Spanish Made Simple: Revised and Updated

Nothing to dislike. Using it for a Spanish class that was recommended by the teacher.

Excellent instructional book for learning Spanish. Overall the book was in usable condition. The book had seen some use i.e. turned down pages, very lightly soiled. None of the pages were torn or had any writing on them.

This has some useful information and exercises and could definitely be a help to learning Spanish. I have three issues with it though. The first is that I have found a lot of errors in the book. That is really unacceptable when you are relying on a book to teach you a language. When I look at the answers to exercises I'm never sure whether I got it wrong or they got it wrong!The second problem is that sometimes in the answers to exercises they don't include the whole sentence which makes it harder to learn the sentence structure. Also they often use abbreviations, for señor for example.The third thing that I don't like is that they change people's names from the Spanish version to the English version and vice versa. If you go to Mexico and meet someone called "Juanito" and you speak to him in English are you really going to call him "Johnny". I'm not sure that would go down too well.

This is a good text for learning Spanish rapidly. The lessons are clear and well-organized. So far (I am on lesson 28 of 49), I find that each lesson takes from an hour and a half to two hours to go through, writing out all the exercises and practicing the dialogue out loud as directed. I am brushing up long-forgotten Spanish, and I also have a background in French, so it may take a brand new learner a bit longer to complete each lesson. I recommend spending a few days reviewing the material and practicing the vocabulary before proceeding to the next lesson.I have found, however, that there are several errors in the answer section...which is rather disconcerting when you are trying to learn something new. This text has been revised, and some of the answers may have been based on questions in an earlier edition, but they certainly should have been revised along with the text. Most of the errors are obvious and do not have to do with vocabulary or grammar...just with the content of the dialogue...a picture is now hanging over a bookcase, not the piano...that sort of thing. It's a bit annoying when your correct answer does not agree with the book. That's just sloppy on the editor's part.

One of the first books I ever bought to learn spanish. This book was originally written in 1955 but has been updated, revised and expanded. It really does make spanish easy to learn but you must take the time to study the book at least an hour per day. The author`s method for teaching you Spanish is very effective and impressive even by today`s standards even though it was written in the 50s. If something is good, it`s good no matter when it was made. I have read and studied many, many spanish books in my quest to become fluent and this book is the first book I would recommend to any beginner or intermediate learner and even advanced spanish students will learn plenty of spanish grammer and vocabulary here. In fact, I recently bought myself a new copy and started studying it again. I wanted to refresh myself on the lessons contained herein and I find that I am being reminded of many words and expressions that I forgot about and I am learning lots of new spanish. That`s what inspired me to write a review and tell people about this most excellent book for starting your spanish education and working your way up to fluency.

Very user friendly. Great tips on how to pronounce and use the words. I first borrowed this book from the library while trying to teach myself Spanish with the Duolingo app. It was so good I decided to purchase it. Im doing well with my Spanish using both. I recommend this book for beginners.

This is the "textbook" being used by my Spanish instructor at the community center. The class is senior citizens, many of whom have had no previous preparation in Spanish, thus dictating the level at which the subject is to be presented. For me this is unfortunate in that I can already speak the language it is prcatice and expanding my vocabulary that I seek, although I am finding I lack some of the basics that have wandered away from me over the years. The book is in the typical format for language instruction. Reviewing this material that was 'learned' some 45 years ago is not at all harmful to my cognizance of the language and I think I have control over my ego enough to avoid conflict. It seems particularly well-suited in that the vocabulary is slow in its expansion and leaves room for my (personal) recollectiion of words heard over the years and hidden deep in my mind bank.

The rating is for the book itself, which is fantastic. It spends very minimal time on explanations and grammar notes - just what's necessary. Instead, it exposes you as much as possible to the language itself, through examples, starting simply, and quickly building on what you've learned (but not so fast that you're overwhelmed - at least I'm not). It feels like a very effective and gentle way to learn - not a lot of concentration has been required.The kindle book includes tables, with, say, Epanish examples on the left, and English examples on the right. My Kindle 3/Kindle Keyboard has serious problems when a table is larger than a single page, in that when you hit "next page", it skips past the table. This makes it essentially unusable on a Kindle. :\ It works fine on Kindle Fire, and probably other non-Kindle device readers, but if you're buying this for a normal eInk Kindle, I can't recommend it currently (I don't know that it's the publisher/editor's fault, seems like more of a Kindle software glitch to me, although I do seem to remember Kindle formatting guidelines advising against the use of tables in eBooks).

Not an update of the original. This has been rewritten for the American market.The pronunciation is South American and USA Hispanic and not European Spanish ie, Castellano.You will certainly be able to pick up the grammar and vocabulary, as the essential format is similar to the original version.However, if you are thinking of using this book prior to a trip to the Spanish mainland, or islands, you may well find it more difficult to understand the lisping sound of standard mainland Spain.

This book is American Spanish, in my opinion not suitable for anyone wanting to learn European Spanish, as pointed out several times on the reviews. I should have taken heed....I ordered this hoping to improve my European Spanish within the boundaries of this book, all it did was confuse me. And it really is a pointless purchase for anyone wanting to learn European Spanish, the dialect is not the same, even the written phonetic pronunciations are US, one can almost imagine hearing the Mexican Spanish when reading through the lessons. Possibly a good purchase if you wish to visit the US or Mexico.

Having successfully resurrected my French and German using the 'Made Simple' series, this was the obvious choice for my non - existent Spanish and I find the series very useful, without gimmicks or 'modern aids'. It would be useful ,however, to have recordings of the texts, but the sounds of Spanish can be got from other sources.As I say, a good series for the self-disciplined student.David Allan

Excellent aid to learning Spanish. I particularly like the Exercises at the end of each chapter which revise what has been covered and to ensure we get it right, the answers are available at the end of the book. The book arrived before the expected date so no long wait for it. It is also in excellent condition.

simple to follow