Complete Spanish Step-by-Step, Premium Second Edition

I have literally learned more in one week with this book than months with Duolingo and Memrise!! Very well put together - clear, straightforward approach. Teaches basic rules and tips on how to approach and remember grammar, removes unnecessary confusion. Includes helpful flash cards and quizzes on the McGraw Hill app - just scan the QR code in the back of book to access. (The McGraw Hill app is a little dated but serves the purpose.) If you really want to see progress that sticks, add this book to your tool kit. You will wish you had ordered sooner! *Retired healthcare professor 🤓

I would highly recommend purchasing Complete Spanish Step-by-Step, Premium Second Edition by Barbara Bregstein. After 6 months of Spanish learning on my own by using other books and with a Spanish tutor, this book has provided me with more knowledge that I can use and I’m only on the fifth chapter. I want to address some comments. 1- There is an app from McGraw Hill publisher that allows you to practice the vocabulary with flashcards and to take an assessment. Someone stated it only works with older model phones, which isn’t true. It works with my iPhone 16. 2- There is also an answer key in the back of the book for the exercises. 3- There is an audiobook available, however you must pay for it. I have Spotify and it is included in my premium subscription, so I use it to reinforce what I learned. I find it very helpful. 4- There is vocabulary throughout the entire book that is repeated in later chapters to increase your Spanish vocabulary and help you to remember. 5- Lastly, there are passages that reinforce the vocabulary that you learned. Pairing it with the audio gives you the comprehensible input needed to learn the language. Great book. Highly recommend!

So helpful!! Absolutely love the pace of this study! Extremely helpful with my self study, learning and immediately using in practice. The grammar rules are simplified and very clear. I did have a bit of vocabulary knowledge starting out, however they seem to introduce new vocab as needed so you should be okay coming in studying as you go without much prior understanding.

Excellent coverage of the topics necessary to master Spanish language. Structurally focused on verbs, their tenses and conjugations interspersed with other parts of speech and some vocabulary development. The exercises and reading practice do reflect the reference material presented. However this book is not sufficient by itself. It needs to be supplemented with pronunciation practice, substitution drills, topical dialog, vocabulary development and more reading exercises. The book deals with each topic to the same uniform level of detail regardless of the learning difficulty of the topic. For example the topic of indirect objects and relexive verbs receives about the same level of scrutiny as say the topic of present subjunctive. But even the author recognizes the difficulty of objects and reflexive verbs and encourages the student to not continue until thoroughly mastered. So one could evaluate this book as tradeoff between reference and practice. There is also some online material provided by the publisher in conjuction with this book and others they offer. Its useful but not that impressive.

This book has been very useful and instrumental in helping me learn to speak Spanish. I incorporated this book into my routine of listening to and watching novelas. It starts out with the basics and every chapter build upon the previous one. Pros: Plenty of reading and comprehension exercises It’s a large book, so you’ll be learning for a while Teaches you everything from the basics all the way up to advanced Cons: There are some parts that ask you to translate Spanish to English.

I have no Spanish language background. I never studied it. But I’ve been learning through an app for a few months, and although that’s been great to build my vocabulary and introduce me to a new language, I wanted a more in-depth understanding. This book is providing that! It has exercises which I’ve found so helpful, and the written lessons are well-explained. As I’m going through the intro section (this book has two main parts, an intro and an advanced), I appreciate the chance to master the basics in a way I can’t do with an app. It’s a great way to learn; writing plurals of nouns (la to las and el to los) makes those rules so much easier to understand. Reasons are given why accents go on certain syllables, when to use ser vs. estar—all things I could learn through osmosis in an app, but for my style of learning I much prefer to see things written out and to learn the “why” behind the rules. Of course there are always exceptions, and in this book those are given in example groups as well. All that being said, if you are coming in like me with zero background in the Spanish language, I did find using an app first to introduce me to the sounds and pronunciation nuances to be essential, and a vital tool for beginners. So I would recommend both study methods! Use an app for listening and speaking practice, and get this book for a greater foundation and understanding.

Really interesting studies and fun facts.

I've learned very much

This is a really solid Spanish learning book and has helped me make steady progress. The lessons are structured so that you can comfortably work through about one unit a week and keep a steady pace, which makes it feel manageable rather than overwhelming. There’s lots of vocabulary included, but it’s presented in a way that feels clear and useful instead of just dumping a huge list on you. The grammar explanations are very clear and easy to follow, which is great for building confidence. There are also plenty of practice exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned. I also like that there’s an app component — it’s especially helpful for learning pronunciation and hearing the language spoken. Overall a great resource for anyone serious about learning Spanish.

Love it! Simple to start, plenty of written exercises to work on. Tackles sentence structures, basic vocab and grammar, pronouns. Very comprehensive and user friendly. I’d recommend having a spanish-English dictionary handy when you study to help translate and understand the chapters as well.

رائع جدا

Best book to learn Spanish for beginners - the explanations are clear, new vocabulary is introduced at an optimal pace, and there are also exercises if you're into that sort of learning.