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I'd highly recommend A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish as a reference book.

I think what has helped me the most with learning Spanish is trying to read - and reading aloud. Below are some various suggestions on what you can do to continue.

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Go to this site and try to record yourself saying all the phonemes and try to mimic them.

I'd say you can ignore the "espirantes" phonemes though - maybe I can't hear them, but I don't think most Spanish speakers use them. And it'll make it a whole lot harder to understand you if you try to use them.

Spanish is a very phonetic language, so once you get the phonemes down - you can practice on pretty much any Spanish text even if you don't have the source audio.

If you don't know how a word is pronounced, you can check: forvo.com/wordreference.com/spanishdict.com.

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After you have basic pronunciation, I'd suggest start reading. If you can listen to Spanish radio/watch subtitles, you should be able to read.

I'd highly recommend getting a Kindle paperwhite for this. Since you only use it to read, you don't really have to worry about getting distracted. It's very easy to read from and you don't have to worry about reading in the sun/dark.

If you don't know a word, you can easily look it up just by touching the word for a couple seconds. If there's a phrase of interest, it's really easy to save and look at later.

I'd suggest saving phrases that are something you might use yourself, or are things you don't understand grammatically. Go back to those later and figure out the grammar or practice using the phrases.

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Another useful site is Lang-8.com. I'll admit I haven't learned how to efficiently use this site. But it allows you to write things that are corrected by native speakers.

I'd suggest trying to write in a manner more typical of speech than writing when you use it.

Or you could also play around with sentence structures you got from reading/show/radio to make sure you understand them correctly.

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There are sites/apps you could try to practice speaking with Natives. HelloTalk / wespeke.com /interpals.net / or various chatrooms you can probably find with google.

I couldn't try HelloTalk because I don't have a smartphone and didn't have much luck finding people to talk to in the past.

I'm currently using BaseLang to practice speaking. It's a site for one-on-one tutoring for $129/month. It's a bit on the expensive side if the only reason you want to continue Spanish is so you don't lose what you currently have. (I'm not one to talk though, I'll don't have any reason to learn Spanish.)

I find it much more efficient to try to learn grammar on my own and then use them to practice concepts.

The main reason for using BaseLang in my case is because my free time is during an awkward time (EST morning) and I like being able to schedule practice sessions which would be virtually impossible otherwise (without paying for it).

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There was another post in /r/languagelearning that would be worth the read for you: [Here](
https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/comments/5ian7q/language_learning_a_howto/).

Well look mate I'll paste below the resources I'd be using to kick-start your Spanish. Even at your level I'd say these would be worth giving a go to bolster your speaking and listening. It's an old comment so I'm just gonna paste the whole thing below:

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Well, If I had to redo my initial learning all over again and I was in your position this is what I'd do and these are the resources I would use for that initial learning period.

Pick yourself up a copy of Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish this was written back in the 50s but all the same principals apply and it's still in print. I see it as a no nonsense guide to Spanish and is something you could easily pack with you.

Pick up an Audio Course. There are a few out there but my personal favourite and the one which will teach you the vocabulary you need to know is Say Something in Spanish. each of these lessons is quite long about 40 minutes each I believe once you get into the middle parts of the course but this guy starts off with a core set of vocabulary and continues to build and build on it. Back when I did it I think the first 10 lessons were free and each additional lesson was £1 so it ended up costing about £40 total (money well spent).

The other courses I'd recommend are any of the Michel Thomas courses who has his own methods of explaining the grammar tenses (something you won't get in the Say Something in Spanish course) and will slowly introduce you to key words and concepts. Not crucial as Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish will introduce these also but if you are an Oral learner and enjoy simply listening to explanations this could be for you.

I'd recommend this as a good starting point at least to see if learning the language is for you. From there you can look to take lessons (I use Italki which is a website where you can take lessons over Skype and find a language partner if you are so inclined) investigate using a flashcard strategy that works for you and find Spanish content in which you can immerse yourself (youtube video, books for Spanish learners, one of my favourites is Gritty Spanish which has a beginners program also)

The most important aspect of language learning is to find materials for you that are fun and engaging. For me I get a kick out of speaking the language and being understood so I take every opportunity I can get to go to language exchanges depending on where I am (Check out Mundo Lingo or Meetup.com if that's something that interests you). So my learning focus tends to be on spoken Spanish rather then the type of language you might see in an epic fantasy novel.

