Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts

Monday, July 23, 2012

Communicating In Spanish (Novice Level) Review

Communicating In Spanish (Novice Level)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I like this book and the others in the series. I use this book in my Adult Education classes and it works well. There is a need for more depth in practice excercises. The material is easy to follow by the novice and is low stress, just what is needed by people who are returning to school and want something that is easy yet productive.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Ultimate French Verb Review and Practice (UItimate Review & Reference Series) Review

The Ultimate French Verb Review and Practice (UItimate Review and Reference Series)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
(I have just started to use this book, and am a few chapters in, so keep in mind that this is a review of the format and structure of the book, not of every detail.)
I am trying to revive my French after seven years of dormancy, and I thought this book might help me to produce the French that, these days, I can only read. I was not wrong. One of the broad, general advantages of this book is that all of the verbs appear in full sentences (both in examples and in exercises). That means that working on the verbs doesn't mean just practicing declensions: it means expressing full thoughts.
One of the other reviewers also mentioned the question of register, and this is another of the book's major strengths. Since I mostly read French, the vagaries of spoken French are still mysterious to me. The authors not only discuss the different ways of using verbs and constructing phrases in formal, colloquial, or general speech, but they also do little things like giving pointers on words with difficult pronunciation. Brilliant!
Strength number three: the authors' attention to idiomatic expressions. While they do give lists of verbs, they also often teach verbs in ways that make it easier to remember and use those words. For example, when teaching "prendre" for irregular verbs, they also give a list of expressions (like, "prendre son temps") and later, a list of compounds like "apprendre" and "surprendre". I really believe that teaching words in related groups like this will make them mean more to a student and "stick" in the student's mind.
Since others have talked about the general structure of the book, I'll mention finally one superficial aspect. When it comes to language-learning books, they're not much use unless you actually use them. Superficial matters like layout, paper quality, and type are really important. This workbook is lovely. The paper is of better quality then those old disposable workbooks I used in my high school French class. The layout incorporates lots of white space, so I can concentrate on the words and even make notes beside them. I say this because I also looked at the authors' first book (Ultimate French Grammar Review and Practice) after I fell in love with this one, and that one looked a lot busier, and didn't have spaces for the exercise solutions! They clearly made some improvements this time around.

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Learn verb skills and communicate confidently in a new language

Building on the authors' bestselling The Ultimate Review and Practice series, this book is your best bet to mastering the often tricky verb forms and key sentence structures of the French language. The Ultimate French Verb Review and Practice offers a step-by-step program for experienced beginners through advanced learners to understand how different verb forms work and use that knowledge to build increasingly sophisticated sentences in French. No other book on the market combines guidance and practice in verb formation and usage with tips on the 18 most commonly used sentence models.


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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Your First 100 Words in German : German for Total Beginners Through Puzzles and Games Review

Your First 100 Words in German : German for Total Beginners Through Puzzles and Games
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This book is an amazing tool for starting your German Vocabulary. I had gotten a good start using a CD set, as an intro to the grammer and syntax, but after that part is over you need to learn words! There is no way around it. This book introduces common words that we use ourselves to introduce children to our native language. Body parts, things around the house, animals, geographical entities (rivers, forests), and greetings and exclamations.
The book itself is setup like a grade school workbook, with simple matching activities after showing the words. The back also contains rip out flash cards for every word mentioned in the book. A final useful tool is a puncuation guide in the front with valid examples, so if you can't read German yet (I couldn't when I started), you will learn how to read the words used.

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Takes the intimidation out of learning German

Learning German can be scary to you as a beginner, especially if you have attempted once before and failed. The reasons are many: too fast a pace, an overwhelming amount of vocabulary, or problematic memorization. Your First 100 Words in German eliminates these obstacles by presenting the meanings and pronunciations of 100 basic words in a simple workbook format, each illustrated and transliterated so you can grasp the word without struggling.


