Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish

As a Spanish major who has also spent several summers in Mexico, I have read pretty much every Spanish text I have come across. In all that reading, I have never found another Spanish book that even comes close to this one (in accuracy, helpfulness, readability, and other key areas).
Keenan does an excellent job of picking out the specific Spanish words and phrases that cause English speakers the most problems. I have several friends who are also studying Spanish. It seems like 9 times out of 10 when they ask me a question, it is an issue that was covered in "Breaking out.."
This book was written with the reader's attention span in mind. Imagine: a Spanish text that is actually enjoyable to read! I read this book cover-to-cover at least once a year. Every time I glean some new pointer that I can implement in my constant quest to sound like less of a gringa.
Sections include a discussion of the subjunctive, a chapter on cursing (!), cultural info, general language learning tips, useful verbs to add to your repertoire, and discussion of the evolution of the Spanish language. To me, the most helpful sections were those dealing with word choice: a couple of chapters that deal with stuff like "what is the difference between regresar, volver, devolver, etc.?"
If you have a general grasp of the basics in Spanish but feel like your learning has kind of reached a plateau, this book is an excellent resource for learning how to get your Spanish to the next level.
The only negative I can think of is that the book is not indexed. As a result, after reading the book initially, when you find yourself with a question that you know was answered somewhere in the book (a frequent ocurrence), it sometimes takes a moment to flip through the book and find the exact paragraph where he talked about it.
If I could only have one Spanish book, it would be this one. I would even choose it over 501 verbs and probably even my dictionary.

This is a great book. Among the chapter highlights are:

- Ten Ways to Avoid Being Taken for a Gringo: Excellent things to think about if you want to fit in and not insult people by your actions.

- Minding Your Verbal Manners: Things Spanish-speakers would take for granted that any considerate, well-groomed person would know.

- The Secret Life of Verbs: Almost everything you need to know about verbs in general. (I like the summary of the future tense: for the most part, forget about it. But he does give a good summary on the use of the "Future of Uncertainty" construction.)

- The Twilight Zone: All about that beautiful, nasty subjunctive mood. Those who have studied Latin or Greek will not find the subjunctive terribly scary, but for everybody else... well, that's probably another story. I find Keenan's categorizations of the subjunctive usages very, very helpful. He does it differently than any grammar I've ever seen; taken together with a grammar, you have two different ways of looking at the same thing, which greatly helps you remember. For example, one of his categories is the "Traveler's Subjunctive"; when in Costa Rica, it was because of this book that I asked "¿Hay autobuses que vayan a Birri?" instead of the incorrect "... van a Birri?".

- Sixty-four Verbs: Better descriptions on their range of meaning and usages that the one-liners usually provided in dictionaries don't cover. Coverage varies from short to comprehensive. Has many good parts but some of the treatments are a bit weak. This is a common place for unexpected things to be thrown in due to his train-of-thought writing style (see below).

- Cranking Up Your Spanish: All those sentence starters ("En fin," "Es que," "A ver," etc.) that don't show up in grammars and can drive you crazy since they set the scene for the rest of the sentence.

- Snappy Answers: Quick responses to things that may catch you off-guard.

- Invective and Obscenity: Survey of forceful, rude, and obscene speech (with the obligatory warnings about things that may get you in a fight)

- Which is Which: Words that English speakers often confuse.

- Influences of Spanish on English and vice-versa

From my point of view, among the good points of the book are:

1. It helps with many problems the beginner is likely to have. Most language books are written by native speakers of the language. In this book, Keenan takes a different approach: he is going to explain all of the problems he had himself while learning the language and using it for many years among native Spanish-speakers. Since I expect I will have most of the same problems, having them laid out is very helpful.

2. It is extremely engaging. I have spent many nights up late reading it. Yes, you read that right. Don't think in terms of your typical grammar book: think in terms of an long article where a fellow Spanish learner says "Ok, here's everything I learned about the language."

3. It has filled in my experience with my other Spanish courses. Often, idiomatic words or phrases will come up in them that don't make a lot of sense. Keenan explains virtually all of them, including which sound stilted or odd to Spanish-speakers.