All the best on your language learning journey. It's tough work but I extremely rewarding.

Some years ago, I wrote a screenplay for a short film about a cursed Aztec sword that was found by a Young man in modern times, and he fought against all kind of monsters and creatures from Mexican folklore and mythology.

This was never filmed, but we took a lot of conceptual pictures, and some friends made a few drawings, we even build a real black macuahuitl.

Using this old drawings (with the approval of the friends who drew it), I finished the prologue of the story, in storybook form. It’s a very short story, and I made it bilingual, so people who knows english or spanish are able to read it.

It has 16 pages with drawings, but the digital version will be free until tuesday, so, if someone wants to download it, I’ll add the links on Amazon Mexico and Amazon US (It's free in every marketplace).

Thank you for taking the time to read this, downloading it, and giving me your opinion.

Black Macuahuitl on Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JR4SCMF

Black Macuahuitl on Amazon MX: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B07JR4SCMF

The Schaum is a pretty good grammar text book with exercises throughout.

A linguistics text on Spanish won't really be good for learning the language, but as you encounter aspects of the language you find interesting you can find relevant linguistics books/articles which you can research further. E.g.

• Distinction between types of past subjunctive, the decline of the future subjunctive
  
• The Disappearing Spanish Verb Form in -Re, Leavitt O. Wright
  
• http://www.wikilengua.org/index.php/Pret%C3%A9rito_imperfecto_de_subjuntivo
  
• Terminal letters as indicative of noun gender
  
• A Simplified Approach for Teaching the Gender of Spanish Nouns, John J. Bergen
  
• A Frequency-based Analysis of the Norms for Spanish Noun Gender, Jens H. Clegg
  
• Phonology (and orthography) changes over time and between dialects
  
• Seseo, ceceo, distinción, heheo, yeísmo etc
  
• From Latin to Spanish: Historical phonology and morphology of the Spanish Language, Paul M. Lloyd
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_orthography#Older_conventions
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_phonology#Dialectal_variation
  
• Clitic agreement
  
• On the Absence of Spanish Past Participial Object Clitic Agreement: the AGRo Parameter in Romance, Jon Franco
  
• Spanish Clitics and Participles: A Historical Perspective, A. K. Barry
  
• Contrast in modern usage of cognate verbs with other romance languages
  
• Explanations for Language Universals, Brian Butterworth, Bernard Comrie, Östen Dahl
  
• History of 2nd person pronouns, conjugation, and modern dialectical variations
  
  
  etc.
  
  Wikipedia and Wikilengua are quite good starting points too.

Personally I recommend italki, you can get one-on-one teachers there, some of them for pretty cheap, and even if you only take a few lessons with them, chances are they'll direct you to a certain textbook whose series you could follow if you want. Otherwise you can post in Spanish on there and have native speakers correct your writing, make Spanish friends who want to learn English, etc.

Another useful tool you could use is the 700/150/50 rule I've heard once before. It's "learn 700 nouns, 150 verb conjugations (including what each conjugation means, but going slow with each one), and 50 phrases" will make you good enough to start working on more native material (or at the least, intermediate or advanced Spanish textbooks.)

I grew up using Paso a Paso, but I wouldn't recommend them...

Otherwise you could go the hard way; get a book on the complete Spanish grammar https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Spanish-Grammar-Practical-Grammars/dp/0415273048/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479713428&sr=8-1&keywords=modern+spanish+grammar, learn a bunch of Spanish words on Memrise (I'd say at maybe 2000 you could start approaching more native material, but feel free to constantly go to your dictionary (could be online) and write down the new words you don't know, and at maybe 10,000 or 20,000 you've fully "mastered" the language), and find natives to practice with.

Also there's this website that writes news in Spanish for Spanish learners. A1 is the easiest, then A2, B1 is early intermediate, then B2 is considered "fluent", then C1 and C2 are advanced and professional and "could give a lecture in quantum physics good". These are based off the levels for the DELE test, which are based off the European framework for languages. http://www.practicaespanol.com/

If you want I could PM you the name of the textbooks used at my university up until like semester 5 or 6, but I'm too lazy right now to look them up.

