(Part 2) Best products from r/Spanish

I'm not certain what kind of textbooks you can get a hold of in Ecuador, so how about online resources? There are a lot of websites that are very useful in providing you with a good general overview and start to Spanish grammar.

Check these out:
Studyspanish.com is quite good as a first grammar guide. Very concise, and not overwhelming.
Spanishdict.com is a really good online Spanish dictionary. They also have grammar videos/exercises, which I linked to you here.

In my opinion, don't worry much about perfecting grammar from the get-go. Read these grammar guides so you could get somewhat of an idea of how Spanish sentences are constructed, but don't be hard on yourself if you can't remember everything. As you read and immerse yourself more in the language, you'll slowly get a better idea of the grammatical structures in Spanish. Cliche, but it'll take time.

I highly recommend the Learning Spanish Like Crazy audiobook. Start it right after you get through the Study Spanish grammar guide. It teaches you practical Spanish that you can use right away in your everyday conversations. It's really really good! There's also volume 2 and volume 3 for when you complete the first volume.

As you're working through that, you could consider working on this verb workbook at the same time (I believe there are free downloads online), and also Duolingo for exercises in verbs, grammar, and vocab.

Afterwards, maybe check out Verbling for free Spanish classes online that you can join and for finding more conversation partners.

To practise listening, you can download podcasts from iTunes. I found Coffee Time Spanish to be a good one. There's also Extr@, which is a series aimed towards beginners. Turn on the subs and follow along. The acting is pretty ridiculous in the beginning, but it does give you some confidence when you find that you understand everything. The only thing with this is that they use Spanish from Spain, so the accent is different from those of South American countries.

You're not in school (at least as a student haha) so don't feel confined to textbooks and having to do everything the traditional classroom way! Language-learning should be a fun and enjoyable process, and there are a lot of different ways to do it. Also, conversing with native speakers is indeed currently your most valuable resource. Since you're there, take advantage! Talk to people in Spanish using whatever you know/learn that day. Every learner is a beginner at some point, so don't be afraid.

Looking forward to the intermediate-level-resources-seeking post. :) Good luck!

Well, I read the first Harry Potter book in Spanish, and it helped. It's translated, but with popular books like that you can pretty much ensure it's a quality translation, although it pales in comparison to actual Spanish literature. There's just something about native books that seem to flow better. Is there any country in particular that you're interested in? Reading popular books from these countries can give you a feel for how the language is spoken there, although it will tend to be more formal.

I used this book when I was in highschool, and it helped a lot, especially with more complex grammatical structures. I would also recommend La sombra del viento as a "big boy book", because it's intriguing. Being a native novel, not geared towards beginners like the other one, it will be a bit difficult.

I would also suggest reading news articles in Spanish. :P I did that for awhile and it seemed to help.

These comments are pretty dramatic. Don't be discouraged by them. I'm in medical school and have been slowly learning Spanish for the past year and have plans for a 7 week immersion this summer in Latin America. My school actively encourages learning Spanish, provides a few courses, and even has the city's only Spanish clinic on campus. Not everything you say is going to kill your patient, and it will be that much better of a medical professional-patient relationship if you are at least attempting to communicate with them in a language they understand! You just need to know the limits and when to wait for a translator, that's all.

I've got a variety of texts laying around but the one specifically for medical spanish is this one. I don't really find it useful for learning Spanish grammar, you need other books for that, but I think it does a great job of going through very specific situations and giving vocab and example dialog.

Good luck!

Also a medical student, albeit a Spanish major in undergrad who has studied in Spain and Mexico. Wholeheartedly agree with the above comment. As long as you know your limits, you can be a vital patient asset for more simple needs when an interpreter isn't available. I think basic things such as understanding how to use the imperative to tell the patient what you would like them to do in preparation for the MRI could be a huge help for your team. I was a part of an advanced Spanish language program run by native speaking doctors during my preclinical years, and we used this book. Really, I think you could probably get by using a quality online dictionary to learn directions, commands, and anatomy, but your patients will definitely appreciate you making the attempt. Just MAKE SURE to know your limits, and if the situation calls for it, call in an interpreter to prevent a serious medical error from occurring. There are lots of medical professionals who are not fluent, but have a basic medical vocabulary that serves to help, not hurt, their patient care.