4. It has excellent sections on the difference between ser and estar, between the imperfect and the preterite, and the subjunctive. These are some of the bugaboos that traditionally plague us Spanish students. The ser/estar treatment in particular is better than any book I've used: he goes far beyond the typical "estar is for things that change" explanation - which is true but incomplete. I finally understand, for example, why you say "está muerto" instead of "es muerto."

5. It has good sections on how not to give offense to people from different cultures. In every culture, people do some things completely innocently that are interpreted in other cultures as aggressive or insulting. Although there is no single "Hispanic" culture, Keenan helps by pointing out some things that are commonly considered negative that I might not expect. I should note that Keenan's experience is primarily in Mexico, so most of the cultural and localized language usage tips are centered on Mexico.

I really, really, wanted to give this book 5 stars, but I can't. So what's not to like? Just two things, really:

1. It has no index. This makes it difficult to find words or phrases. I would expect this kind of book to have a fairly extensive index, but none is provided. As I use this book more and more, I find this to be a bigger and bigger problem. Often, I'll find I need to use some verb or construction and want to look it up. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to do because it could be in one of several chapters. Let's say I'm trying to remember something about a given verb: do I look in "Tricksters," "The Secret Life of Verbs," "The Twilight Zone," "Sixty-Four Verbs," or "Spanish Roots?" Or, let's say you are trying to remember a word or expression that you seem to recall is sometimes misused, and you want to use it right. Do you look in "Tricksters," "Invective and Obscenity," "Which is Which?", "Say it Right," or "The Big Mix?" I have spent more time than I like leafing through the various chapters looking for a word that could have been indexed.

This problem is made worse by Keenan's train-of-thought writing style. He introduces verbs and expressions in places where they don't at all fit, analytically speaking. Now, don't get me wrong - the writing style works, and very well. A more rigorously outlined writing style would not be nearly as easy and fun to read. But it makes it darn difficult to find what you're looking for. I have taken to writing cross-reference notes in my own copy.

2. Keenan uses obscenities more freely than I'd like (even outside the chapter specifically on obscenities). Now, I'm not a "schoolmarm" (Keenan's words); but I don't think this kind of language is really necessary. Not that the book is full of obscenities: it's not. But they pop up here and there (again, the train-of-thought style); it would have been fairly easy to substitute non-obscene language in most of these places, but he doesn't.

For these reasons, I could not give this book five stars. But, overall it is an excellent book, and one that will greatly enrich both your understanding and your fluency.

By the way, I've read other reviews and lists saying that this book is more for advanced students of Spanish. ¡No es verdad! While I'd agree that it's probably not for rank beginners, I believe one of the keys to really learning a language is to get out there and starting speaking to people as soon as you can. And this book gives you the tools to get out there, speak confidently and semi-fluently, and not give offence when you don't mean to.

I am a 52 year old spanish student. I began my spanish education in the summer of 2002 with a two week stint at a language school in Oaxaca,Oaxaca,MX. I have followed that up with the Pimsleur Speak and Read CD set and a private tutor once a week. I have purchased Dorothy Devney Richmond's excellent books on spanish verbs and suffixes. BUT the book that is providing me with the most fun and an indepth insight into the spanish mind as expressed in the spanish language is Joseph J.Keenan's " Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish". My biggest coup to date was when I used an spanish expression that I had learned from the book and immediately was "corrected" by a more "knowledgeable and fluent" student of spanish. Happily, when the more "accomplished" student of spanish had finished telling me how wrong I was... a native spanish speaker quietly and graciously stated that my expression was absolutely correct. As I read through this book and practice my ever growing spanish language skills, I am deeply grateful to Mr.Keenan for having paved the way and assisting us all in avoiding some of the potholes and gaining important new insights into the age old question.."But why is it like that?" Muchas Gracias a Senor Keenan.

