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Since I don’t need tapes or CD’s because those around me can help with the pronunciation I rely primarily on books.

I think a good start up book is "Spanish For Dummies" by Susana Wald of Berlitz. It is a fundamental beginner’s book but it is well written and interesting.

Berlitz "Spanish vocabulary handbook" is a good supplement and I like the way they categorize the chapters for example, Comments & Interjections or Illness & Disability. You can’t go wrong with Berlitz.

"1001 Pitfalls in Spanish" by Marion P. Holt looks good but I have not reached this point. It focuses on some of the typical difficulties most advance beginners will have.

An essential supplemental book is "Instant Spanish Vocabulary Builder" by Tom Means it lists approximately 4000 words that are closely related to English words. You will already know the meaning you just have to work on the pronunciation for example,
brilliant-brillante
it is a must have book and it took awhile for me to hunt down a book like this. With all the similar words the two languages share I knew there had to be one I do not understand why they are not more prevalent.

"English/Spanish The Oxford Picture Dictionary By Shapiro is also useful. 3700 words broken down into 140 topics.

I have 4 other books I have not dwelled into.

What it comes down to is one book will never be enough.

Number two books alone are not enough. You have to practice pronunciation by using and repeating the language.

Number three you have to be around Spanish speakers. The speed of conversation is very difficult to follow unless you have time listening to the pace of typical talk. I have met many from Barranquilla that have 2 or more years of English lessons yet can not understand me because I talk too fast for them.

Maybe someone else has some good tips for learning?

Engage the Exotic – Latin Women
http://International-Introductions.com

... in response to Good Books For Learning Spanish, posted by Jamie on May 16, 2005

"Spanish Now! Level 1"
"Spanish Now! Level 2"

Silverstein, Pomerantz & Wald, Sixth Edition, copyright 1997 by Barron's Educational Services.

Both are 500 + pages. Textbook/Workbook. All chapters have pictures to give you a visual for new words, and set up as a workbook. Just write all over the pages as you go through it. Recommend using a pencil. Chapters set up as a story, such as Everything Is Fast in the City, Joselitos Birthday, The Mysterious Letter, An Imaginary Invalid, The Man Who Travelled the World, A Confusing Notice (newspaper story missing words), etc. Each presents new adjectives, nouns, verbs, which are listed and defined.

Exercises include fill in the blank, answer the questions, word hunt in jumble of letters, crossword puzzle, picture match, dialogue, oral proficiency, compositions, match the following.

This is definitely my favorite choice for learning Spanish. Add to this the previous suggestions of watching movies, telenovelas and news in spanish. I don't like the CD's that consume a lot of your time for little return. I listened to three of these courses, including one recommended here, and found them to be tedious, time consuming and slow. They also limit you to being in the car, office, or home listening to or watching the CD on player/computer.

The workbooks will take a lot of your time, if you dedicate yourself to learning, but they can be used anywhere, like waiting for an appointment, as a passenger in the car, during commercials on the tube, and all you need is a pencil, or possibly your reading glasses.

Purchased about 1998. Check to see if it is still in print.

Good luck.

... in response to Good Books For Learning Spanish, posted by Jamie on May 16, 2005

OUtstanding course

... in response to Good Books For Learning Spanish, posted by Jamie on May 16, 2005

Why would anyone want to learn Spanish?

JUst tell her to learn English and get back to the dishes!

... in response to Re: Good Books For Learning Spanish, posted by Heat on May 17, 2005

... and be sure to make her take her shows off, They are not necessary in the kitchen.

... in response to Good Books For Learning Spanish, posted by Jamie on May 16, 2005

501 spanish verbs by kendris is a must, fully conjugated in all of the tenses. although there are probably other books with more verbs, 501 has the most common ones.

for those that aren't as fortunate as jaime to be around spanish speakers, watching spanish soap operas(novelas)is great, i started watching the colombian ones years ago and it helped alot. i would suggest colombian novelas especially if you plan on spending time in colombia, soap operas from other countries like mexico use different terms, words, sayings that are not used in colombia.
JK

... in response to Re: Good Books For Learning Spanish, posted by jediknight on May 17, 2005

Thanks for the tip, jk.

Added that book to my Amazon wish list.  It's listed at $10.17.

While there, I noticed that it got excellent reviews.

They suggest an accompanying purchase of "1001 Most Useful Spanish Words (Beginners' Guides)," which also got very high marks (and costs only $2.00).

... in response to Good Books For Learning Spanish, posted by Jamie on May 16, 2005

As I have said here before...Pimsleur is a great language listening course (Pimsluer has  about 20 different languages you can learn)..probably the best out there....its just one 30 minute lesson a day...its a three month program. My fiancee used the program to learn English at first and I used it a few years back for my Spanish.

It is a little expensive..but you can sell it used on Amazon when you are finished and get most of your money back...which I did..

... in response to For Learning Spanish.....PIMSLEUR!!, posted by Chris F on May 16, 2005

I also highly recommend the Pimsleur courses.

For grammar, start with Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish, by Maragarita Madrigal.