Dicho y hecho: Beginning Spanish

This book could be very educational...except if you're using it for an online class as I am. When I originally bought this book, I bought the audio sections with it. The book itself is very difficult to learn anything from unless you have the CD's to go with it. I also feel like it is geared toward high school students rather than college students, but that could just be my preference in styles. Overall, the book is a good book if you can learn from it and ignore the elementary style of the pictures, etc.

This book, along with the CDs, were required for my college Spanish class. I didn't know Spanish before the book, and seriously after almost a full semester of taking my Spanish class (1 month short, I dropped), I can't even form a full phrase by myself. The book is very unstructured, and often teaches the same thing two or three times as though you've never learned it before. The book, along with the lab manual lack ENGLISH! My teacher said the best way to learn a foreign language is to teach in the language (ie. not English). This may be true for very young kids who are still piecing together their own native language, but you cannot achieve adequate immersion in a classroom setting for only an hour or two every couple days.

This book's Spanish to English and visa versa reference is horrible. It doesn't even reference certain key words in phrases you're supposed to be able to translate for the assignments. It's completely fundamentally flawed for anyone over the age of 13. As I said, for younger kids, it may work, but for those of us who have a solid understanding of English - save your money. You'll only become confused and frustrated if you don't have a lot of help.

I moved to spain a year ago, but in the 6 months before i left nyc i decided to take a spanish class to give me a head start.
my teacher was a native spanish speaker, so i trusted his decision when he required this book. i should'nt have.

i quickly realized (after 3 lessons) that you don't learn a foreign language by memorizing list of related vocabulary. i'm sure we all remember that from high school, but how many of us actually learned how to speak a language that way, no one.

once in spain and entered in a school with a real book, i realized that you learn by natural assimilation of ideas. A chapter or theme might start with a silly picture or story, and go from there. as the topic is further discussed, it brings in further vocabulary in a way that is natural.

memorizing lists works for no one!

I found this book quite easy to understand and well organized compared to previous spanish textbooks I've worked with. It's loaded with tons of practical examples and activities, and unlike many other texts has a heavy concentration in internet and high tech terms.

As a beginnng Spanish student, I find the book cluttered and overwhelming. Also, a more organized approach to the subject would help. My foreign language background is French, so I am familiar with how to study a different language.