A really useful resource for those like myself who are wanting to self-learn a language (many years after school!)

After decades away from language learning, I have come back to try to revive my Spanish skills. High school was a long time ago, so I have forgotten most of what I learned back then. I needed resources, and this one was a good one for me to review. It has lists of Spanish vocabulary words, organized into sections. At the end of each chapter, there is a little quiz where you can test what you've just reviewed. I found this helpful to get my brain to recall many of the vocabulary words I thought I had long-forgotten. This is not a Spanish textbook. It is simply an entire book of long vocabulary lists. It's great for review or just to browse through to see if you can pick up new words. It won't teach you Spanish, but it's a great companion to a course or just for self-study at your own pace.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a great resource for the beginner to early intermediate Spanish learner when used as part of a self-study library. Extensive lists of categorized vocabulary make it easy to learn many related words together. However, one should keep in mind that unless you are a master of rote memorization, for this much vocabulary to “stick”, and for you to be able to apply the words in conversation, additional resources and learning methods will be required. These will depend on what kind of learner you are, but tried and true methods, like flashcards, will help. Also, I recommend re-writing the example phrases provided at the end of each chapter several times, swapping in words from the lists so you’re not only learning vocabulary, but simple sentence construction. Additionally, as with any book in this format, it can be very helpful to have an online dictionary handy for further context and usage examples. I will generally jot down some of the sample sentences from those as well when I’m learning a brand new word. All of these things help retention tremendously, and if you need to assess how much you’ve learned, there are quizzes and exams throughout the book, so you know what you’ve absorbed and what needs additional review. All in all, a book I would highly recommend for a newer Spanish language learner.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

A great supplement to have in your library or on travels. One thing to note it does not have pronunciation guides however if you are learning Espanol, some of the words you will have heard or have experience with.

Brilliant. Really helpful for learning Spanish. Muchas gracias xx found it really easy to follow and feel like I've learned a great deal xx

As a supplement to conventionally learning Spanish, this book is helpful as far as vocabulary is concerned. Well done, these vocabulary lists can always be used to learn or revise. However, an essential area about vocabulary is not included: pronunciation which in my opinion should have been included.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

John Loehr's guide to Spanish vocabulary was released in January of 2023 as an eBook. Victory Editing provided a galley for review.

I took two years of Spanish back in high school. Over four decades later, only a very small subset has still stuck with me. Even when the pandemic started a few years ago, I tried some online tools for a refresher but they still felt a little out of sync with what I was looking for.

Loehr's guide here is exactly what the title says - vocabulary broken down into lists of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and special words which come in groups (like numbers, pronouns, conjuctions, prepositions, etc.). Each list has the side-by-side English word and its Spanish translation. After each list is a quiz (which I think is always helpful to test retention). There are two sets of lists: beginner (level A1), elementary (level A2) and intermediate (levels B1 and B2). There is a lot here - close to 3800 words. Most basic, every day conversation words are covered.

What is not here, though, are pronunciation guides to words and conjugations of the verbs. Also, there are no example sentences which show how the words go together (which is something the online courses did a lot - however, they were often sentences that could not easily fit into everyday conversation).

Therefore, I see this book as a good supplement to someone who is either currently in a Spanish course or who has taken a Spanish course in the past and just needs some refresher material (like I noted I am previously). This is one I can see myself going back to a lot to sharpen my Spanish skills.

What a perfect set up! Realistic words at my fingertips to better understand and speak with my sister in law! I have never found a book as “useable” as this one! Kudos to the author!