Spanish for Reading and Translation

I read the reviews and asked my husband to buy this book for me to help with my grad school entrance exams. My first disappointment was that the previous owner had written in the answers to questions, How can I learn when the answers are written inside the book. This is a major distraction for me. I will return it.

This is a very good book for graduate students who need to pass a reading test in Spanish as part of their graduate degree requirements. The book focuses on grammar and vocabulary recognition standpoint; no attention is given to producing language. The reading passages are authentic texts and have glosses for challenging words and phrase. The book does a good job using prereading exercises to activate schemata, then having the reader skim, summarize, and draw conclusions about the reading. There are also postreading exercises to check comprehension. One significant complaint I have about the book is that answer keys are not provided for any of the exercises, making it difficult if you want to work on your own.

Spanish for Reading and Translation by Annette Cash and James Murray is said to be designed for graduate students who need to demonstrate a reading knowledge of Spanish as a requirement for a graduate degree; it presents concepts for RECOGNITION only, followed by AMPLE activities and reading . The organization of the 12 chapters is as follows : * a reading passage preceded by pre-reading activities focused on skimming and scanning, followed by post-reading activities * vocabulary building information and exercises * grammar rules and exercises * a final reading passage, preceded by pre-reading activities to engage the student in the skills of skimming and scanning, then post-reading activities focused on translation and content There are No exercises to PRODUCE grammatical structures , the exercises are there to RECOGNIZE the grammatical structures. The readings increase in difficulty throughout chapters. A preliminary chapter focuses on pronunciation , reading strategies, cognates, and use of the dictionary. The text includes three built-in review chapters after 1-4, 5-8, and 9-12. A very detailed index is provided, together with ( in my opinion a real TREASURE ) an appendix on reading and translation resources : dictionaries,newspapers, magazines, and journals. A total of 174 pages , rather dense, and I would suggest you take the time(30 days) to go through and not rush. All that said, in about one month of regular daily study, you will achieve the results promised. I know I did TREMENDOUSLY improve my Spanish reading of academic texts. I have completed about 60% of the book and here is a sample of what I am able to read : " Las mujeres de esa ciudad (Chiapas) se quejan constantemente de una flaqueza de estomago tan grande, que no podrian acabar de oir una misa rezada y mucho menos la misa mayor y el sermon sin tomar una jicara de chocolate bien caliente y alguna tacilla de conserva o almibar para fortalecerse. " Two missing features of this book : answers are not given for the exercises though it should be easy to get them on your own if you really study the text; the second feature not related to the text is the high price for the book; it should have been retailed around 20 dollars to increase its sales . But you will get the results promised and that is why I granted 4 stars.