I’ve been speaking (or attempting to speak) Spanish in Latin America for a few years without any formal training. When I decided I needed to sharpen my skills and improve my knowledge, and stop slipping into bad habits, I decided to look for a book that would give me a thorough grounding in grammar and formal Spanish usage. I used The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice with a teacher in Argentina who had brought his copy back from the US. After just a few weeks of working through the exercises I began to feel more confident in using more than the present tense in my conversations.
The book is split into four parts and each part is divided into chapters. The chapters in part one each deal with verb forms and their uses; in part two you learn about nouns and their modifiers, plus pronouns. Part three deals with other sentence structures including adverbs, interrogative words and prepositions, while part four provides a section on idiomatic usage of words and expressions, plus a guide to common errors and the mistakes learners make. Verb charts are also provided at the back of the book which makes a useful addition to the chapters.
I used The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice with a teacher in Argentina who had brought his copy back from the US. After just a few weeks of working through the exercises I began to feel more confident in using more than the present tense in my conversations.
Each chapter kicks off with an explanation of the concept and a verb conjugation table. The author then explains how the verb or grammatical structure is used, giving a variety of examples. The explanations are in English, which is a bonus as it helps students understand proper usage and conjugations before heading into the exercises. The explanations are quite detailed, which is great for the advanced learner but I wouldn’t recommend that a complete beginner tackle this book without a teacher, especially if they haven’t formally studied a language before.
The exercises in the book are an area in which this book excels. The exercises are introduced in Spanish and include a variety of question styles, from constructing sentences using a model, filling in the blanks, and choosing the correct words or verb conjugations from a list. You get a lot of exercises – more than you need sometimes - which is helpful to really drill home the often tricky uses of verbs and grammatical structures. I found the subtle repetition helpful while the exercises remained interesting. Unusual words and phrases are provided in a glossary in English at the start of the exercise. In addition, you can read the notes that explain irregularities and important things to remember.
The book is well structured and organized, ensuring you don’t miss anything if you follow the chapters in order. The emphasis on verbs and conjugations is particularly helpful as this is usually the most complicated area to master when learning Spanish. Additional cultural notes written in Spanish give you a lively insight into customs and habits of different Spanish-speaking countries.
I used an older edition of the book but the newer editions come with two CD-ROMs that provide multiple choice exercises for help in pronunciation and comprehension, as well as audio modules (with native speakers) for improving listening comprehension. These CDs are a valuable addition to the book as you miss out on essential listening and speaking if you only work on the written exercises.
This book can be used with the help of a teacher or for self-study. Whether you need a teacher depends on your level of Spanish and how much you benefit from extra clarification. Sometimes the explanations in the book are complicated. It helped me to go over doubts with a teacher, although you could find clarifications on your own via the internet.
For me, learning Spanish grammar is tough. I want a thorough grammatical grounding in Spanish and I am prepared to work for it, meaning this book is ideally suited to my purposes. Anyone methodically working through this book and doing all the exercises will end up with a strong grasp of the language. I wouldn’t recommend the coursebook to someone who wants to quickly learn to speak Spanish for a vacation or business trip, but if you want to get to grips with the building blocks of the Spanish language this book is an excellent choice.