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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Easy Chinese Phrasebook & Dictionary Review

Easy Chinese Phrasebook and Dictionary
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This book is good for basic words but lacks background information that would be helpful. Still, a greater starter book!

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Two books in one—a practical phrasebook of essential Chinese vocabulary and expressions, plus a 3,500 English/Chinese dictionary.

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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

You Already Know Italian: Learn the Easiest 5,000 Italian Words and Phrases That Are Nearly Identico to English Review

You Already Know Italian: Learn the Easiest 5,000 Italian Words and Phrases That Are Nearly Identico to English
Average Reviews:

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Imagine being able to avail yourself of vocabulary you utilize every day, to make yourself understood in Italy?! What a terrific concept for a language guide...and the introductory pages concerning pronunciation, accent, and structure are some of the best presented I've read (and personally, a necessary addendum to expensive Berlitz classes!). I am delighted with this book. I just wish Gaelic were Latin-based, so Mr. Lowry could do a "You Already Know Irish" volume...that would be most helpful.

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That's right, you already know Italian--even if you never took a language course in your life!

Many of the words you know in English are similar and often the same in Italian, such as arte and delizioso. And pizza, bambino, and diva have been part of our lexicon for so long you forget they were ever "foreign." You Already Know Italian is the easiest and fastest way to build your Italian vocabulary by using your prior knowledge as the foundation for language learning.

Inside you will find chapters devoted to three types of words: familiar terms, identical and similar terms, and "falsely similar" terms. By studying these words, you will realize just how many Italian words you already know and how easy it is to pick up those terms that are close in meaning to their English counterparts. You will have a 5,000-word Italian vocabulary in no time at all!

Look how much Italian vocabulary you already know:

Familiar Italian terms:
Amore--Love
Bandito--Outlaw
Ciao--Hello
Pasta--Pasta
Simpatico--Agreeable
Vino--Wine


Italian words identical or similar to English ones:
Computer--Computer
Jazz--Jazz
Leader--Leader
Quota--Quota
Uso--Use
Virus--Virus


But beware these falsely similar words:
Ago--Needle
Camera--Room
Fatto--Fact
Salto--Jump
Stare--To stand
Villano--Inconsiderate



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Friday, May 18, 2012

Practice Makes Perfect Italian Pronouns And Prepositions, Second Edition (Practice Makes Perfect Series) Review

Practice Makes Perfect Italian Pronouns And Prepositions, Second Edition (Practice Makes Perfect Series)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
The book in good condition and take about 1 month to reach Singapore. Very good book to continue drill on pronouns and preposition. Thanks

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Ultimate French Review and Practice with CD-ROM (UItimate Review & Reference Series) Review

The Ultimate French Review and Practice with CD-ROM (UItimate Review and Reference Series)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I have loved the French language since I studied it in college and have tried to practice it whenever possible, traveling, seeing French films, reading newspapers in French. I bought French language books for review but always felt I was at a standstill, never really improving. It wasn't until my daughter started studying French in high school and I was looking for books for her that I began to make progress. That was the day I found The Ultimate French Review and Practice in a bookstore.
The book explains all the grammar points of the language so clearly and concisely and the exercises use real situations and everyday, authentic language. The culture notes are fascinating and connected thematically to the exercises. The articles and ads from French language newspapers with their accompanying exercises have really helped me to read and understand. I have been so motivated and inspired by this book.
I couldn't imagine anything better until I was in a bookstore and voilà, there was The Ultimate French Review and Practice with a CD-ROM. Several weeks into my use of the interactive CD-ROM I'm so excited that I have to write in to let people know about it. I'm working my way through the hundreds of exercises that are all new and different from the exercises in the book. I can practice all the grammar points of French and the exercises are referenced to the chapters in the book so it's easy to check my answers and find explanations. The diagnostic and review tests are extremely helpful.
What I especially love about the CD-ROM are the Audio Modules which are great for improving your listening comprehension skills. They have dialogues or narrations spoken by native French speakers. If I don't know a word I can consult the Glossary or the pop-up definitions. I find it very helpful to repeat after the speaker the Ten Key Words and Expressions that precede the audio passages. The topics of the audio passages are very varied and there's a wealth of idiomatic vocabulary based on the topics. My daughter, who is now studying French in college, is dazzled by what I can say about shopping, choosing a career, traveling by plane, eating in a restaurant, even falling in and out of love. She says she hasn't learned nearly as much in her courses and plans to borrow my CD-ROM! Je crois que je vais avoir un succès fou (as one dialogue character says)!