Are you looking now into only improving your vocabulary or do you still need to learn grammar (verb conjugation and rules)?

The first is easy. You can read newspapers, watch movies, play video games and anything else to introduce you to new vocabulary. Try to understand phrases instead of individual words. If you cannot get past a certain word then look it up. Watching online news sources can also help you in listening comprehension.

Production is another problem you will have. You should find someone you can speak with, I'd be surprised if there isn't someone you are around on a daily basis who speaks at least a little Spanish and would (probably) enjoy the practice. Also I recommend keeping a journal or finding something to write about in Spanish. This will help you identify words you don't know (but are more likely to use instead of using a frequency list). Add these words to flash cards or any other method of learning you have developed.

If you need help on the grammar books. There are ton out there I know but I don't think I'm the best person to ask. I really like The Everything Learning... series. There should be a Spanish (http://www.amazon.com/The-Everything-Learning-Spanish-Book/dp/1598691732/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372859097&sr=8-1&keywords=the+everything+learning+spanish#_) Amazon link, poor reviews but I enjoyed the German book in this series.

Yeah the book was a little expensive, but it’s a great resource if you are at all interested in legal and formal Spanish. I’m just in the first chapter and I’ve had a good refresher on the US Constitution and courts. Well worth the money. Amazon had the cheapest price by far, at least that was the case when I bought it a few weeks ago.
Español para abogados

I have actually found some good childrens books. I avoid the obvious mass produced ones which are definitely not interesting, as well as those that are just translations from English. I try to look for the types of books that would win Literature awards. The last one I read was "El Laberinto de Tristan" https://www.amanuense.online/el-laberinto-de-tristan The author used the narrative as a way to introduce readers to several key artists of the 20th century like Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. Another one that I enjoyed is "Alma del mar", https://www.amazon.com/Alma-del-mar-JAIME-GAMBOA/dp/9929633421 I also found a graphic novel based on "El Catedral del Mar", https://www.amazon.com/catedral-del-mar-Cathedral-Graphic/dp/841724705X/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=la+catedral+del+mar&qid=1574368408&s=books&sr=1-3 This book has also been made into a TV show that you can find on Netflix. I found the plot to be a little too simplistic. I hope that it is because it was so condensed from the original source. So your mileage may vary.

Breaking Out of Beginners Spanish

Buy this book, trust me. Without doubt the best Spanish resource I’ve ever come across and has been invaluable to my learning experience over these last 7-8 years. Don’t be fooled, this is not a”beginner” book but rather a guide on how to craft your conversational Spanish skills and use natural expressions. It helps you go from “they’re learning Spanish” to “they’re starting to speak like a normal person”. Covers lots of skills like how to respond / react to things naturally, filler words, variations of how to say similar sentiments, essential conversational vocab, etc.

The most important thing is does is provide context on how things “sound” to native speakers and relates it to equivalent English words as much as possible. I’ve read it like 3 times and consider it to be my bible of natural Spanish conversation.

There’s a ridiculous amount of content so I would recommend browsing through the entire thing to get a feel but then picking out a handful of words / expressions at a time and try to fit them into conversation whenever you’re practicing speaking.

Barnes and Noble carries it and my other books, but here's a link to it on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/501-Spanish-Verbs-Verb/dp/143800916X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543253492&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=barrons+501+spanish+verbs&dpPl=1&dpID=51MgUXgrZkL&ref=plSrch

There visually dictionary is pretty nice also

https://www.amazon.com/Barrons-Visual-Dictionary-Hispanohablantes-Dictionaries/dp/1438006004/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543253572&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=barrons+visual+dictionary+spanish&dpPl=1&dpID=51GeCXitr%2BL&ref=plSrch

I have there grammar book but I've barely used it

https://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Grammar-Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced/dp/0764146076/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543253697&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=barrons+spanish+grammar&dpPl=1&dpID=511BQ2mS84L&ref=plSrch

I also have this one from Berlitz which is great for traveling!

https://www.amazon.com/Berlitz-Phrase-Dictionary-Spanish-Phrasebooks/dp/1780044887/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543253803&sr=8-1-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=berlitz+spanish&psc=1

I started with Assimil but it's seems as if the book's price doubled since I bought it last year.

