Travel, live, and retire in Mexico!

with
Rosana Hart

Learning Spanish

Books, CDs, and Gadgets to help you learn Spanish

Learning Spanish can be done in many ways. In my own experience I need audio files and books to supplement "just picking it up." When we were in Mexico for six months recently, my ability to understand what people were saying increased tremendously. My ability to express myself improved, but I didn't learn verb tenses just by chatting. Here's a blog entry I wrote called Pride, Perfectionism, and Learning Spanish, where I go into this more.

The links below take you to my reviews of the items mentioned, and from there you can order if you wish. I've also written a few pages about learning Spanish: Spanish Learning from a CD or MP3, Why is it important to learn Spanish?, How to learn Spanish when you are older, and How to choose a Spanish language school.

Books

Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish A book that's great fun to read, and very helpful for understanding slang and other common expressions.

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses A very useful workbook, which I'm doing the exercises in.

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions. By the same author as the verbs one, also a workbook.

CDs, Tapes, and MP3s

My most recent discovery is the bestselling Rocket Spanish.

Here's a page discussing using these tools to learn Spanish.

Next, here's a review of Platiquemos Español

Another program: Pimsleur Spanish I is a CD set to get you talking with a good pronunciation.

Gadgets

Electronic Spanish Translators I wish I'd found the perfect one, but here are some tips on choosing and using them.

Our Hartworks Publications on Mexico and Spanish

We've produced two videos in Mexico, and I wrote the book that began this site. These links take you to our original website, hartworks.com, where the products are described and can be ordered. (Like just about all the links that take you away from this site, they open in a new window.)

Mexican Pizza: Lively Conversations in Spanish A video that we produced with university students in Guanajuato, for learning Spanish, intermediate to advanced level.

Student Life in Mexico A short video we produced for children, which adults enjoy too. It gives a sense of what it's like to be a grade-school student in Mexico, and was shot in Guadalajara, Guanajuato, and rural areas.

Mexico with Heart: Travel Tales, Photos, and How-to Guide I wrote this book in 2003, and you can read the full text online here at this site... see the menu in the upper left corner. The link takes you to a description of it, and our shopping cart.