What a find! Unbelievable: somebody who really clues you in to how Spanish is REALLY spoken. Everything from exposing archaic phrases you've been taught as acceptable, to how to say "I like you" en Espanol without giving the, um, wrong idea (you thought it was me gusta Ud., didn't you?)
EVERY person planning to use their newly-learned (or even long-known) Spanish ought to be required to read this first.
Best part: the author is dead-on hilarious! You'll die when you find out what doing the "shave and a haircut, two bits" knock on somebody's door means in most Latin countries!
I give it TEN STARS.

I purchased this book 3 years ago and I clearly remember my first impressions. I thought to myself "how handy this is the first of its kind". This Spanish reference will definitely give you the finishing touches to your Spanish in terms of authenticity and helping your day to day Spanish sound natural and on the level of a native speaker.
I bought the book to find out the greatest challenges that students who are studying Spanish face outside of grammatical, pronunciation and phonetic issues. Although the title of the book is: Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish, the topics covered and the information offered is definitely beneficial to the advanced student and to those who have travelled around Latin America or Spain. Chances are these students will have heard the numerous verbs, phrases and expressions used and have had difficulty understanding the meaning, nuance and how to use the verb or expression correctly in everyday speech.
The book's intent is to clarify traditional errors that non-native Spanish speakers make and to offer an explanation and the logic behind the usage in Spanish. The book covers a broad range of topics such as: tricksters (also known as false cognates which are words that look similar to an English word but have a completely different meaning),verb usage and key exceptions, tips for correct usage of the subjunctive which always proves to be problematic for non-natives, a special look at sixty-four verbs with a complete analysis of proper usage, key phrases typically used by native speakers, making the right choice of words and anglicisms.
The book answers questions that grammar books and dictionaries don't offer. As an educator of the Spanish language I am familiar with and have read numerous reference material in English and Spanish and this is the first of it kind. Finally, a book that focuses on problematic concepts in Spanish that need to be addressed in order to speak correctly, avoid blunders, to know when you have been insulted, increase cultural awareness and to sound as authentic as possible when speaking Spanish.
The book is definitely beneficial to those who have advanced knowledge of Spanish and a solid command of its grammar, those who have travelled to several Latin American countries and those who have specific queries about an idiom, verbs, "must know" vocabulary and terms. I suggest reading the book thoroughly for understanding of the its objective and then re-reading the book with a focus on your own queries that need clarification. I think the book is great and true to its objective, unfortunately I have yet to use the concepts with my students because of their level but it has been put to good use thus far as I enjoy reading it from time to time because it has such a wealth of information beneficial to all. I strongly recommend this purchase to all students and those who have an interest in Spanish. This was a carefully compiled reference material.

I read this book during my 4th class of Espanol at the university level. This is not an introductory book, so don't bother to read it unless you have a solid understanding of Spanish basics, including basic conjugation, the subjunctive mood, etc.
This book has a lot of tips to sharpen your Spanish. Chapter 8 has "sentence starters" to help you start off your spoken Spanish; evidently these are the equivalent to English's "well..." or "the thing is..." Chapter 9 has "snappy answers" organised according to how you want to respond (e.g. in disbelief, with surprise, etc.) The answers for affirmation are quite useful (e.g. esta bien, claro, de acuerdo). Of course, you can easily get this information from any college-level textbook, but the distribution of these words into nicely organised categories is quite useful. There is also a chapter on how to swear effectively (evidently chingar is a strong word), which I never did in my classroom. An earlier chapter on how to use 64 key verbs was invaluable as well.
One particular chapter I loved was how to choose the correct Spanish word for particular English verbs. This can get tricky for some English infinitives like "to become" and "to happen." Another chapter on the history of the Spanish language was very interesting to read.
One thing I didn't like was the treatment of the subjunctive mood -- it left me a bit more confused, and my Spanish teacher actually told me that some information was incorrect. Finally, one glaring omission that I hope the author writes about in any later edition is the use of "por" vs. "para". To me, this trickiness is right up there with "ser" vs. "estar."

I have studied Spanish for 14 years, and am currently student teaching in a middle school Spanish class. I bought this book to help me tutor another person and found instead that the book helped me far more than anything else. The author has explained concepts in such a way that suddenly things which have troubled me since the beginning of my studies (such as the subjunctive) are clear. In one reading he helped me more than 14 years of teachers. I just returned from living in South America, where this book was a frequent resource.

