Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish (Student Edition)

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The book is suitable for the typical Spanish 101, 102 (first and second semester college) fours-skills-based classes. The amount of vocabulary is not stifling. Grammatical explanations are conventional.


Comprehensive   December 8, 2003
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is the most comprehensive foreign language book I've seen. It's simple, a 6th grader could teach themselves Spanish with this book. Open it, read it, and memorize it. I had a terrible time with French and was not looking foward to learning Spanish, but I picked it up immediately as I went along with this book. When the semester was over, I spent the summer reading the rest of it at my leisure. As far as the other reviews go, I'm not sure what the problem was. It couldn't be explained any more clearly, perhaps they are moving too fast? Take a day for each page or something, whatever works. If you're not picking it up, it may be your study techniques and not the book. If you want extra practice, get the workbook. Both the workbook and the textbook have the answers to every practice exercise (of which there are an adequate amount) in the back of the book. Maybe the previous reviewers were unaware?


If you are trying to teach yourself ....   February 26, 2003
 8 out of 11 found this review helpful

then this book is NOT for you. I tried to teach myself Spanish (I didn't know any) and this book just did not work out because of its poor construction. The concepts are not clearly described and all too often I found myself asking why is this grammar like this or what is the difference between the different tenses. The examples are not very helpful either.

However, I took a private introductory class and then returned to this book. Here, the book has provided some value with its vocabulary which is grouped by themes (festivals, family, etc). So the book has some value for a beginner if you are also receiving extensive instruction from another source.


A poor excuse for a learning tool.   December 30, 2002
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

This book is touted as a beginners volume yet it fails to perform as specified. The contents are poorly written and few examples are given to help in the learning process. To further complicate the learning of a new language, Puntos de partida provides very little explanations and direction to ensure sufficient comprehension and understanding of the Spanish language. Unfortunantly, this review can speak for most Spanish text books on the market as my Universities Spanish program has realized. Puntos de partida will not help the beginner to learn Spanish. It will deter the beginner to seek further understanding and learning of the Spanish language. This is unfortunate.


Excellent Text   July 5, 2003
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Contrary to other reviews I find this textbook excellent. The chapters lead the student to learn Spanish with a minimal effort at a natural, comfortable pace. Recommended for beginners!