As someone who studied a bit in the past, forgot some easy things, knew a few intermediate things, this great buy really gives you many fine points to help you start to actually speak the language. It's a book for someone who's already gone through a basic/elementary book. You'll get the maximum benefit if you pay attention to many parts of the conversations that aren't even emphasised: I'm referring to the tricky aspect of languages where you can't do word for word translations and the different way prepostions are used. Want to say "about" something in Spanish? Use "de"(!)--and there are many other little stumbling blocks like that, which will either frustrate you or, like me, fascinate you. Like I said, it's a great buy. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Conversation (Practice Makes Perfect Series)
To start off with: on the back of the book, there is an indication that this is meant for intermediate learners. There is a grammar review/reference in the appendix but I suggest that before going through this book, you know how to conjugate most verb tenses, including the subjunctive, but you don't necessarily need to know when the subjunctive modes are used (some of this is taught).
Even if you consider yourself past the ¨intermediate¨ stage, it's likely you'll still find some useful information. I was able to have conversations in Spanish fairly easily before picking up this book, but now the vocabluary I use will be more varied.
Each chapter starts off with a dialogue (I've gone through several Practice Makes Perfect books and none had dialogues, although it makes more sense in a book like this which is about conversation!). The main parts to be learned in the dialogue are bolded, and explanations of these follow the dialogue (with examples). After this, there are several exercises for practice. This format is great I think, for a book whose goal is to help you improve your conversation in a language.
The author goes over many useful little parts of conversation. Some that I'll try to include more in my conversation are:
·así que (meaning ¨so¨...I used to use ¨por eso¨ more often)
·parece mentira (it doesn't seem possible)
·ya sea (whether)
·o sea (in other words)
·a propósito (speaking of which)
·para serte sincero (to be honest)
·quisiera (used instead of ¨quiero¨ sometimes for the sake of politeness)
·por otra parte (¨in addition¨, ¨furthermore¨ or ¨plus¨-I used ¨ademas¨ most often before)
·fíjate que/imagínate que (actually/just imagine)
·no acabar de (which indicates that something ¨just seems impossible¨)
·incluso (including/even)
·en efecto/efectivamente (indeed)
·en cuanto (as soon as)
·por cierto (by the way)
·estar harto (to be fed up)
·cuanto antes (as soon as possible, right away)
·evidentemente (¨obviously¨-not ¨evidently¨)
·por lo visto (evidently)
·la persona indicada (la persona ideal)
·en el fondo (basically, deep down...)
·ya que (since)
·educado & culta (well-mannered & well-educated)
This is just a small part of what's in the book though.
If you decide to go through this book, you'll be writing your own conversations sometimes. As you go through the chapters, it's a good idea to flip back to previous ones and add as many phrases or words (that you reviewed before)as you can, also including ones from the current chapter. That way, after you finish the workbook, you'll have remembered/learned much more. Also, for things you need more practice with, it's a good idea to write your own sentences and if you have a diary or journal, write in Spanish using these words or phrases.
This book isn't just about how to use little words or phrases, but of course sentence structure is included as well. One of my favorite chapters has to do with this (Chapter 12-¨Retelling a Conversation¨) where you must change direct quotes to indirect speech and vice versa. (Example: Les dijo «No lleguen tarde.» becomes: Les dijo que no llegaran tarde.)
As usual in the Practice Makes Perfect books, there is an answer key as well as an English to Spanish glossary and a Spanish to English glossary. Included as well (which I mentioned before) is a grammar review/reference in the appendix.
To me, ¨Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Conversation¨ stands out as a unique book in the series and I think it would be useful to any intermediate to advanced learner who wants to improve their Spanish conversation skills.'
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