I have to disagree with those describing this book as not for beginners. Other than the 5% or 10% that deals with imperfect vs preterite tenses and subjunctive tense, the other 90%+ is an excellent guide for beginners, covering many areas where beginners typically struggle. Keenan is a very entertaining writer and fun to read. He does not offer any guidelines or rules on how to conjugate verbs, so consider this book a supplement to other learning methods. Keenan does however, zero in on a number of important topics that other Spanish textbooks tend to overlook, and he does so in great detail regarding understanding of the subtleties. For example, he points out that the "d" in nada, comida, etc. is pronounced more like "th" or "dth", not a hard d. Few spanish books or teachers mention this important pronunciation detail. Also, Keenan makes a point to explain that present tense verbs are often used to express future events too. For example, ¿Vienes mañana? I'm not sure why, but few if any textbooks mention this dual-use aspect of the present tense. Keenan is at his best in focusing in on these kinds of details and subtleties where beginners and intermediates are most likely to stumble.

Having set the bar so high in the areas he does cover so well, I was a little disappointed in a couple of other areas. Although Keenan does an above-average job in covering the important, but often confusing ser vs estar distinction, I wished he had gone into more of his characteristic level of detail when tackling the ser vs estar faceoff. For example, he doesn't address why you would use ser rather than estar when talking about an event. Why do you say "Donde es la fiesta?" Nor does he spend much time in the often confusing area of ser and estar in the preterite. These are hot-button areas of confusion for most learners of Spanish struggling with estar vs ser. Having said that, Keenan does give the best explanation I've ever read as to why you use estar instead of ser when referencing the dead, another ser/estar issue where many beginners and intermediates scratch their heads. Similar to ser vs estar, his explanation of the subjunctive in the "twilight zone" chapter was better than most I've read, but lacking in the kind of thoroughness that Keenan uses when approaching other topics.

Keenan gives one piece of bad advice(my opinion)telling readers to avoid using the future tense conjugation because, according to him, it will make you sound too formal and less fluent. This advice, I'm guessing, is a result of his having learned Spanish while living in Mexico, as most native speakers there do seem to use ir (voy, va, etc) to communicate future events and actions rather than conjugate in the future tense. Outside of Mexico, however, this is not the case. It is common among native spanish speakers in South America and the Carribean to conjugate using the future tense in casual everyday conversation.

I thought that the chapters on Spanish obscenities and the history of the Spanish language, although interesting, were a squandering of Keenan's considerable talent, and together they take up close to 1/4 of the book. The history part in particular seemed like a "page filler" and that's the main reason why I didn't give this book 5 stars. Those pages could have been better used to address other areas which so often trip up those trying to learn Spanish: por vs para, word suffixes, que vs cual.. these topics aren't mentioned at all in the book, and would have been perfect for someone with Keenan's insights. Nonetheless, this book is very good. Most of the topics which Keenan does cover, are well chosen and covered very thoroughly with insights you won't find elsewhere. He offers a somewhat unique perspective coming from an English speaker who learned Spanish as an adult living in Mexico, helping readers avoid many of the pitfalls in learning Spanish which he undoubtedly experienced himself.

This book was required for a university class in Spanish conversation. There is so much information in this book that is invaluable to the Spanish student. It is written to show the intermediate student how to "break out" of the textbook Spanish into real, conversational Spanish. It tells you what aspects of the language are really used in common language and speaking, and it tells you what you should and should not say in order to sound more like a native speaker.
This is a book that can be read over and over again, and it is a very good reference tool. You should not expect to be able to remember everything, because there is so much information. It will tell you everything from how to vary your speech, to how to better learn and improve your Spanish, to how to recognize profanity. It gives you information that you cannot get anywhere else - information that they do not teach you in the classroom. I highly recommend it.

I am a native spanish speaker and I got this book for my boyfriend who is learning spanish. Sometimes I find it difficult to explain the logic behind things that are second nature for me but this book does it very nicely and from the point of view of an english speaker! I think it is great and believe it or not, he is learning real-life spanish and I am learning a lot of english!