Colloquial Spanish of Latin America: The Complete Course for Beginners

The book's lessons start off simply enough with greetings (saludos) such as "aló" and "buenos días" and numbers 1 through 100, reinforced by Spanish dialogues to practice and exercises to complete. But by the end of chapter 20, you'll be comfortable chatting about all sorts of topics, glibly tossing off verbs in past tense, future, conditional, and the subjunctive. With a grammar summary, an answer key to the exercises, and a two-way glossary, plus the tapes that accustom you to comprehending Spanish spoken at the tempo you'll hear when you hit the streets of Latin America (a bit faster than what you encounter in many language classes), Rodriguez-Saona's course helps you speak and understand Spanish correctly and with confidence. --Stephanie Gold