Reading a book is definitely the most convenient way to learn Spanish when you are trying to learn by yourself. However, since the Spanish self-learning market is constantly expanding, we have to be careful. You may spend money on a book that doesn’t suit your needs as well as you expected it to.
Another element to think about is your reason for learning Spanish. It may be different from someone else’s motive for learning Spanish. But no matter what that motivation is, in the end, we have a common goal. To learn Spanish. I will be discussing top textbooks to help you learn Spanish.
1. Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar Textbooks
The “Practice Makes Perfect” series is widely known among us, language teachers. This is the book that I use with a lot of my students. This edition of the series includes a workbook covering the grammar rules for you to understand in order to communicate better in Spanish.
What I appreciate the most as a Spanish Instructor is it offers a wide variety of exercises for different learning styles like multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, and creative writing exercises among other things. The whole series, in particular, offers different Spanish tools. But if you are looking to learn or improve on verb conjugations, sentence structure, when to use particular tenses. The “Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar” is the top recommendation.
2. Barron’s 501 Spanish Verbs
Need help with Verb conjugation? This popular verb book includes Spanish verbs that are common and widely used in the language. Covering 15 tenses and moods, the verbs are presented in alphabetical order, one on each page, with its English translation. The book also includes verbs used in context and in idiomatic phrases and exercises with corresponding answers. If you are looking for improvement on verb conjugation and expanding your vocabulary. This would be a good choice.
Also, you can find some online bonus material, including many exercises such as listening comprehension, sentence completion, dialogue, word completion, word seek, and matching exercises, including answers for all the exercises.
3. Living Language Spanish
If you are looking into more of a multimedia approach, you should check out the Living Language program. The Spanish beginner course includes a course book, three CDs, and online learning material. The book includes 10 lessons with review exercises and dialogues, a glossary, and a grammar summary. I too love using this program with my students who are constantly on the go. My students who have to travel a lot for work for business or students who are in the medical field, this is what I suggest them.
The CDs include vocabulary, dialogues, and audio exercises, and the online material includes flashcards, games, and interactive quizzes. The Living Language Method consists of learning essential words and phrases so that you can start communicating from the beginning and slowly build up to more advanced conversations.
4. Beginning Spanish Sentence Structures
Looking for a book that is less grammar heavy and more to improve on Spanish conversation? Then I highly recommend “Beginning Spanish Sentence Structures” This book is more based on how to construct sentences to express what you want to say. This would be a great book to utilize vocabulary that you have already learned and with this book you can apply those words into actual sentences. Beginning Spanish Sentence Structures consists of essential structures and phrases that will definitely help you improve on Spanish Conversation.
5. The Everyday Spanish Workbook
Need to have a better concept of Spanish quick! This workbook is great for the young adults of age 12 and older. This workbook gives you a great generic understanding on how to Spanish breaks down. This is a fantastic choice for beginners. As an extra, it also includes instructional videos, listening comprehension, self-evaluation and more. This will be a great introduction to the Spanish and some of its concepts.
Learning another language can be intimidating if you are studying by yourself. Take some advice from an instructor, set realistic expectations and don’t learn too much on the same day. Take time in between. One of the biggest mistakes for new language learners is that they try to learn 50-100 words and 2 grammar concepts in the same week which can result to being overwhelmed.
Take a look at your schedule and set a realistic goal for yourself. I recommend my students to learn 3 words a day which totals to 21 words a week. Then using one of the grammar points that you are studying try putting those words in to a sentence. So you are also learning how to use those words and building conversational skills.
Supplement Your Study Time With a Real Teacher
There is so much you can learn through self-study, but nothing replaces the value of a real life Spanish instructor. At TakeLessons, you can study one-on-one either online or in-person, or you can take an online group Spanish class to hone your conversation skills. Most importantly, find the experience that works best for you!
Happy Learning!
Rosita Ruiz