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Gain confidence in your French-language communication using the method trusted by more than 200,000 students

The Ultimate French Review and Practice gives you a good grasp of grammar so you can build your skills and confidence in communication. Each grammatical concept is explained and illustrated with engaging sentence examples; you'll also get extensive exercises offer practice at applying this knowledge in everyday conversation.

This book/CD-ROM package includes:

More than 400 exercises, in addition to 200 exercises on the accompanying CD-ROM
A Pre-Test that identifies your strengths and weaknesses and a Post-Test that helps you review your progress, both on the CD-ROM
Bonus online content, including audio exercises as well as internet-based activities focused on key cultural website across the French-speaking world

Topics include: Verbs--Basic Forms and Uses, Present Tense, Present Tense of Irregular Verbs, Negative Sentences, Interrogative Sentences, Imperative, Passé Composé,Imperfect, Imperfect versus Passé Composé, Reflexive Verbs, Future and Conditional, Conditional Sentences, Pluperfect, Future Perfect, and Past Conditional, Passe Simple, Present Participles, Uses of the Infinitive, Nouns and Their Modifiers, Pronouns, Nouns: Gender, Number and Articles, Uses of Articles, Stressed Pronouns, Subject-Verb Agreement, Possessive and Demonstrative Adjectives and Pounouns, Interrogative Adjectives and Pronouns,Adjectives, Comparative and Superlative, Object Pronouns, Numbers, Time, Dates, Adverbs, Negatives and Indefinites, Prepositions, Prepositions with Geographical Names, Verbs in Two-Clause Sentences, Relative Clauses, The Present Subjunctive, The Past Subjunctive, Literary Subjunctives, The Subjunctive, Idiomatic Usage, The Passive Voice and Substitutes for the Passive, Important Idioms and Proverbs, Verb Charts


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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Practice Makes Perfect Advanced Italian Grammar (Practice Makes Perfect Series) Review

Practice Makes Perfect Advanced Italian Grammar (Practice Makes Perfect Series)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
...it was tiny bit lacking in the "advanced" department. There a few sections which stand out: the parts about relative pronouns (although it could have been better), the usage of ne and ci and pronouns, the use of fare + infinitve, etc. The section on prepositions is also very good along with the last chapter ("Other Troublesome Topics"). This is by far the best part of the book and really addresses the complexities of the language. Most of the other stuff covered in this book you will probably have encountered in any first year/beginner language course. I would have preferred to see more about the subjunctive, when to use passato prossimo/imperfetto, a more detailed chapter/section on relative pronouns and a much more improved chapter/section on indirect/reported speech.
I gave it four stars because the exercises were very good and was a good review of Italian grammar. The author made a great effort to explain the grammar simply and concisely, and he makes good comparisons to English grammar that actually make sense and benefit the learner. The book is not overly complex nor is it intimidating.
But if you have studied the language in any detail, a majority of the information presented in this book will probably not be new to you, but it is still an good resource for polishing your understanding of Italian grammar.

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More practice to expand your Italian skills

The Practice Makes Perfect series has helped thousands learn the basics of Italian, from vocabulary to prepositions, verbs, and beyond. Now this innovative series turns its attention to advanced students of Italian who have the foundation of good language skills and want to take their knowledge to the next level. To help you evolve your language skills, this book focuses on more sophisticated grammar topics that are essential to constructing longer, more complex sentences. They especially highlight more troublesome areas, such as the correct use of object pronouns.


