Ronni L. Gordon

I think even if you’ve already gone through another really good verb review book like Dorothy Richmond’s "Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses", this one is also worth getting. There are some things one book goes over that the other doesn’t. (goes both ways..) One thing I remember off the top of my head that is shown very clearly in this book that I don’t remember from PMP is the way you use the “passive voice”: How to say things like :

“The food was prepared” vs. “The food was prepared by the chef”
(When it isn’t specifically stated that someone is doing the action, you would use ‘estaba’ for the word ‘was’, and when you include who did the action, you would use ‘fue’), so,
“La comida estaba preparada.” vs. “La comida fue preparada por el cocinero”.

What both books have in common though is that there are LOTS of exercises and really good, clear explanations on all the tenses as well as an answer key in the back.

Both Practice Makes Perfect: Verb Tenses and The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice are about $10 each on amazon.com. And in my opinion, everyone serious about learning Spanish should get both. It really is a good value for what you learn!… (más)

MY skill in French isn't much, but I couldn't have written anything in French just a couple of months ago with out help from this, and frankly other sources of, French language instruction.

I now have a French tutor - Zut! Alors. And when I showed this to her she thought very highly of it; she took down the title and may suggest it to her other students.

Now I bring it with me to ask her questions or to drill or test me from it. It is not eye candy. It is the real thing. This is a French text for adults, not tenth graders in American secondary schools.

It is not just grammar or verbs - there are many small sections on aspects of French culture. Language and culture go together. Natural language is not like a computer language, it is quintessentially human. Some neuro-psychologists think of language and thought as being intertwined. That there is no thought without natural language. So, our language is us. Ca alors.

Be that as it may, I was pleased also that there was so much very useful vocabulary to pickup. There are extensive lists (in context) of idiomatic use of verbs. Very important.

The hardest part of learning a foreign language is typically verb usage. You'll be glad to know the verbs are the first topic covered! I thought you would be. Verbs need practice. Verbs need memorization. You are a verb.

I'm very happy with this book. This is not a comic book for learning French. It is the real thing. This will take work to get through. But be assured that you can get a lot out of this if you try.… (más)