Alrighty, if you want to learn Spanish, this is the method that I have been using so far... First off, I have to plug this book:

Fluent Forever by Grabiel Wyner - Amazon.com

I have read and tried a lot of different books on learning languages before I finally found this one, which I consider to be the holy grail. Nothing else has stuck before I read this book. The method is basically this:

1. Using Anki, a spaced-repitition learning (SRS) flashcard program, you start to learn the minimal pairs of your target language (words that differ by one sounds like "cat" and "cut"). This will help you later one when listening and learning words and will help you develop a better accent.
   
   
2. Using Anki, start to learn the most commonly used words in your language by gathering your own images and pronunciations to go along with them. Learn the base forms of verbs, you will learn to conjugate them in the next step. Here is the top 1000 words on a frequency list from Wiktionary and here is the 625 word list provided in the book. I suggest using the alphabetical word list rather than the thematic word list because if you start learning words thematically it can be harder to retain, explained within the book. Grab images from Google Images by typing in your target word after translating with SpanishDict and insert into Anki. Grab audio translations from Forvo.com if available.
   
   
3. Once you have plowed your way through 500-1000 words, you are ready to start learning to conjugate verbs and making sentences. He explains a great method for this in the book using mnemonics for different conjugations and provides a model deck you can install to use with Anki at this website. Also take a look at StudySpanish.com - Grammar Tutorial and start working your way through that at the same time. The reason you learn vocabulary first is so you have words to actually make sentences with, rather than using a smaller limited vocabulary to make the same sentences over and over.
   I suggest focusing on Linguasorb.com - Top 100 Spanish Verbs to start with conjugations that will be most commonly used.
   
   
4. Once you are able to construct basic sentences and have a decent vocabulary, you are ready to start really practicing. Find language partners or tutors on iTalki.com, write some short stories and stuff on Lang-8.com and get them translated by native speakers, practice whenever and wherever you can.
   
   
5. Start to acquire as much exposure to the language as possible. Watch TV Shows, read CNN en Español, listen to radio, watch movies, read books, whatever you can at this point to break through that intermediate fluency level.
   
   Other useful things:
   
   Books:
   
   

• Lonely Planet - Latin American Spanish Phrasebook
  
  
• Lonely Planet - Spanish Phrasebook
  
  
• Practical Spanish Grammar - A Self Teaching Guide
  
  Websites:
  
  
• 60 Insanely Useful Resources for Learning Spanish
  
  
• Spanish Linking Words - SpanishWithJudith.com
  
  
• Spanish Transition Words - TheSpanishBlog.com
  
  
• Palabras de Transicion
  
  
• Graaahh's Awesome Spanish Study Guide (for this one you have to make a free account, then go back to the page, click on "Share", then a download link will appear)
  
  This is all I can write for the moment, I am by no means fluent in Spanish but I am working on it. I have done a TON of research and this is some of the best stuff I have found, but my bookmarks folder is completely full of other resources if there is something in particular you are looking for.

If you’re looking for textbooks as a beginner I would recommend the “En Espańol” series published by McDougal Littell. They come with activity workbooks that go along with the vocab/grammar lessons in the book. Barron’s also makes pretty good textbooks on just about any subject.
If you want to start reading Spanish literature, I’d start with dual language books to better understand what’s happening, kind of a learn-as-you-read sort of thing. I remember the first classic Spanish book we read in school was “Lazarillo de Tormes,” which you can find here
Although it’s also really important as a beginner (I’m assuming you’re self taught) to practice listening to Spanish TV, interviews, etc and also start speaking conversationally with others to get a well rounded knowledge of the language. Best of luck!!

When you say reading and writing are conversational, do you mean you can get the gist of sentences and just struggle with vocab, or need some more help with grammar? No matter the answer, I kind of doubt Fluenz or Rosetta Stone are worth their exorbitant prices for what they provide. I just looked Fluenz up, and it runs some $370 on amazon.

