Books I Like for Studying Spanish

Looking for a good book for studying Spanish?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The best way to learn a language is to speak it. Find someone to practice with. There’s no substitute for practice.

And if you aren’t speaking it, listen to it. Listen to music. Listen to podcasts.

If you want fluency, you have to hit the books too. Don’t stress yourself out. Just do a page or two a day. Fortunately, there are plenty of good books for learning Spanish out there.

Studying in frequent but short periods of time is better than hours of cramming once a week. As both a teacher and student, I fully agree with the Law of Diminishing Returns.

Choose books for learning Spanish with simple, clear text—not a lot of photos and distractions. The books I have for teaching English in my university classes where I work here in Mexico are full of confusing, unnecessary and downright cheesy stuff, as if to distract the students so they don’t realize they’re studying, but having fun instead. Ridiculous.

(I have a theory about ESL books—that every one includes Nelson Mandela, J.K. Rowling or the Japanese hot dog-eating lady.)

It’s absolutely necessary to have answers to the exercises in the back of the book. Again, the books I have to teach English with don’t do that. It must be part of the contract between the publishing companies and the universities.

If you’re a total beginner, get a book for learning Spanish that teaches what you need most: common questions and answers. Save the verb conjugations for later.

Communicating in Spanish is a good guide to speaking Spanish. It has the basic questions and answers and lists of important vocabulary, and it won’t confuse you with explanations of complicated Spanish grammar.

One of the hardest things about learning Spanish—a big difference from English—are verb conjugations.

In Spanish, verbs change for every person (I, you, she, we, etc.) and every tense (past, present, etc.), with several that don’t exist in English, like imperfect, pluperfect, and the frustrating subjunctive tenses. You’ve got your work cut out for you.

Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish is the best book for learning Spanish I’ve seen that introduces these grammar necessities. It even has drawings by Andy Warhol!

Because of the abundance of verb conjugations in Spanish, you’ll still have to do a lot of exercises. I’ve worked my way through Complete Spanish Grammar twice now.

(Tip: don’t write in your books for studying Spanish. Write in a notebook or on scrap paper instead. Then you do the exercises again or sell the book.)

Then there are books for learning Spanish that incorporate more than just grammar, but also vocabulary and reading exercises.

Advanced Spanish Grammar covers a lot of ground: vocabulary, verb conjugations, cultural notes and regional differences in Spanish. Plus it’s all in Spanish—instructions too, which is useful.

And finally, once you are ready to do some real reading in Spanish, pick up Contemporary Latin American Literature, an overview of important writers and their poems, short stories, and novel excerpts.

Please leave your suggestions for studying Spanish in the comments, and thanks for reading!

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