If you can't afford it, go for [Complete Spanish Step-by-Step] (https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Spanish-Step-Barbara-Bregstein/dp/1259643417/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536583013&sr=1-3&keywords=advanced+spanish+step+by+step). It's super comprehensive and has a great structure for students who want to use it for self-study. I'd recommend using Language Transfer' along side it (free)

Te deseo mucha suerte :D

This is a great little review book of grammar exercises for ~$7 on Amazon (used).
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Spanish-Practice-Foreign-Language/dp/0071847588

I like the Anki flashcard app for reviewing vocabulary.

Children's television is great for listening practice. It can be helpful to think about what region you'll be visiting most often and consume their local media as slang can vary greatly. (I generally consume Argentine media as that's where I visit most frequently: Mundo Zamba and Tiranos Temblad are two good examples on YouTube).

MeetUp.com often has conversation groups that meet for lunch of coffee to get some low-pressure speaking practice in. Universities usually have clubs that do the same.

Reading material I also recommend starting with children's stories. And again I focus my experiences on Argentina, e.g. Luis Pescetti and Pablo de Santis

There are lots of decent books out there. I have a pretty decent college textbook that goes over every aspect of Spanish grammar, but I wouldn't recommend its format is not as good as a proper grammar reference. I do, however, recommend this book:

A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish

This one seems to be all-inclusive and well-written, so I'd go with this one.

Pro tip: If you're starting out, a grammar reference will be of little use at the very beginning, but you'll find it invaluable as time goes on and you're trying to compose the language.

If you want to really learn the language, I'm sad to say that probably the best approach is rote memorization of words. Despite what the purveyors of language products would have you believe, there really is no skipping this step. When I initially learned Spanish, my time was divided into 50% vocabulary, 20% spoken conversation, 20% grammar study, and 10% composition, and that worked really well for me. To enhance your vocabulary, there are a ton of awesome interactive exercises here.

Also, if you want to talk to a fluent speaker, just give me a PM, I'll be more than happy to chat or answer any questions you may have.

NEW BOOK How to Learn Spanish Using Netflix?
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO EFFECTIVELY APPLY THIS METHOD TO LEARN SPANISH USING NETFLIX?

If you want to boost your listening and advanced vocabulary to the maximum adding also many hours of fun to your learning of Spanish, this book is essential and in my opinion, the most complete work that will help you learn Spanish exactly how you want to do it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HNLPT6Y

For a grammar book, I would suggest either the Practice Makes Perfect Spanish series, since they have a lot of different workbooks on different subjects. They have one called Basic Spanish which targets beginners: link

Also, there's the Easy Spanish Step by Step series: link

Both have exercises, vocabulary and answer keys to everything so for written practice, they can be pretty helpful!

Im currently going through Easy Spanish Step-by Step by Barbara Bregstein. It has pretty decent explanations with exercises that follow. They are decently priced on amazon.

I would also suggest the library. Mine has a lot of audio books including pimsleur, subscription to Mango languages free for members and tons of other resources.

This is the first one:
https://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Step-Step-Barbara-Bregstein/dp/0071463380/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1524764568&sr=8-3&keywords=easy+spanish

I also bought the second book but have not started it:
https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Spanish-Step-Step-Accelerated/dp/0071768734/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0071768734&pd_rd_r=QHCHPW7S4D9WRY7E7J42&pd_rd_w=lSsan&pd_rd_wg=HDnwj&psc=1&refRID=QHCHPW7S4D9WRY7E7J42

I also bought this book to help with verbs because verbs are a huge part of spanish
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Spanish-Review-Practice-Second/dp/0071797831/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524764647&sr=1-1&keywords=The+ultimate+spanish+verb

Last November I went to Argentina with essentially no knowledge of Spanish. I started off using this. It's pretty solid. The section on grammar is really short, but it has plenty of conversational phrases, a very basic dictionary, and simple conjugation charts for maybe 15 or so of the most frequently used verbs.

It was pretty helpful. I also used this book as an introduction to grammar: http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-Spanish-Learning/dp/0934034303

You can pick up a decent 2 way dictionary in BsAs, there are bookstores everywhere. Walrus Books sells mostly used English language books but I found a cheap Spanish-English dictionary there as well as one of those "500 verb conjugations" books.

Enjoy your time in Argentina!


Edit: Obviously the book isn't specific to Argentine Spanish, but you'll figure it out quickly.