For that price, you have any number of vastly superior options. You could take a Spanish class or two at a local community college, sign up for an iTalki tutor to work one on one with you for ages, or buy enough grammar textbooks and workbooks to murder a small child with.

if you feel yourself struggling with basic grammar (conjugating verbs, including the basics of the preterite, imperfect and simple future tenses mainly), you can probably just knock it out with some workbooks. If you have at least the gist of that grammar down, but find yourself reaching for words and drawing a blank, hunker on down and get to reading. For $370, you can buy a ton of graded readers, work your way up and then pick up a small book like Ficciones to try your hand at material intended for native Spanish speakers.

There are also plenty of good movies and podcasts out there (I'm partial to Histocast, but episodes are long as hell) to practice your listening with, and all manner of pen-pal sites and apps to practice speaking/writing with people.

It's hard to give more pointed advice for your next step without some more context. Also, you might be able to read, listen and write like a champ, but without practicing speaking, you'll probably still suck when it comes to speaking. It's quite a different experience writing from behind a screen than speaking face to face, and you might come up with great, witty one-liners all day on the internet and be stuck with, "No entiendo como se dice..." when face to face and you can't check for the perfect word online. Practice if you can when you get the chance, even if you feel silly.

This one is a little bit more advanced

http://www.amazon.com/curioso-incidente-medianoche-Letras-Bolsillo/dp/8498383730

But I still thinking is a good reading for an adult. It's like is written by a child with Asperger so everything is extremely well explained and I think it's easy to understand. But the concept and the story is quite profound and interesting to keep an adult hooked. It's not a book for children.

You can find the original version in English as well
http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Incident-Dog-Night-Time/dp/1400032717/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Hi there!

I always try to run a Borges circlejerk here in /r/Spanish, but today, according to what you say, I'd suggest you read the Spanish version of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz.

I hear the Spanish version is excellent. Its the story about this Dominican-American nerd and his neckbeard struggles to find love in a wonderful narration that incorporates elements from comic book and science fiction references to Dominican jargon. Also, its not too long. Have a go at it!

Ninja edit: Linked the English version, so here's the Spanish Kindle reference.

On the historical side, I recommend David Pharies's A Brief History of the Spanish Language. It is much better informed than the Nadeau and Barlow book. On the non-historical ("synchronic") side, I recommend Chris Pountain's Exploring the Spanish Language. For Spanish dialectology, I recommend Miranda Stewart's The Spanish Language Today.

You may also enjoy my own book, ¿Por qué? 101 Questions about Spanish, which Bloomsbury Academic Press will be publishing in October. It combines the historical and synchronic sides, and also has a lot of comparisons with other languages.

You can try out a book from [this guy] (https://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Short-Stories-Beginners-Unconventional-ebook/dp/B019LTPH62?ie=UTF8&qid=1463080896&ref_=sr_1_7&s=digital-text&sr=1-7) - they are short original stories broken in chapters with vocabulary and comprehension questions, so they are easily read.


Otherwise, I would suggest finding interesting children´s books, as the vocabulary is by default smaller/simpler. I bought a translation of an Enid Blyton story (Los Siete Secretos) and it´s pretty good for my level.

I've been using [Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar, 2nd Edition] (http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Perfect-Complete-Spanish-Grammar/dp/0071763430/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422290914&sr=1-4&keywords=practice+makes+perfect+spanish) It is more of a workbook than a textbook but I have found the explanations to be good for the little bit that I have used it.

This book gets good reviews and might be worth picking up? Spanish ForThe Construction Trade

If you want an in-depth look at Spanish grammar I highly recommend "Nueva gramática básica de la lengua española". Its technical, so that could either be a +/-. There's also a much larger version si te apetece.

​

https://www.amazon.es/Gram%C3%A1tica-b%C3%A1sica-lengua-espa%C3%B1ola-ACADEMIA/dp/8467034718/ref=asc_df_8467034718/?tag=googshopes-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=54540616275&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17538012039155301173&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9061032&hvtargid=pla-138225262395&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Mexico-Historias-Second-Edition/dp/0071701761 these are fun, and there are several other editions with different legends

Related: I found this to be a good beginner level book. It uses short sentences and the reading level is not very complicated. Plus, the English version is on the left side.

Oh! And two more resources specific to spanish:

1. The Practice Makes Perfect Series: http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Perfect-Complete-Spanish-Grammar/dp/0071763430
   
2. Spanish FunEasyLearn (looks janky, but really good): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.funeasylearn.spanish&hl=en