Practical Spanish Grammar: A Self-Teaching Guide

I am very disappointed in the condition of this book. The first half of the book had all the answers written in the questions, which is not very helpful since this is a practice book for learning a language. Also, the bottom of the first half of the pages in this book is wrinkled from some sort of stain. If a book is not good quality, don't sell it as though it is.

I have dozens of Spanish books for self-learners and the Practical Spanish Grammar and Advanced Spanish grammar are clearly the best. Each chapter begins with a comprehensive, relevant (to that chapter) list of vocabulary words. The vocabulary list is annotated with footnotes to differetiate how the meanings of some words may vary from Latin America to Spain, etc. Following the vocabulary are grammar rules. After that are self-correcting exercises using the vocabulary and grammar the student has just studied. The book is organized for the student to learn as efficiently as possible.

The book proves that it is posible to benefit from a highly practical course without leaving the house or paying for classes. The topics reflect subjects students usually ask for: hotel, restaurant, airport. Grammar is presented clearly and in the context, it's like having class with a native speaker. I strongly recomend Practical Spanish Grammar.

Alright, I have read all the reviews that precede mine and many of them mention the book's one major deficiency -- it has too many typos. Just one example: on page 145, the word "descubrir" ("to discover") is introduced for the first time, appearing there in the main vocabulary list of new words for Chapter 9, and it is misspelled "descrubrir", which is inexcusable. I suspected the misspelling but was not sure until I checked my dictionary and also saw the word spelled correctly in the exercises that followed. This sort of thing is unfortunate in an otherwise fine text.That said, this book is excellent. I am learning Spanish using this book as my main text. I started studying Spanish using this book in November 2002 and have completed fourteen of its fifteen chapters. It's now the beginning of March 2003 and I am reading the news online in Spanish with almost total comprehension. I had no prior experience with Spanish."Practical Spanish Grammar" has many exercises in each chapter covering both vocabulary and grammar and also three major "quizzes" of a hundred questions each covering Chapters 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15. The answers to all exercises and quizzes are given in the back of the book. In my opinion, Professor Prado has done a great job of giving me just what I need (and no more or less) to master new words and new grammatical concepts. The material is presented in a manner that fixes those concepts in my head and reinforces them with the exercises that follow. When I finish this book, I will start going through Prado's "Advanced Spanish Grammar", which recapitulates and elaborates in more depth upon almost everything presented in "Practical Spanish Grammar" and introduces new concepts besides. Plus, "Advanced Spanish Grammar" is written ENTIRELY in Spanish and, looking ahead, I have found that I already understand it. Now, there is one more thing: if, like me, you are trying to teach yourself Spanish on your own, you will need more than this book alone. I have purchased a few bilingual books that have texts of Spanish stories on one page and the English translation on the facing page. I don't need to be constantly referring to my dictionary when I read Spanish this way, since the translation is on the facing page. It has been the combination of Prado's "Practical Spanish Grammar" with these bilingual "story books" that have helped me to make so much progress in such a short time, especially with idiomatic expressions and other vocabulary material not found in Prado's book. Angel Flores' "First Spanish Reader" is the best place to start with these bilingual stories because it's very much designed for the beginner (although many of the stories are real sleepers). Her "Spanish Stories" book seems to be the follow-up; the Spanish is much more advanced and the stories much more interesting. Both of Flores' books have excellent glossaries. John King edited "New Penguin Parallel Texts: Short Stories in Spanish", whose stories are

This book is just what I wanted: a thorough coverage of grammar with plenty of useful exercises. It even provides 3 exams which are good checkpoints for your progress. On top of this, it introduces the student to plenty (1000?) new words, covering everyday life. It is for serious students, not for someone that needs a quick intro before the next week trip to Cancun.

This book was an excellent overview of the basic Spanish grammar. In the past years I have tried more than 10 different language books on different languages and this book was the best for me. It seems that the author knows the nitty-gritty of language teaching. The exercises help to practice the new material and the exams help to measure the progress. The explanations are concisely written and easy to understand.