Product Description

First published in 1998, the Instants have established themselves as the best-selling range of language titles from teach yourself. When published as part of the teach yourself relaunch in May 2003, they were given a new cover, internal text re-design and availability on CD for the first time, but now they have undergone an extensive revision, with 16 more pages to give room for additional exercises and flashcards, and an extra CD to double the amount of audio practice.The 35-minutes-a-day, six-week course is highly structured and has a fresh approach to language learning which appeals both to readers who have not learnt the language before and to those with some basic knowledge of Spanish. The author has used her wide teaching experience to refine the course so that it covers only the grammar (explained in no-nonsense English in the book and on the CDs) and vocabulary which are really necessary. Her day-by-day, no-nonsense programme is easy to follow and fun to do. At the end of six weeks, readers have the confidence and knowledge to tackle all the situations they'll need to know about, such as shopping, eating out and getting around. With fewer than 400 words to learn, and flashcards at the back of the book to help learn them, progress is fast and enjoyable. Sales of the Instants (over 150,000 units since in the last two years) have established Elisabeth Smith as the UK's leading language author (Bookscan figures) and her large amount of fan mail is witness to the success of her unique method. The book (0340914548) and CDs (0340914564) are available separately. (19990901)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23462 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Review
A language lifeline ... fun, fast and easy (The Independent )

... Elisabeth Smith's Instant Greek was a real help ... the simple scripts and audio make it crystal clear ... I'm delighted with my progress.

('Greece' magazine )

"Its narration is laid-back and encouraging and the method is straightforward" (4-star review)

(Time Out )

Teach Yourself Instant German: The elements are simple and very straightforward ... strong encouragement ... plenty of opportunity for spoken practice. This course worked very well for me.
('Professional Manager' magazine )

I am terrible with languages yet I am picking up Spanish! I found Instant Spanish excellent!

(Helen Goddard, Devon )

We have completed your Instant French. We think it is wonderful.
(Tom and Maureen Peil, Preston )

It is now a year since I first came across [Instant French] at my local library and I have benefited tremendously from this happy occurrence ... I loved the sense of humour ... Each week I did the final test with bated breath wondering if this time the little bar chart [...] would take a nose dive - but it didn't.

(Lesly Hopkins, Twickenham )

About the Author
Elisabeth has combined teaching languages all over the world for more than thirty years with her career as a very successful businesswoman. She wrote the first Instant title to teach her daughter to speak German and since then she has written a steady stream of best-sellers while keeping up her teaching to ensure that her books are based on first-hand experience and reflect the needs of her students. (19990901)

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Customer Reviews

INSTANT SPANISH
Exactly what it says on the tin. 35 minutes for 6 days a week is a breeze (the cassette should be bought at the same time). During the last week of the course I found myself passing through Spain as part of my job. I was amazed to find myself designated interpreter by my work colleagues such was my ability to communicate using the 350 words I had acquired.

I would very much like to see a follow up to this book.

Excellent way to learn Spanish very quickly
The premise of this book is to cover you for every day situations you would incur when travelling to Spain - introductions, shopping, restaurants, train / bus journeys, directions.
The methods used centre around teaching you the easiest way of saying what you want rather than the "correct" way of translating English into Spanish. For example, instead of saying "What do you do (for work)?", you would say, "In what do you work?". . You have enough confidence in the author to follow her line.
It is recommended that you spend 35 minutes each day per section and 1 week per chapter, which is more than fair for "Instant Spanish".
In addition to the short sketches, there is concentration on learning the 350 (yes, only 350 words) required to get by, key information on pronouciation (you need the cassette - unless you can really say the short "a" in cat,
There are opportunities to practise your verbal skills, tests at the end of each chapter, and because of this, there is little emphasis on Spanish grammar (there are enough teach yourself books on that subject).
It is a useful little book, worth every one of the 60 pages of tuition, and gave me a lot of confidence to carry on. It is well worth a try.

A good product, maybe a little bit above the 'total' beginner
This product is fine. It's easy to follow, well produced, well structured and the book and its accompanying CD are user friendly.

My big 'but' here is that it's a bit fast in places. For example, it immediately starts with a lengthy dialogue in Spanish which, although broken down later, might put off the absolute beginner. If you really are a total beginner with no background in learning languages (e.g. getting used to verbs) then this product should perhaps wait and be maybe the third or fourth 'beginners' product that you acquire and work on.

I would still recommend getting it as it has hundreds of words of useful vocabulary, is pleasant listening and you will surely benefit from it - but if you use a few more introductory products first (like Quickstart Spanish) then you'll be ready to take this on with more confidence.

I also like the concept of '35 minutes per day for 6 weeks' which is the theme here. The CD breaks this down for you as well.

Overall, a good one if you're an enthusiastic independent learner or even studying for a course.

PS. I wouldn't bother getting the book or CD individually - get them both in the combined package (i.e. this version of the product). It's only a little bit more and they are inextricably linked. You'll get a much better learning experience from working on them simultaneously.