Product Description

Many language books are boring - this one is not. Written by a native English speaker who learned Spanish the hard way - by trying to talk to Spanish-speaking people - it offers English speakers with a basic knowledge of Spanish with hundreds of tips for using the language more fluently and colloquially, with fewer obvious 'gringo' errors. Writing with humour, common sense, and a minimum of jargon, Joseph Keenan covers everything from pronunciation, verb usage, and common grammatical mistakes to the subtleties of addressing other people, 'trickster' words that look alike in both languages, inadvertent obscenities, and intentional swearing. He guides readers through the set phrases and idiomatic expressions that pepper the native speaker's conversation and provides a valuable introduction to the most widely used Spanish slang. With this book, both students in school and adult learners who never want to see another classroom can rapidly improve their speaking ability. "Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish" will be an essential aid in passing the supreme language test-communicating fluently with native speakers. Joseph J. Keenan is a journalist, editor, and environmentalist who has lived and worked in Mexico since 1984.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54294 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01-01
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Binding: Paperback
• 229 pages

Review
" ...a breakthrough ...indispensable reading for any non-native speaker of Spanish ..." William F. Harrison, co-author of Spanish Memory Book: A New Approach to Vocabulary Building

Customer Reviews

an excellent complement to a textbook
I read this book during my 4th class of Espanol at the university level. This is not an introductory book, so don't bother to read it unless you have a solid understanding of Spanish basics, including basic conjugation, the subjunctive mood, etc.

This book has a lot of tips to sharpen your Spanish. Chapter 8 has "sentence starters" to help you start off your spoken Spanish; evidently these are the equivalent to English's "well..." or "the thing is..." Chapter 9 has "snappy answers" organised according to how you want to respond (e.g. in disbelief, with surprise, etc.) The answers for affirmation are quite useful (e.g. esta bien, claro, de acuerdo). Of course, you can easily get this information from any college-level textbook, but the distribution of these words into nicely organised categories is quite useful. There is also a chapter on how to swear effectively (evidently chingar is a strong word), which I never did in my classroom. An earlier chapter on how to use 64 key verbs was invaluable as well.

One particular chapter I loved was how to choose the correct Spanish word for particular English verbs. This can get tricky for some English infinitives like "to become" and "to happen." Another chapter on the history of the Spanish language was very interesting to read.

One thing I didn't like was the treatment of the subjunctive mood -- it left me a bit more confused, and my Spanish teacher actually told me that some information was incorrect. Finally, one glaring omission that I hope the author writes about in any later edition is the use of "por" vs. "para". To me, this trickiness is right up there with "ser" vs. "estar."

Excellent book! Most helpful I own!
My wife grew up in Mexico. When I met her I didn't really speak much Spanish. I learned quite a bit by hanging out with her and taking classes. But no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I paid attention and asked for help, I still made the mistakes that all gringos make: the dreaded "gringaso." This book isn't a cure all. It won't make you speak Spanish perfectly. But it has pointed out some of my mistakes and has made it simple for me to correct them. I'm in Mexico right now as I write this review and have even used many of the lessons that I learned in this book in order to avoid getting laughed at by all her friends.
DO NOT get this book if you are not conversant in Spanish.

DO get this book if you are able to hold a conversation in Spanish and need to get rid of those incessant small mistakes that you make that make it obvious that you are a gringo.

This is the most helpful book that I have in helping me learn Spanish.

This is honestly invaluable.
I am convinced that you can't find another book like this anywhere. I never expected the book to be so invaluable when I ordered it. I am in University Spanish, and have been studying the language for six years now. This book provided subtle tips that I have never been told or read about! It is well worth the money. If you really want to correctly use your verbs and adjectives, get this book. It is designed for the American learning Spanish, and it is perfect for us. I honestly can't say enough good stuff about this book. I'm just finishing reading it. I will read it again, but take notes. I know that I'll refer back to it alot.