Spanish Demystified [With CD (Audio)]

This series is great for the beginner in particular but also for one who needs review. Great if you don't have a vocabulary developed yet....

This book is a traditional book for Spanish in terms of the order in which it teaches the grammar. It has good exercises, quizzes, good explanations. Unfortunately, there are a few things that should be challenged in Spanish textbooks and this one is a good example of what could be improved. First, why delay the teaching of past tenses for so long? This creates an intellectual log jam in the latter part of the year or in a self-learner's use of the book. Second, and most serious, the presentation of the subjunctive is confusing. It approaches the problem from the point of view of the various tenses of the subjunctive instead of beginning with an examination of the subjunctive as a group of forms (four tenses), then proceeding to morphology, and finally usage -- organizing the presentation not progressively from tense to tense, but by the situations in which the subjunctive is used: subordinated noun clauses, subordinated adjective clauses, after certain adverbial situations and finally, to express contrafactuals. Each of these situations has its own rules for determining whether the subjunctive is to be used -- plus the problem of sequence of tense to determine which subjunctive form must be used, if the subjunctive must be used. The optimal way to approach the subjunctive is to approach it by organizing it according to these situations (not according to the tenses of the subjunctive), their corresponding rules and the clause structures in which the subjunctive is used. Sincerely, Eric W. Vogt, Ph.D.

I'm learning SA Spanish for a planned two months to be spent in SA soon. The plan is to choose a traditional grammar (this one!) combined with a series of aural lessons (Learning Spanish Like Crazy) in a one-two complementary pattern. So far I'm up to lesson 8 in the Petrow book, and lesson 16 in the aural series. It seems to be going well and I'm pleased with the clear and full layout of the book. Yes, there are one or two errors, but typos really. Will post another review when I finish the book in a few weeks (leaving for SA on September 6). Gracias, Jenny Petrow, - Vaughan Willis (Auckland, NZ)

This book is fantastic. I've been through 3 1/2 years of spanish in school and have about 12 spanish "reference" books like this one. Immediately this one was my favorite and I started working in it right away, whereas the others I would just work on half-heartedly. The Spanish Demystified layout gives me a real sense of accomplishment - the chapters and lessons are not too long and the short quizzes give real-time feedback on how well I am understanding the material. There are a few times when I've used those other reference books (or the internet) to clarify a topic if I didn't quite "get it" from this book, but that has only been a few times. The drawback to this book is that there are errors in it... several of them. For the most part they are pretty obvious (putting a singular in place of a plural, etc.) but it's a little unnerving at times. Even with the errors, I still give this 5 stars because it is a thorough book that gives it to you straight, for Latin American Spanish. Another helpful part is that it has a pretty comprehensive index that I find myself using quite a bit, plus there's a spanish/english dictionary in the back that covers most of the vocab you will run across in the book. So the bottom line is that this is a great "fast forward" spanish book. Also - with my 3 1/2 years of Spanish (a straight A student), even the intro sections have details that I never picked up in class. I was tempted to skip those first chapters, but some of the simple tips were SO worth it.

I recently moved to Mexico and bought Spanish Demystified as my self guided learning tool. It really works! I am learning Spanish at a rapid rate. The quizzes and practice sections throughout help you actively practice the skills as you learn them. The order of topics is appropriate for new learners; soon after I've read a new section I find myself using it in conversation. The parts written in English are short, clear and help me understand the rules of Spanish without being too technical. The examples and translations are great. I would highly recommend this book (especially since I've used others that are so much more dry and boring to use). Gracias!