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Monday, May 14, 2012

Access German : A First Course for Adults Review

Access German : A First Course for Adults
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I'm in Germany and we have a proffessor that is using the book as a textbook for a class and its great. She's taking us unit by unit and is really easy to learn...

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ACCESS LANGUAGE SERIES

The Access Language series provides an innovative, modern course for adult language learners of all ages. Whether the reader is learning for business, for pleasure, or toward an examination, these high-impact, full-color guides provide beginners with a thorough grounding in the skills required to understand, speak, read, and write contemporary French and German.

Each Access guide features:

Ten units covering different topics areas, including family, eating, travel, and hotels
Numerous authentic texts, such as menus, advertisements, town maps, and websites
Clear, colorful, and inviting presentation of content
Cultural sidebars presenting short texts of cultural interest
Learning tips and assessment checklists
Two hours of lively recordings on CD, containing practical conversational language that can be studied with the course book or listened to for reinforcement
A free support website (www.accesslanguages.com)
Glossaries of new vocabulary within each chapter
An answer key at the back of the book


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Monday, April 30, 2012

The Ultimate French Review and Practice: Mastering French Grammar for Confident Communication Review

The Ultimate French Review and Practice: Mastering French Grammar for Confident Communication
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I bought this book to relearn all the grammar I used to know. Having had six years of French (last class was ten years ago), I needed something that would take me through grammar lessons fairly quickly. This book does that.
This is a handbook on grammar and conjugations. It follows a simple pattern for presenting material--it provides short lessons with examples, and then gives 8-12 practice exercises (with answers in the back of book), and so on.
This book emphasizes grammar over vocabulary, but translations are provided for the words that are used in examples and exercises. Translations also appear for idiomatic phrases.
I learned of this book by researching the materials used in upper level French composition classes at various universities. This one came up several times as a companion to the literature that students were required to obtain.
Here are the contents of Ultimate French Review and Practice:
Part I, Verbs--Basic Forms and Uses: 1. Present tense, 2. Present tense of irregular verbs, 3. Negative sentences, 4. Interrogative sentences, 5. Imperative, 6. Passe compose, 7. Imperfect; imperfect versus passe compose, 8. Reflexive verbs, 9. Future and conditional; conditional sentences, 10. Pluperperfect, future perfect, and past conditional; conditional sentences, 11. Passe simple, 12. Present participles; uses of the infinitive.
Part II, Nouns and Their Modifiers Pronouns: 13. Nouns: gender, number, and articles; uses of articles, 14. Stress pronouns; subject-verb agreement, 15. Possessive and demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, 16. Interrogative adjectives and pronouns, 17. Adjectives; comparative and superlative, 18. Object pronouns.
Part III, Other Elements of the Sentence: 19. Numbers; time; dates, 20. Adverbs, 21. Negative and indefinites, 22. Prepositions; prepositions with geographical names.
Part IV, Verbs in Two-Clause Sentences: 23. Relative clauses, 24. The present subjunctive, 25. The past subjunctive; literary subjunctives, 26. The subjunctive (continued).
Part V, Idiomatic Usage: 27. The passive voice and substitutes for the passive, 28. Important idioms and proverbs.
Don't be fooled by the price. This is a great resource.

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A good grasp of grammar enables the foreign-language learner to build skill and confidence in communication.Here's the "ultimate," painless way for intermediate and advanced learners to brush up on the rules.Each grammatical concept is explained and then illustrated with lively sentence examples; extensive exercises offer practice at applying this knowledge in everyday conversation.Also included are "culture notes," authentic documents, vocabulary boxes, and verb charts, as well as a full answer key and index.


