Spanish for Reading: A Self-Instructional Course (Barron's Foreign Language Guides)

It's been less than two weeks since I bought this book. I'm about halfway through it. (I will update this review when I'm finished!) IT REALLY WORKS. First, I probably should share my back story:I have tried to learn Spanish for quite a few years now. It's mostly been a slap-dash self-taught effort, with the help of instructional books and dictionaries. No formal training except for a few barely-remembered semesters of Spanish in high school. I mostly have tried to *read* in Spanish (though writing/speaking are future goals). About 5 years ago I put more work into working on reading, and was getting decent comprehension, though at times it was like looking through a dirty window--you get the basic idea of what's going on, but some of the color and detail are lost. After a while, real life intervened and I had to drop my progress with Spanish reading. Now just recently I've decided to try again, and was fortunate to discover this book, which is JUST what I'm looking for.Okay, so buried in the recesses of my mind are a lot of the words I learned 5 years ago (and before), but just prior to getting this book, reading Spanish was frustrating because I wasn't "connecting the dots" consistently.Now, less than two weeks after starting this book (and currently in the middle of Chapter 7--halfway through this 15 chapter book), it's like a light switch has been turned on. I honestly feel like my understanding of Spanish is "clearer" and more fluid than it was 5 years ago (though don't get me wrong, I still have a ways to go!) and in large part that is due to being taught the "right" way this time around--being introduced to tenses and turns of phrase and many other good things that I didn't properly familiarize myself with in the past. (Too impatient, I guess.)I have been studying about 2 or more hours a night. I break the study sessions into shorter 30 minute intervals, like the book suggests. I also do some periodic backtracking and "reviewing" of previous chapters to keep everything fresh in my mind.At this pace, I might complete the book in another two or three weeks, but it might be longer than that. But in any case, since the book says it can be completed in 80-120 hours (and this is for people who are assumed to have no background in Spanish) then I can expect to finish the book within a few weeks, assuming that I continue to do 2 hours a night.One thing I am trying very hard to avoid is getting too impatient. There is no use in rushing through the book and then finding yourself lost when it comes to reading the real thing. But even with careful review, and going over areas that I feel need more review, it's progressing fairly quickly, which is very gratifying indeed! (A caveat, I am a fairly fast reader, so this might help a *little* in speeding things up for me, but with this kind of study, I don't think it's making that huge of a difference.)If you have previous Spanish experience, even from High School (which is as we all know, usually pretty inadequate) then you may find that all that dormant Spanish education will pop back into your mind as you follow along with this book. Be patient with yourself and faithfully follow along, and you'll find that it really does work!If you have no prior experience with Spanish, I am confident that you'll get equally good results as long as you put in the required time and are patient with yourself.After this book, my next goal is to improve my Spanish writing and speaking, which is not something this book is claiming to cover. (But I know it will definitely help!) I plan on studying some of the "Practice Makes Perfect" workbooks to improve writing/speaking. But at the moment I am focusing on *reading* because I do believe that being an avid and active reader in whatever language you are trying to learn makes everything else (writing, grammar, spelling) come easier down the road.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Just keep in mind, follow the recommendations of half-hour study sessions, and don't rush! You don't need to, because before you know it you'll be reading Spanish!UPDATE March 14, 2010: Well, I am finishing up the last chapter, so am about a day or two away from being "done." It took longer than I expected to finish, because I got caught up in reading other Spanish books! Just last night I finished reading a novel in Spanish. (I read it side-by-side with the English version, which aided me in learning.) I wouldn't have wanted to read the Spanish version as a standalone book just *yet*, the fact is that I got much of what it was about before double-checking with the English version, which is quite encouraging. What is required now is more time and practice, and building up my vocabulary more.This book really does work, but I'm finding that I struggled with the verb tenses. I'm going to review this book to strengthen my understanding of verbs, and I'll get a "Practice Makes Perfect" book on Spanish verbs. Also I'll continue with other Spanish books on writing and grammar, so I can continue in my learning of this language.I have also purchased an electronic dictionary application for my computer, which helps me look up works when I'm reading Spanish articles online. This particular application also has a "flash cards" feature, so I'm building up a collection of flash cards of words I should know. This is also really helping.

I came into Spanish For Reading full of expectations. I've been through Sandberg's similarly titled French and German books, and was certain that this book would have the same high quality sentences and clear grammar teaching as those.I'm quite disappointed.The articles here are simply uninteresting. Both the French and German books had numerous selections from well-written history and literature. This volume begins with a number of short texts that seem intended for tourists, as if they came straight from travel guides. The history section isn't interesting at all, and the literature included here bored me to tears.There are numerous mistakes, particularly in the English translations. There are also formatting errors that should be extremely embarrassing.The truth is that Sandberg's approach, while innovative in the 1990s, is no match for the various spatial memory software suites that one can download for free these days. Spanish for Reading is particularly poor in that there is absolutely no grammatical explanation or gradual learning curve. The student is stuck right in the thick of things from the start, told about a few cognates and false cognates, and then left entirely on her own.I do enjoy the general concept, and I find this approach superior to the more traditional textbook approach to language learning. However, this book is simply a mess.

