Spanish Conversation Demystified

by Jenny Petrow, Saskia Gorospe Rombouts

Unlock the riddle of speaking and interacting in Spanish Spanish Demystified provides you with a solid foundation for building conversation skills in that language. You can go at your own pace as you are guided through the fundamentals of communicating in Spanish. Organized around everyday themes such as meeting people, making plans, and talking on the phone each chapter features an in-depth dialog presented both in the book and on the audio, coverage of essential communication skills (such as asking a question or making comparisons), review of key grammar points, and written and verbal activities to reinforce new communication skills.

Genres: Language

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 2009

Reviews

[Erika Verhagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah I’m counting this for my 2019 reading challenge...what about it?

[Ferenc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spanish Conversation Demystified complements Petrow's previous book Spanish Demystified. While the first book is more of a grammar book, the sequel focuses on colloquial use.

This should not be your first book on Spanish because it only reviews basic grammar, it does not train you in it. The book has a small vocabulary and not much intermediate grammar is covered, this is not the best book to get if you want to expand on either.

However what you will learn in Spanish Conversation Demystified is how to greet people properly, how to talk about your job, how to express future plans, give advice and opinion, and so on. In other words you build conversational skills. After all there is more to a language than memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary, you need to learn how to interact with people in a good way. Since the first Demystified book focused almost entirely on grammar this second book does a great job complementing it, it covers the "soft skills" that the first book neglected to cover.

If you buy the book new you get two audio-cds with the book, there are many listening exercises in each chapter. The grammar and vocabulary exercises are similar to those in the first book. In other words you cover all areas of learning: speaking, writing and listening. Just like the first book it is made for self-study rather than classroom use.

What I think is simply fantastic about both of Petrow's books is how she manages to capture and explain the diversity of the spanish language across cultures, when I used her books I felt I was truly learning a global language. I think she shows a great deal of respect for the Latin American countries in this way, which historically have been neglected in Spanish language teaching because of Eurocentrism.

Together both of Petrow's books will cover most of what you need: basic & intermediate grammar through her first book, and conversational use through her second book. They complement each other very well.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

The excellent companion book 'Spanish Demystified' is in its 3rd edition, having recently been updated with improvements. 'Spanish Conversation Demystified' is also a very good book, but it's been nine years since the 1st edition was published. Isn't it about time it was updated with a new edition? Language is always growing and evolving, and not the least Spanish, and I think a new edition covering modern changes and additions to Spanish and its various Latin American dialects would be a good idea.

[Floyd Larck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this so I could learn enough Spanish to use it on my ham radio. Easy to follow and the audio CD is an added benefit.

[Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used as a resource for a conversational Spanish class. Not bad with a bit of humor. Includes a CD but be careful if you buy from Amazon. Original shipment and re-shipment failed to include the CD so I ended up purchasing at a college bookstore and getting credit from Amazon.