Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach

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By teaching how to form words from English, this method will prevent you from memorizing and translating every word. Pros & Cons Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses This is another resource that you truly need if you are serious about mastering conjugating Spanish verbs. Conjugating Spanish verbs is by far the most challenging area of learning-Spanish for native English speakers. After studying with "Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses" you will find that you can confidently conjugate Spanish verbs in any verb tense, from easier tenses such as the present tense ("I run") and the preterit ("I ran) all the way to the most challenging Spanish tenses, such as the pluperfect subjunctive - which is known in Spanish as "pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo" (I would have run). In addition to showing the reader that he or she already knows many Spanish words because there are so many English words that are spelled the same and that have the same meaning, the author also shows how the reader can take many English words that he or she already knows and convert them into Spanish words just by making small changes in the words. For example, the author shows how we can convert many English words that end in “ist” into Spanish words by adding the letter “a” to them: First, let me assure you that you can learn Spanish on your own—and these days you have all the needed resources easily available.

Then, I found Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg. I have written about this book many times. Here is one of my posts on it: https://dwanethomas.com/a-16-year-old-reads-new-testament-latin-after-3-semesters/ Usually, words that end in -tion in English end in -ción in Spanish. For example, Action/Acción, Temptation/Tentación. It is easy.

I used to carry this book around with me everywhere. I would read lessons whenever I had free time, reading the sentences, and saying them out loud. It helped me get a solid foundation for Spanish early on, so I highly recommended this book if you’re new to Spanish. One improvement I would suggest in future editions is, in addition to chapter numbers, to provide subtitles for future reverence. Taking this approach allows you to start using Spanish right away. Also, the author introduces new vocabulary and sentence structures simultaneously. So, as you learn the new vocabulary, you’re also learning tons of new sentences that you can use just by switching out a word or two here and there in Spanish. Learn Grammar the Easy Way Spanish Verbs If you think you can accomplish fluency in Spanish as an adult without mastering conjugating Spanish verbs, you are only fooling yourself. This book is an absolute essential resource for learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs. It will show you how to conjugate every Spanish verb tense imaginable. This is my NUMERO UNO resource for learning Spanish.

I was drawn to the Magic Key after seeing enough posts that the Michel Thomas and Paul Noble audio courses had, to a large extent, followed her model. [And perhaps Madrigal followed someone else's model as well - I think I've seen some history that she got hit with criticism/claims on her Russian Magic Key.] I like the Michel Thomas/Paul Noble stuff and thought I would benefit from a more detailed written product along the same lines, and the Magic Key to French - even though published in 1959 - is a lot of fun to work thru. No, you won't get much current slang/vernacular, but for the basic structure of the language I think it's a great approach. Without a doubt, this book is a perfect way to start learning Spanish. However, at some point, you may need to add more grammar structures and elements that are not mentioned in the book. If you want to reinforce your Spanish knowledge, there are other Spanish textbooks for beginners that you could try. Conclusion If you’re searching for Spanish textbooks for beginners, it’s very likely that at some point you’ll bump into Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish. Since this book is quite popular among Spanish learners, I want to provide you with an honest review of this textbook. If you’re going to go down the “books route,” instead of using other self-study options such as an app or a software program, it’s important that you use a combination of textbooks, workbooks, lesson books, grammar books, and literature to cover all the areas of the language learning process. 10 Best Books to Learn Spanish

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Many language books get hung up on every tiny grammatical point. (I am looking at you, Latin books). That isn’t helpful. Imagine telling driver’s education students they would not be allowed to drive until they could label every single part of a car. Every part. The steering wheel, the gas pedal, the trunk, the hubcaps, the carburetor, the pistons, the crankshaft, the rear-wheel differential… and, at this point I no longer know what I am talking about. Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish does not make this mistake. The book focuses on the grammar you need. The grammar you are actually going to use.

All the exercises focused on your written, pronunciation and reading skills. Since there’s no listening exercises, you’ll need to train these skills with other resources.Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish is a great way to begin learning Spanish. The only thing that would make this book complete would be if it had some listening exercises to help students practice all four language skills. Despite this particular weak point, the book’s teaching method and “language shortcuts” are a creative and innovative way to learn the basics of Spanish. Or maybe you don’t even know if you can teach yourself Spanish and that’s the reason you keep postponing your goal of learning a second language.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning to speak Spanish. This would also be good to someone who has forgotten Spanish or, like me, took Spanish in high school many years previous. (Of course we also need some type of audio instruction -- but that is beyond the scope of this review.) This is a book I will probably reference frequently. It took me forever to read it because there was much to study and absorb -- but it is worth the effort. I'm looking forward to purchasing an e-book when my tablet arrives. This has nothing to do with the book content but ... I think the author has a great "literary" name: Margarita Madrigal. She was destined to be an author of some sort! If you are a beginner at Spanish, let me tell you right now you already know hundreds of words in Spanish. Do any of these sound familiar to you? Like, popular, capital, animal, hotel, radio, conductor, probable, cable. These are all cognates; the words are the same in both languages. The English AdvantageUnlike other books, it focuses on one of the most important things for your Spanish learners: being able to communicate and understand others.