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Saturday, April 28, 2012

Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Pronouns and Prepositions (Practice Makes Perfect (McGraw-Hill)) Review

Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Pronouns and Prepositions (Practice Makes Perfect (McGraw-Hill))
Average Reviews:

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The subject matter is tedious to begin with so you can't fault the writer for that. I found this book very difficult to get through and I am not sure why. I felt that many of the grammatical and usage explanations were incomplete. I think there are numerous errors and inconsistencies in the answer key. I found the chronic use of the progressive tense annoying and more frequent than contemporary Italian usage. This book has excellent word lists and great appendices. When I finally finished, I pulled those pages out of the book, punched holes in them and added them to my Italian grammar notebook. If you actually write the exercises in the book, it will be a mess when you're done. If you plan on reusing this one, do the exercises on a separate piece of paper. You may need a dictionary to complete the exercises.

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Master these two essential building blocks of fluency in Italian quickly and painlessly

Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Pronouns and Prepositions provides you with clear, detailed explanations and all the practice tools needed to master these two knotty elements of Italian grammar. Using many realistic examples taken from everyday life, author Daniela Gobetti takes the mystery out of Italian pronouns and prepositions and gives you plenty of exercises to reinforce what you have learned.


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Friday, April 20, 2012

Practice Makes Perfect: The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close (Practice Makes Perfect Series) Review

Practice Makes Perfect: The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close (Practice Makes Perfect Series)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I've always thought that the Spanish subjunctive was so complicated that it could be covered in a book by itself. I've always hoped for such a book, too. Following is its table of contents:
1. When to use the subjunctive and how to form its four tenses
2. Sequence of tenses and the subjunctive
3. Subordinated noun clauses
4. Subordinated adjective clauses
5. Adverbial expressions
6. Contrary-to-fact statements
7. Comprehensive exercises
The author states early in the book that many Spanish students assume that the subjunctive is all about doubt. The author is quick to explain that this assumption is problematic. The use of the subjunctive in doubt or uncertainty is only ONE of its many uses. I'm glad there's a book on the subjunctive that addresses this issue. I used to tutor a student in Spanish who thought the subjunctive was all about doubt. And trying to get her to understand that there was more to the subjunctive than just doubt was a difficult task.
The book explains how to conjugate all four tenses in the subjunctive, then it moves on to its uses. This book explains the uses of the subjunctive in the same order as many other books. First, it explains its uses in nominal clauses, then it moves on to adjective clauses, adverbial clauses, and contrary-to-fact statements. The end of the book has exercises.
I think this book is incredible, but I personally don't think it's a good idea to explain all four tenses at once. I think it's better to start out with the present subjunctive, learn how to use it, and then move on to the other tenses. The author mentions the future subjunctive and the future perfect subjunctive, but he doesn't explain how to use them. I wish he had; it's difficult to find reference materials that explain the future subjunctive.
I highly recommend this book. 5 stars!!!
Brandon Simpson

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Get up close and master Spanish subjunctive

As you study Spanish you may see the subjunctive as an obstacle to your full understanding of the language. Learning the subjunctive can be one of the most frustrating aspects of Spanish grammar, but it is also one of the most important for being understood and understanding what others say. By adding Spanish pronouns to your range of language skills, you will open up a whole new world of communication.

With plenty of opportunities for practice, practice, practice, Practice Makes Perfect: The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close helps you better understand the nuances of this often-confusing grammar element and develop your skills and confidence as a Spanish speaker with:

Easy-to-absorb explanatory materials, examples, and exercises
Authoritative guidance on how to form the four subjunctive tenses and when to use them
A comprehensive answer key that not only gives you the correct solutions to the exercises but explains the why behind them


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Chinese Demystified: A Self-Teaching Guide Review

Chinese Demystified: A Self-Teaching Guide
Average Reviews:

