Anybody here study Spanish and have an introductory textbook they thought was particularly good? Not too cutesy, plenty of drill and vocab-from-context, clear grammar explanations
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I have several Spanish texts leftover from my classes that I would be happy to give to you if you can use them!
My first two classes used Puntos de partida (6th edition) for which I still have the full lab book, most of the work book (missing pages from Chapters 7 through 12) and CDs for both. (They both have some sort of registration thing, though, and I need to check to make sure the content is accessable first.) As I remember, it was a fairly good introduction and just flipping through it there are a lot of examples and exercises for Spanish in conversation. This is also the largest of all the Spanish books I have and the only hardcover.
I also have Siempre adelante (2nd edition) which I don't remember that well. I bought it used so it has been marked up a bit and the lab manual I have that accompnies it is missing Chapters 1 through 5 and pretty much requires the lab material to be useful.
Then there is Punto y aparte which I think my last class used. It is similar to the first one just at a higher level. This one is pretty much entirely in Spanish except for vocabulary sections while Puntos de partida has most of its instructions in English as well as translations for passages.
Finally, there is Español para extranjeros from the Costa Rica Spanish Institute which is entirely in Spanish and almost completely activities and drills. I was also working in this book so a good portion of it has been marked up.
As a resource for a beginner, I would recommend Puntos de partida with all of its additional things (I hope the CDs still work!) but then again you seem to be able to pick up languages with much more ease than I can! You might be able to jump right into Punto y aparte with just a good dictionary and 501 Spanish Verbs (which I highly reccomend, by the way).
Hey, cool! I wasn't expecting any offers of actual textbooks, that's awesome. I may very well take you up on that! Is the Puntos de partida an introductory one? Or does it assume you've already had some Spanish? My brother's lent me an old textbook of his, but it's the second in a series and already assumes you know what the first book taught, so it's a bit tough to work with.
Puntos de partida looks introductory to me! It calls itself "An invitation to Spanish" and it was the text used for Spanish 101 and 102. It starts out with some simple phrases, basic vocabulaty and the alphabet and then moves right on in to ser and estar.
Also, as far as I can tell the CDs that go with it should work! Two of them need a little registration thing that I didn't really investigate and the third is simply audio files that could help with accent and stuff.
All right, I've officially (as of ten minutes ago) given up on trying to learn via semi-imersion from my brother's intermediate textbooks. If you'd be willing to dig up that Puntos de partida for me, I would be eternally grateful. What's your email these days?
My first two classes used Puntos de partida (6th edition) for which I still have the full lab book, most of the work book (missing pages from Chapters 7 through 12) and CDs for both. (They both have some sort of registration thing, though, and I need to check to make sure the content is accessable first.)
As I remember, it was a fairly good introduction and just flipping through it there are a lot of examples and exercises for Spanish in conversation.
This is also the largest of all the Spanish books I have and the only hardcover.
I also have Siempre adelante (2nd edition) which I don't remember that well. I bought it used so it has been marked up a bit and the lab manual I have that accompnies it is missing Chapters 1 through 5 and pretty much requires the lab material to be useful.
Then there is Punto y aparte which I think my last class used. It is similar to the first one just at a higher level. This one is pretty much entirely in Spanish except for vocabulary sections while Puntos de partida has most of its instructions in English as well as translations for passages.
Finally, there is Español para extranjeros from the Costa Rica Spanish Institute which is entirely in Spanish and almost completely activities and drills. I was also working in this book so a good portion of it has been marked up.
As a resource for a beginner, I would recommend Puntos de partida with all of its additional things (I hope the CDs still work!) but then again you seem to be able to pick up languages with much more ease than I can! You might be able to jump right into Punto y aparte with just a good dictionary and 501 Spanish Verbs (which I highly reccomend, by the way).
Let me know if you're interested in any of these!
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It starts out with some simple phrases, basic vocabulaty and the alphabet and then moves right on in to ser and estar.
Also, as far as I can tell the CDs that go with it should work! Two of them need a little registration thing that I didn't really investigate and the third is simply audio files that could help with accent and stuff.
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My email is still catamount3(at)hotmail.com
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