20 Edition Horror Roleplaying, WotC)
- Camilla Gryski's Cat's Cradle: A Book of String Games
- Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul: 101 Stories of Courage, Hope and Laughter (Chicken Soup for the Soul (Paperback Health Communications))
- Coaching and Mentoring for Dummies
Books Index
Books Home
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Spanish
| Instruction
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Mastering Spanish, Level 2: Book and 12 Cassettes (Mastering Series: Level 2)
Mastering Spanish Level Two: Audio CD Package (Mastering Series/Level 2 Compact Disc Packages)
FSI Mastering Portuguese, Vol. I (12 Cassettes)
Mastering French, Level 2: Book and 12 Cassettes (Mastering Series: Level 2)
Mastering French: Level One (The Foreign Service Institute Language Series)