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I've studied Chinese in China and also used other resources such as Pimsleurs. I have the book in my hands after needing to use up a gift voucher. I wasn't sure what level(s) "Demystified" would encompass and on inspection can see it's usually not exceeding what would be considered a beginners level. The preface notes explain that the book is intended as a supplementation resource to a more extensive language course.
The writing style is very matter of fact with little attempt to amuse the reader or provide incites into Chinese culture or explorations of the history and motivations behind the language. You may or may not care about that but often one's learning experience is enhanced by such inclusions.
Pinyin, Simplified and Traditional forms are used throughout and the book even provides a brief overview of strokes (writing/hanzi). I found that as a westerner learning all three; reading, spoken and written forms at once is an ambitious exercise and a student certainly shouldn't expect this text to serve as a hanzi reference. The vocabulary is admittedly low and embraces those stock terms and phrases language learners throughout the world are familiar with. Importantly grammar is given sufficient coverage as that's a large part of your language foundation. Extensive exercises are provided at the end of each chapter.
With no audio companion the true beginner will definately have to supplement the book with an appropriate resource to polish their pronounciation(a teacher?).
As a non-beginner I'm finding it works well as a refresher.

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Learning Chinese is a no-brainer with Demystified

Chinese Demystified walks you step by step throughthe fundamentals and moves on to more advanced topics. Each chapter concludes with a self-test that allows you to track your progress, and a comprehensive final exam at the end of the book gives instant feedback on new language skills. The book includescharacters in simplified and traditional formats along with pinyin phonetic translation for easy pronunciation.


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Saturday, April 7, 2012

Vox Compact Spanish and English Dictionary (National Textbook Language Dictionaries) Review

Vox Compact Spanish and English Dictionary (National Textbook Language Dictionaries)
Average Reviews:

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A dictionary is just one of those books that doesn't have much to speak of (no plot twists, no character development, etc.), so I'm afraid this review will be rather short.
That said, this is the BEST Spanish-English dictionary I've ever used. It contains over 85,000 entries, plus complete descriptions of both English and Spanish grammar, tables of all the irregular verbs, and a 45-page section that defines literally thousands of commonly used phrases and idioms in both languages. It also has synonyms for words that have multiple translations so that you know the difference, for example, between a person's hand ("mano") and the hand of a clock ("manecilla"). Nevertheless, it comes in a convenient size with easy-to-read font so that it's perfect for use by students. If you're a school student who's studying Spanish, this is the only Spanish-English dictionary you'll ever buy.
~El Fin~

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The Vox Compact Spanish and English Dictionary contains more than 85,000 headwords, phrases, and examples, including the latest additions to the language plus technical, scientific, and business terms. This bestselling reference includes a 45-page section of Spanish idioms and expressions.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian Grammar (Practice Makes Perfect Series) Review

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian Grammar (Practice Makes Perfect Series)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This workbook is fantastic. I am very pleased with the logical layout and the in-depth discussions of verbs, adjectives, nouns, etc. This workbook has so much information in it, it can easily replace a textbook and be used on its own. The exercises are relevant and straightforward, but also varied.
Something I didn't know, however, before I bought it: this book is intended for intermediate users. Don't let this discourage you from purchasing it, though. As long as you know a few of the basic concepts of Italian, and understand a little about how languages work in general, you will be able to begin at the start of this workbook.
One thing it is slightly lacking in is vocabulary. There are many other books in the Practice Makes Perfect series intended to work together, so while this book will certainly help you with all the grammar you could need for an Italian I/II level understanding, you'll need to either get the other workbook(s) or find some other source of vocabulary. I have been so pleased with this workbook, however, that I intend to complete my collection of the series.
I highly recommend this product to anyone who wants to study Italian on their own for fluency (not recommended for "travel"-type learning).

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Build up your Italian grammar skills and communicate with ease

The only way to boost your confidence in a second language is to practice, practice, practice. From the present tense of regular verbs to direct object pronouns, this comprehensive guide and workbook covers all aspects of Italian grammar that you need to master.

Focusing on the practical aspects of Italian as it's really spoken, each unit of Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian Grammar features clear explanations, numerous realistic examples, and lots of engaging exercises.

Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian Grammar makes mastering grammar easy with:

Clear, down-to-earth, easy-to-follow explanations that make even the most complex principles easy to understand
Example sentences that illustrate and clarify each grammatical point
Dozens of exercises in formats suited to every learning style
Practical and high-frequency vocabulary used throughout
A detailed answer key for quick, easy progress checks

With help from this book, you can effortlessly use:Possessive adjectives • Relative pronouns • Gerunds • Expressions of time • The passive and the impersonal Si * The subjunctive mood * Question words


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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary (Practice Makes Perfect Series) Review

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary (Practice Makes Perfect Series)
Average Reviews:

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Speaking as somebody who is teaching themselves Spanish, I'd have to say that this book does what it claims and DOES IT WELL! USEFUL, ENTERTAINING, EASY TO USE and YOU LEARN VOCABULARY. Better than a dictionary and a whole LOT MORE FUN!
I also own the PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT VERBS, the PRONOUNS & PREPOSITIONS volume AND the COMPLETE SPANISH GRAMMER books in the series. Personally, I think this book is an excellant companion book and fits in well with the series. True, it doesn't have the LONG translation excercises, but it does contain LONG reading segments in Spanish which is, in my opinion, the best way to learn VOCABULARY! Believe me, YOU LEARN VOCABULARY when you read this book. I know today's "educators" frown upon rote learning and "memorizing", but, quite frankly, if you don't memorize anything, how much can you really know??? The reading excercises make your brain work on recalling the words from MEMORY. Sure, there's not a lot of long excercises which require you to write, but there ARE LOTS OF PRACTICE EXCERCISES.
I found the book to be FUN and ENJOYABLE. I'm learning a LOT and it's FUN, too! Unlike the Verb book, you can skip around from unit to unit. Read a unit while you're eating lunch or riding on the bus. Short sentence and phrase translations, fill-in-the-word, and true and false excercises mean you can do many of the exercises IN YOUR HEAD without the need for pencil and paper. Subject grouped word lists followed by reading excercises, short translations and T/F quizes makes your brain retain the words. And to achieve even a conversational level in any language, who would disagree that one must fill their memory with words??? You can read, study and use this book anywhere and anytime you have five free minutes. It WORKS, so I'm not sure I understand why it's not receiving better reviews.
It shouldn't be the FIRST book you buy in this series, though. I'd recommend getting VERBS first, PREPS & PRONOUNS second, GRAMMER third and this book AFTER you've used the others, as this book presupposes that you already have a basic grasp of how to conjugate verbs and construct a sentence. It DOES REVIEW verbs in general, ser/estar, reflexive verbs, por/para, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, and grammer--all the while introducting new words and how different, but related, words are formed through the use of suffixes and prefixes.
Not only will you learn vocabulary, but you might just find a few surprising tid-bits of knowledge about history, historic and contempory people, current events, religion, science and more!!!!
All in all, I'm VERY PLEASED with this book, and I give it FIVE STARS. It's USEFUL, FUN, and EXPANDS YOUR VOCABULARY--exactly what the publisher claims. It's also INEXPENSIVE and actually has 388 PAGES of text and exercises, 436 pages total (including the answer keys). For the price, you can't go wrong!

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Polish your Spanish vocabulary skills

Building on the success of her prior book, Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses, author Dorothy Devney Richmond helps you attain a strong working vocabulary, no matter if you are an absolute beginner or an intermediate student of the language.

She combines her proven instruction techniques and clear explanationswith a plethora of engaging exercises, so you aremotivated and hardly notice that you are absorbing so muchSpanish. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary also includes basic grammar and structures of the language to complement your newly acquired words. "Vocabulary Builders" help you add to your Spanish repertoire by using cognates, roots, suffixes, prefixes, and other "word-building" tools.


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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Spanish by Association Review

Spanish by Association
Average Reviews:

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Taking language out of the abstract auditory realm, this book phonetically ties the words that are unfamilar to concrete images we know. His method and books should be read and used by foreign language teachers. It's a quick read, and I solidly learned about 350 useful words and basic sentence structure in 3 days. The examples he has chosen are creative, charming and memorable. I'm impressed and grateful to this author. Buy it and enjoy it.

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