Colloquial Spanish

Colloquial Spanish: The Complete Course for Beginners has been carefully developed by an experienced teacher to provide a step-by-step course to Spanish as it is written and spoken today. Combining a clear, practical and accessible style with a methodical and thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Spanish in a broad range of situations. Each unit presents a wealth of grammatical points that are reinforced with a wide range of exercises for regular practice. This third edition has been revised throughout to bring it up-to-date, reflecting cultural changes, and offering additional exercises, new vocabulary and updated dialogues. Key features include: - A clear, user-friendly format designed to help learners progressively build up their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills - Jargon-free, succinct and clearly structured explanations of grammar - An extensive range of focused and dynamic supportive exercises - Realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of narrative situations - Helpful cultural points explaining the customs and features of life in Spain - An overview of the sounds of Spanish - An answer key, a grammar summary, bilingual glossaries and English translations of dialogues. Colloquial Spanish is an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

Untza Otaola Alday was a Spanish lecturer at FCO Language Group (1992-2007) and taught a large number of students posted to Spain and Latin America on a one-to-one basis, running many courses from intensive to pre-exam. Untza has a BA in Modern Iberian and Latin American Studies at UCL, UK and an MA in the teaching of Modern Languages from the Institute of Education. She is also a specialist in testing and worked for Language Testing Associates (1991-2005). She has been the managing director of Gateway Language Services since 2007. The company has delivered language training to the FCO, the Cabinet Office, the House of Commons and the Met, amongst other government departments.

About this book 1 Encuentros Meeting people 2 -De dónde eres? Where are you from? 3 ¡Taxi! Taking a cab 4 Direcciones Directions 5 Viajando Travelling around 6 Comiendo en un restaurante Eating out 7 Una visita al médico A visit to the doctor 8 Buscando pisoFlat-hunting 9 Al teléfonoOn the phone 10 En la oficinaAt the office 11 Problemas familiaresFamily problems 12 Escribiendo a casa Writing home 13 Un robo A robbery 14 Esperanzas para el futureHopes for the future 15 Una invitación An invitation Ready-reference grammar Key to exercises Spanish-English glossary English-Spanish glossary Index