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Speak like a native with Spanish Tutor
One of the best ways to learn Spanish is to take lessons with a native speaker. But if you're like me and don't have the time to attend classes, or the money, the options look limited.
Well before you get all woe-betide-me about the state of your Spanish, a product has caught my eye that bridges the gap. Spanish Tutor: Grammar and Vocabulary Workbook (published December 2015) from language publishers Teach Yourself is a textbook that has loads of handy 'Personal Tutor Tips' that go some way to make up for the lack of a private teacher. These tips are exactly the kind of thing you would get from hands-on instruction but are, in my experience, a rare find in a textbook.
Spanish Tutor explains problem areas such as the use of Spanish's two verbs for 'To Be' and the 'Personal Tutor Tips' give you clear examples, such as marital status taking ser, especially in Latin America, rather than estar. These excellent tips range from when to use the subjunctive to explaining how certain key words have different meanings in different Spanish-speaking countries. For example, Spanish Tutor saves you from the fatal error of using the verb coger in Mexico to catch, say, a bus, even though the use of the verb is (fairly) innocuous and commonplace in Spain. (You certainly don't want to coger the bus in Mexico.)
So for all those of you who want to learn Spanish as it's really spoken, this book is an invaluable resource.
You can find Spanish Tutor: Grammar and Vocabulary Workbook (Learn Spanish with Teach Yourself) in our online shop. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Beth
The Languages Direct Team