Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach Paperback – Illustrated, 1 Sept. 1989

I love the whole new take on teaching in this book. Right from the start, you realise you know more Spanish than you realise.Simple but logical techniques makes learning Spanish so much easier, and I have learned as much in a week as I did in 18 months using an app.I would highly recommend this.

This book is based on identifying patterns to give you, the learner, the fastest possible entry point into actually usable Spanish:- how to convert thousands of English words to Spanish equivalents- how to conjugate verbs in past, present and future - crucially, without trying to kill your enthusiasm with horrendous grammar tablesConjugations are introduced slowly, so the learner is not faced with table after table of conjugations in all forms. (After all, we didn't learn English by learning grammar first, we learnt it by identifying patterns and then, when we were at school, we learnt grammatical terms and nuances.) In fact, the learner is introduced to the singular forms of only the first person and third person for a good portion of the book.The learner is introduced to the past tense first, in order that useful expressions can be made from the word go. This is on the grounds that a lot of our conversations in daily life are about the past: what we did at the weekend, last week, last night or this morning, for example.Everything that is introduced is followed by more than ample opportunity to practice: there are sentences to read and word/phrase combination drills to perform. One reviewer has said that the book is too long but I would temper that view with the knowledge that the increase in volume is actually due to these many examples of usage and word/phrase combination drills. In fact, I have found other resources far too brief in this regard.I am no language savant (a fact, sadly, not false modesty), but I am a linguistic enthusiast and, having sought out, and used, beginner level materials for Russian, Japanese, Italian, Greek and Amharic and having taken French (A level) and German (O level) at school/college (a long, long time ago :-D), I can say that this book is better at getting the learner up and running with usable language than any other book or online resource that I have found to date, by a country mile. With most others, I have found that there is far too much unnecessary grammar introduced far too early to engage the learner and provide opportunities to succeed in reproducing and reusing the language learnt.Some reviewers have pointed to the South American bias of this book as being a problem for anyone wishing to speak Spanish in mainland Spain but I have found no such issues in the dozen or so times that I have visited Spain. (The odd person has tried to correct my "gracias" to "grathias" but, after a bit of interaction, they have realised that I am not being lazy or uneducated but, rather, speaking the South American flavour - and they can understand it perfectly well. And let's not forget that the vast majority of people will try hard to understand a foreigner that tries to use their language - and never underestimate the power of always using "please" and "thankyou" and, indeed, pointing and saying the appropriate numbers with a hopeful smile :-D … We even have significant differences British English: I was brought up in southern England and have worked in Sheffield recently and whilst I would “make a brew”, they will “mash”, I will feel “cold” but they will be “nesh”, something might be “dirty” but to them it will be “mardy” … Differences are easily overcome with very little effort and, really, should just add to our enjoyment of the vibrant nature of language.)As with all language learning resources, the effort exerted by the learner is the actual key to learning a foreign language to whatever level the learner feels that they want to achieve, but Madrigals Magic Keys To Spanish is an excellent starting point and gives a great deal of potential for quickly usable language from which the learner can then spring and delve into other resources and learning opportunities.

Really good for beginners or someone wanting to "brush up" before holiday!

I've bought over 20 books for studying and practising Spanish, most found lacking in providing or stimulating impetus - that's including short stories with parallel translations (mostly not direct translations)This one is amongst the best, provided one reads out vocally each of the exercises provided.Explanations are good, though the author does not point out differences in pronunciation between European and American Spanish like the author Eric Vogt does.The other excellent author amongst these top three is Dorothy Richmond.Well done by Madrigal, though I wonder what else she may have published.

This book is incredible, I’m not usually one to leave reviews but this is an absolute game changer. I’ve gone from knowing very basic Spanish. To being able to form sentences and make more sense of things in my head when it comes to forming sentences out loud. There is a method provided in this book that helps the learner to understand WHY it is spoken in this way, for instance, the work Tome, meaning to take but in Spanish it means to eat or drink something so instead of saying “I ate a sandwich” one would say “I took the sandwich” give or take (forgive me if that’s not 100% I’m still learning”I’m the kind of learner that needs to know the why behind the action/words and this book is amazing when it comes to that.If you are starting out speaking Spanish this is a wonderful start it may be difficult if you’re entirely new to Spanish and don’t know the basic words like Hola, tardes or esta, mañana, etcBut it’s still a great book to have to read whilst learning Spanish in other ways…Don’t hesitate with this one! It’s worth it. I bought this and a pictured Spanish dictionary.

I love this book! It starts with a very positive introduction and goes on to explain that an English speaker already knows hundreds if not thousands of words in Spanish and it gives you the rules that unlock this 'magic key' to Spanish. It then moves on to teach you grammar in a very novel way, none of the boring conjungations that had to be learnt by rote when doing languages at school. She starts with the past tense as this is how we speak to friends and then moves through much of the essential grammar required to Speak, Read and write Spanish.I would recommend this book to all beginners in Spanish. If it has got a downside it would be the layout, which is now dated (it was written in the early 1950's with Andy Warhol as the illustrator). I wish the Magic Key to French and German were still in print as I have made substanital progress with my Spanish using this book, the method obviously works.Since I wrote this review, over 10 years ago, I have managed to obtain reasonably priced copies of the French and German Magic Key books, both are excellent and if you can find them at a reasonable price buy them!There are recordings to accompany the series but they are as rare as hen's teeth. If anyone ever finds a copy please let me know.If you listen to Michel Thomas first  Total Spanish with the Michel Thomas Method (Michel Thomas Series) , then read Magic Key as you will be able to pronounce all of the words, afterwards get Sandberg's 'Spanish For Reading'  Spanish for Reading you will be very effective in Spanish and save a fortune on the ineffective materials out there.Os deseo buena suerte!

The best book to learn Spanish from beginning. Well laid out text and easy to follow.

Muy recomendable.

If you want to learn Spanish and learn the vocabulary of Spanish, I mean learn, not remember, go for this book. The writer makes you understand how these words are derived from English, and you make your own Spanish words with time. The book is written straightforwardly and interactively. I highly recommend it to anyone who is into Spanish.

If you can read...you will learn this language using this text.

Très bon livre pour apprendre l'espagnol, sans avoir à mémoriser une centaine de règles grammaticales, comme c'est souvent le cas avec les livres d'apprentissage de langues. J'aimerais tellement que plus de livres soit structuré de la même façon, cela permettrait aux autres d'apprendre plus rapidement et sans se décourager. Si vous voulez non seulement apprendre, mais aussi comprendre l'espagnol, ce livre est fait pour vous !