The vos form is simple; just drop the i from the vosotros form, unless the i is an í in which case there won't a preceding é or á. And in the pretérito vos is identical to tú. And in the imperativo just drop the d of the vosotros form, and stress the final syllable.


There are differences in a lot of vocabulary, but people will understand you fine and fill you in on what the Argentine word choice would be if you ask them to.

If you don't have one already, I would recommend one in English to begin with. I swear by the one below. I had the 4th Edition for many years but it was getting a bit tatty and coffee-stained, so I've just bought the 5th Editiion.

A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish
https://www.amazon.com/New-Reference-Grammar-Modern-Spanish/dp/1444137697/

If you ever hear anyone mentioning "Butt and Benjamin" when discussing Spanish grammar, this is the book they're talking about.

Edit: It's worth pointing out that I would call this a descriptive rather than a prescriptive grammar book. In other words, it tells you how things are rather than how people would like them to be :-)

(Native german speaker living in the US) After I started with Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach, I got Große Lerngrammatik Spanisch: Regeln, Anwendungsbeispiele, Tests which I like very much as a different, very well organized angle into the Spanish language.

There is also a combined version.
Complete Spanish Step-by-Step

I picked up a "like new" used version for $10 including shipping. Seems well worth it for a book I have seen recommended several times. There is also an app that goes with it with some audio flashcards. I haven't used it, only installed it, so I can't give any review on that part.

If you're looking for grammar, my first step would be to buy a Spanish Grammar drills book, eg. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spanish-Grammar-Drills-Rogelio-Vallecillos/dp/1260116239/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=grammar+drills+spanish&qid=1564050557&s=gateway&sr=8-3

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If you'd done grammar up to A-Level, it means you'll be able to cope with all of the grammar in that book, and you'll be able to brush up on the basics all the way up to subjunctive, por and para, ser and estar, differences between imperfect and preterite.

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As for speaking, find a local Spanish group in your area. There's usually at least a few that will meet up for some Spanish chat and they'd be more than happy to have a chat with you. When it comes to speaking, there's no substitute for a live person.

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With regards to vocabulary, go to Quizlet and find a list of the 1000 or 2000 most common words in Spanish, and make your way through revising those. It'll build up quickly.

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And listening... go to Netflix, search for "Spanish Audio" and find something you want to watch. Put subtitles on if you want. Just make sure you're actively trying to listen.

If you are wanting to learn, these stories are designed to help. You should also check out Juan Ramon Jimenez. He is a Spanish writer that has a few easier to read books to start. I have also used poetry. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1473683254/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Right now I'm using Easy Spanish Step by Step and Pimsleur mostly. I will sometimes listen to Language transfer or watch youtube teachers and lastly I will use duolingo during my train ride in the morning or when I just want a short break from work.

So far Pimsleur helps a ton with actually listening to and speaking the language, while the book gives me a more robust understanding of the actual grammar and empowers me to form my own thoughts. All the sources help expose me to common grammar.

The last thing I do is when I think things I'll often try to see if I can figure out how to say it in spanish just in my head.

One tip for using duolingo though that's helped my learning, for the statements in spanish, try not to look at the phone and listen first and try to understand in your head before you look at the phone at all. If you can't make out the words with just listening (or when a new word is introduced) look only at the statement, not the answer portion and try understanding again. Generally try to avoid looking at the answer portion because usually I've found the answer to be obvious which is unhelpful. Translate in your head first, then select an answer. But always remember that it's not a primary resource. I try to get at least a half hour of spanish every day and I don't include duolingo time in that.

English Grammar For Students of Spanish is excellent!

Schaum's Outline of Spanish Grammar is an old-school, inexpensive, workbook which may help. Plenty of structure, solid explanations, tons of practice.

• Teach Yourself Spanish (Latin or España)
  
• Colloquial Spanish (Latin or España)
  
• Easy Spanish Step by Step (I think it's Latin American only)
  
• Assimil Spanish with Ease (España only)

https://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Step--Step-Barbara-Bregstein/dp/0071463380/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8


you can get this used on amazon

I am a big fan of the alternative approach taken by Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish.

It starts from scratch but focuses on getting you speaking Spanish from the very first chapter, without miring you in endless conjugations and exceptions.