Gutin - The Everything Spanish Practice Book: Hands-on Techniques to Improve Your Speaking And Writing Skills

The EVERYTHING Series

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THE
EVERYTHING
SPANISH PRACTICE
BOOK

Hands-on techniques to improve
your speaking and writing skills

Julie Gutin

Adams Media
Avon, Massachusetts

To my family

Copyright 2006, F+W Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

An Everything Series Book.
Everything and everything.com are registered trademarks of F+W Publications, Inc.

Published by Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN: 1-59337-434-8
Printed in the United States of America.

J I H G F E DC B A

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gutin, Julie.
The everything Spanish practice book: hands-on techniques to improve your speaking and writing skills /Julie Gutin.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-59337-434-8
1. Spanish languageTextbooks for foreign speakersEnglish. I. Title. II. Series: Everything series.
PQ4129.E5G894 2005
468.2421dc22

2005026444

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases. For information, please call 1-800-872-5627.

Contents

Acknowledgments

As always, I owe my deepest thanks to my family who have been supportive of my efforts and encouraging in my explorations. A special thanks to ShihYan, for keeping me sane. And a big thank you to MiguelitoI couldn't have done this without you.

Lots of credit for this book goes to Gina Chaimanis, who turned the idea into a real project and who had the confidence in me to let me make it happen. Thanks to all the other folks at Adams as wellGary Krebs, Kate McBride, Laura M. Daly, and Katie McDonough. My respect and thanks also go out to the copyeditor of this book, Susana C. Schultz. And, finally, thanks to Peter Martinez for lending his professional voice to the project, and to Dan Cantor of Notable Productions for doing such a great job recording the CD.

Top Ten Reasons to Practice Your Spanish

1. You can take your rusty Spanish to the next level.

2. It'll improve your reading comprehension.

3. You'll never be stumped by verb conjugations again.

4. 4. You'll build up your Spanish vocabulary.

5. You'll learn how to understand spoken Spanish without having to ask people to repeat themselves.

6. Adjective/article/noun agreement will become second nature.

7. You'll once and for all figure out the difference between indicative and subjunctive.

8. You'll become more comfortable with speaking Spanish.

9. You'll discover Spanish literature and will be able to read Don Quijote in the original.

10. You'll be able to travel to a Spanish-speaking country without worrying about the language barrier.

Introduction

The process of language acquisition has several steps. The first step is to learn basic grammar and vocabulary. You have already done that, whether at school, from your family or friends who speak Spanish, or by using a bookmaybe even The Everything Learning Spanish Book or The Everything Spanish Grammar Book.

You're on the right track, but before you can really gain fluency, you'll need to move on to the next step: practice. And one way of doing that is by using this bookby going through the exercises and practicing until verb endings and the right vocabulary come to you quickly and in the right order. Until you can listen to spoken Spanish and make out the meaning without having to think about it in your head. And until you can even respond in the same language.

The exercises included in this book have been devised primarily to help you practice Spanish grammar: verb conjugations, word agreement, and more. The book is divided into parts, and each part covers a grammatical part of speech, so that you can practice them one at a time. It is not necessary for you to start with Part 1 and go on from there. You can start wherever you prefer, in the section where you think you may need the most practice, and then skip around until you've covered everything.

In addition to the written exercises, some exercises work in conjunction with the audio CD. This extra feature, which distinguishes this book from many other exercise workbooks, is there to help you work on your speaking and listening comprehension. As you complete each audio exercise, try to listen to the track more than onceeven if at first you can hardly separate the speech into individual words, eventually you'll be able to catch what is being said. And once you do, see if you can repeat what you are hearing. This will help you improve your Spanish pronunciation, an often-overlooked aspect of learning the Spanish language.

If you are studying Spanish at school or university and are looking for some additional practice, you've come to the right place. This book breaks down each grammatical concept and provides an introduction before you go on to doing the exercises. If you've studied Spanish ages ago and are looking to refresh your memory, you can use this book to do a thorough review. And it's also a good resource for native Spanish speakers who never studied Spanish formally and would like to improve their written Spanish.

Whatever your needs are, as you go through the book and do each exercise, have fun with it. Practicing Spanish doesn't have to be boring. But it is an important step to gaining fluency, to making the Spanish language your own. And don't forgetusing this book shouldn't be the only way you practice Spanishgo out for Spanish tapas or authentic Mexican food and order from the menu in Spanish. Visit your local Spanish-speaking neighborhood and see if you can strike up a conversation with a local. Pick up a Spanish book for kids at the local library and see how much you can figure out. And for your next vacation, why not book a trip to a country where Spanish is the primary language? Find ways to practice Spanish in your everyday life, and you won't be disappointed with the results. Good luck!