Product Description

This second edition has been updated to include Internet, e-mail and mobile phone languages. Written by a native speaker, this is ideal for students learning on their own or in class and will help perfect pronunciation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #502007 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-01
• Original language: Spanish, English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From the Back Cover
This second edition of the best-selling beginners' course makes learning Latin American Spanish easy and enjoyable. It has been brought right up to date to include the language of the Internet, e-mail and mobile phones.
Written by a native speaker with many years experience of teaching the language, Colloquial Spanish of Latin America is ideal for students learning on their own or in class. Its step-by-step approach to spoken and written Latin American Spanish assumes no prior knowledge of the language. Features include:
* a focus on modern, conversational Spanish
* user-friendly grammar notes
* a variety of exercises to help you grow in confidence
* full answer key and grammar summary
* English-Spanish and Spanish-English word lists.

Customer Reviews

Good revision
I took a 5 week intensive course in Buenos Aires. I tried to read this book before my trip, but only managed a few chapters. On my return, I wanted to revise what I had learned and this book proved to be very useful.

The book contains dialogues, exercises, language points and readings. Language points explained pertinent grammar and idiosyncracies, with numerous examples. I liked the readings (short comprehensions), which generally occured at the end of the chapter. They do help you feel like you could read a real article/advert. The end of the book contains a grammar section and some vocab.

My only gripe (thus only 4 stars) is the omission of el voseo. Vos is used instead of tu in a number of places in Latin America. The conjugation could easily have been added as it doesn't effect all tenses.

If you can't get to Latin America to learn, then I'd recommend this as a good alternative.

It irons out the differences
I have argentinian roots, speak the language and often I am asked to recommend a language course for visitors to the country. A course for Latin America like this one is better than nothing but it treats all countries as a whole and irons out the differences. It would be better to have say a course for Argentina only, with the language inserted in the culture. The course would also have the argentinian expressions and colloquialisms. Only this way you can step into the country equipped with its language and cultural context. Could we please have a language course for Argentina, not just a generic Latin American course, without ironing out national identity.