This book was delivered to my boat (Trabajo en el campo de petrolero en el Golfo de México) today, and I am working on chapter 1. This book is great! It is fun and engaging, and it is covering a lot of the ground found in 'Madrigal's Magic Key.' The presentation of the material through this book is far superior to the 'Magic Key!'I may be jumping the gun on this review, but my browsing through, and working of chapter 1 has me quite excited. It is extremely well written on the English side for sure, which, in and of itself gives me a huge feeling of security. The style is simply artistic. After all, if the authors take such pride in the area that I know extremely well, I can more easily trust that the rest of the material will be of equal quality.Now, under false cognates, they list 'realizar' because it means 'to acheive', whereas 'realize' is defined as, 'to become aware of.' The problem here is that the English word 'realize' means 'to accomplish/achieve' as well. (Your goal to rebuild and restore that '57 Chevy has most certainly been realized!) So, it is a true cognate. Understandable, but incorrect nonetheless.'Spanish For Reading' is a captivating and invaluable tool of which I do not expect to find a rival. In this quest to learn Spanish, I am using a disparate arsenal. At present I am utilizing Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, and the Practice Makes Perfect books authored by Dorothy Hammond as well as watching telenovelas, and reading a bit on slang and colloquialisms. I was truly wanting to read in this language, and started reading Asimov in Spanish, understanding a bit as I was going, but getting quite frustrated at the astronomical amount of the story that was whizzing above my head like a meteor.This purports to get you fluent at reading (serious literature, magazines, newspapers) in 80 to 120 hours of study, and mentions the idea of studying for 2 hours daily... that puts this at a completion time, on the short end, of a month-and-a-half to just over 2 months. I will shoot to have it completed in a 4 month period.Reading books has helped me to excel in my own language, both in grammar and in vocabulary acquisition. I expect that reading literature in Spanish will also help me to grasp the intricate ins-and-outs of the language. I can't wait to finish this!

The idea of the book is good (reading practice with a systematic grammar practice). However it is spoiled by:1. An awful selection of texts, some of which are rather poetic and/or focus on obscure Latin-American religious and cultural events. None of which are really relevant to most students.2. If the texts are weird, the English used is some of the translations is bizarre. Examples:“The people had spontaneous gestures and cheerful character.”“The Andalusian’s wit is lively and his imagination hyperbolic.”“The indigenous substratum is more visible (evident) in the lexicon.” (Chap 1).You may argue that, since the intention is to learn Spanish, it is not a major problem. On the surface this is correct, but I found that any specific word translations needed to be checked with a decent dictionary to confirm the usual meaning.3. The grammar explanations are basic and really need to be supplemented by an alternative book.

Good book if you are quite well up on English grammar and can follow grammatical rules. Lots of repetition so gets you reading spanish quickly but not so good if you wanted to learn to speak Spanish as there are few pronounciation tips. As this is written by a South American author you need to be aware that there may be subtle differences in language usage to that of mainland Spain (bit like the differences between American English and British english). Having said all that I have found it a good starting place for someone wanting to read spanish. Now I need to find a book that teaches me to write spanish! https://www.facebook.com/anna.middleton.3551/posts/10152655624795778

As I have to read different languages for my research, I have used a number of reading-only courses. I can safely say that this is the worst. The grammatical explanations are very thin, and often confusing: you're only going to cope with this if you know a thing or two about languages, particularly romance languages. Not for beginners! The reading passages are quite dull, and the method of giving you each passage's sentence five hundred times before you get the passage really takes the joy out of it. Lots of the vocabulary is also too obscure to be worth learning. Some of the translations are unhelpfully free for the beginner. And there are typos. It works, and I will stick with it, but only because there is nothing else going. But I will certainly be buying myself another grammar for better explanations of the grammatical content.

I am currently using this book as a member of a group who are currently continuing our Spanish studies . Unfortunately due to maternity leave our teacher has returned to Spain so we are continuing to meet and study together using this and other study materials to progress at intermediate level.The book assumes little knowledge and each chapter starts at a very basic level but through the structured exercises builds to quite a high level final exercise. In the situation we find ourselves it is ideal.

I truly love this book. I purchased it only about a week ago and I am addicted to doing all the excersise and reading spanish texts. This book teaches you how to read spanish in a very simple and systematic way. It's important to make sure that you memorise (or al least can recognise) all the new words and grammar rules before moving on to the next section. Working with this book is motivational and makes me feel proud of my progress and ability to read some very advanced spanish text sooner then I thought it could've been possible.Excellent book for spanish learners of all levels, as it can be used not only by the beginners but also for testing your translation skills by the more advanced students.This book is worth every penny.