Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach

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.

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.

This is an excellent book.I already had the digital version on my tablet but found I really wanted it in paper to read anywhere anytime.Its quite an old book 1950s I think but still relevant.One thing that is lacking is the vosotros conjugation as it is a book written for American learners but other than that is is very useful.It begins with speaking in a past tense 1st and third person, then onto they and us words.Lots of emphasis on words that are similar in both languages (English and Spanish)I am about 2/5ths through and it has reached present tense (which Duolino starts with).You learn sentences quite quickly and there are lots of drills and a few tests too.Anyway I love this book and am glad i bought it .

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 Readingyou will be very effective in Spanish and save a fortune on the ineffective materials out there.Os deseo buena suerte!

I have studied Spanish since school., occasionally dipping in and out of courses and text books with the ultimate goal of becoming proficient/fluent in Spanish. I passed the first year of the Open University Spanish degree course but hated the format and didnt stick with it.Then I discovered this book ..... it has taken me further than any other Spanish text book or course. Am I fluent ? No not yet. But I work in an airport enviroment and I am used regularly by colleagues to interpret with Spanish speaking passengers.It is all down to this book.Margarita Madrigal developed a system which initially strips out extraneous and unecessary complication. She devides lessons/chapters into manageble bite size chunks and subtely builds revision into the text in such a way that it happens almost unnoticed!. She points out that you already know thousands of Spanish words , cognates, i.e, they sound and look the same in both languages e.g what do you think this might be in English .... navigacion !!!! And then provides extensive lists to assist in navigating your way through the lesson. Quite simply this should be the standard Spanish text book for all kids studying at school and all adults looking to achieve rapid comprehension to a high level. Can't praise it highly enough. Would love to see the publishers print her French and German books in paperback. They've been out of print for a while.

I had seen this book and knew the contents would be helpful for continued learning. I find the concept easy to grasp and remember. The exercises help reinforce the information learned.Although the book was sold as used I received it in pristine condition. Delivery and service were excellent

Brilliant book

This has helped my boy practice Spanish for school.

Very nice

I am about 85% of the way through Madrigal's Magic Key and have to say that I am very impressed with Madrigal's approach. Her approach is different from the conventional lesson plans with which I have been familiar since language training in high school. One person posted the comment that it matters HOW one learns and perhaps Madrigal's approach isn't the right approach for everyone, but it is certainly the right approach for me. A number of years ago I tried to learn Spanish using, "Spanish Made Simple". Essentially, I got nowhere. This time around, using Madrigal, I'm making very rapid progress. Another person commented that the best thing about Madrigal's approach is that it engenders confidence. This is totally true. Her teaching approach is brilliant, really. She starts off by showing the student all the Spanish words that he already knows and quickly builds other basic language skills on that starting foundation. From there, she presents lessons in terms of basic "blocks" of concept areas in ascending order of difficulty. Interestingly, one of the first starting concepts is how to use past tense. After that she presents the next big "block" (most common) verb forms; the "ar", "er" and "ir" verb groups. I can't say enough good things about this approach. It serves to give the student a basic orientation to major concept areas very quickly starting with the easiest to understand concept areas first.This works very well for me. The usual language approach is to start with "useful phrases". This invariably turns out to be useless for me because providing me with details that I cannot assemble into anything bigger is just totally confusing. I need the opposite approach. Give me the "big picture", then show me how to break it down into smaller useable bits, and then I'm off and running. The details can be ground finer and finer as necessary.Another thing in Madrigal's text which makes perfect sense is that she saves discussion of familiar forms of address until the last lesson. I can remember being confused early on in my high school French class because of the "need" to learn the familiar (It also added unnecessary complexity to my German language studies). But think about this just one minute. One only needs to use the familiar form of address with family and close friends. If one lives in an environment where there are significant numbers of Spanish speaking family members and intimate friends with whom one needs to communicate, then how is it remotely possible that one doesn't already know how to speak Spanish!!! Obviously, for the non-native speaker, the familiar form of address can safely be left for the last lesson.In an earlier edition of this review I mentioned a couple of criticisms which, as I have progressed through my "Madrigal course work", have proven unfounded. Margarita's lesson plan is idiosyncratic and would benefit from an appendix with a little bit more detail to help the student to better navigate questions as they arise. I recommend the Mirriam-Webster Spanish/English dictionary as a basic study aid. Additionally, I have found very helpful the guide to conjugating the 254 most often used Spanish verbs, and 501 Spanish Verbs is another text worth considering. These books are very useful because the Madrigal Method approaches teaching the verb forms piecemeal and, depending upon the student, he or she may be better served if he can just forge ahead with some of the conjugations.I highly recommend Madrigal's Magic Key as the cornerstone of a beginning Spanish course with the understanding that at some point, one will need to add additional course materials.

Very good book to learn spanish grammar.

Great book! Super easy and user friendly way to learn Spanish. Starts with showing you what you already know, but didn’t think you did. Highly recommend for beginners

The book explains the Spanish grammar from the base into very detailed.