An Essential Course in Modern Spanish

By H. Ramsden

Book Overview

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0174446853
• ISBN13: 9780174446859
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.

Customer Reviews

All-time best

This is simply the best book there is for anyone who seriously wants to learn Spanish. If that's you, buy it! Don't let it go out of print! However, it won't be to all people's taste. It is not for whimps! It isn't split into sections on ordering drinks in a cafe, or booking a room at a hotel. It's about grasping the grammar and learing the essential vocabulary as a basis for in-depth, probably long-term, study of the language. This is an old fashioned primer of the kind you may have come across thirty or forty years ago if studying Latin at an English grammar school (I think it was first published in the fifties). That said, I for one do not find it boring. The clarity of explanation and the excellent exercises leave little room for confusion and boredom (OK, there is a touch of 'His German aunt sings beautiful Spanish songs', but later on, many of the translations are from authentic Spanish literature). In theory, it takes you from complete beginner to a moderately advanced level. In practice, it would take a very dedicated and language-literate learner to come to Spanish solely through this book (it is aimed at first year university language students who are taking up Spanish as a second option.) However, it does begin at the beginning, as it were. It is also an excellent reference for advanced learners. It's only rival in that respect, to my mind, is Butt & Benjamin's New Reference Grammar. Where this scores over B & B is its scale: B & B covers such a diversity of Spanish usage and variety, the central points can become obscured. Ramsden is clear and concise, yet covers practically everything you could need in order to form a sound understanding of Spanish grammar. The one big ommission: solutions to the Part III exercises. Even now (10 years study and an Institute of Linguists' Diploma later), I hesitate to say I can give definitive answers here. If anyone has heard of a published set of solutions, I'd really like to know about them!