Colloquial Spanish of Latin America: The Complete Course for Beginners

Specially written by experienced teachers for self-study or class use, this course offers you a practical, step-by-step approach to the spoken and written Spanish of Latin America. No prior knowledge of the language is required.
Features include:
* dialogues and exercises for regular practice
* clear grammar notes
* useful vocabulary and pronunciation guide
* answer key and special reference section
By the end of this rewarding course you will be able to communicate confidently and effectively in a broad range of situations.
2 CDs are also available to help improve listening and pronunciation skills.

Roberto Rodriguez-Saona, a Spanish lecturer from the University of Leeds, has prepared a beginner's instructional course in Latin American Spanish consisting of a comprehensive manual plus two cassette tapes that support the material from the book and attune your ear to the nuances of colloquial Spanish as it is spoken in Latin America.

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