Readers can tune up their conversation skills with Tune Up guides--the next best thing to a year abroad!
Getting beyond sounding like a beginner is more than just a matter of learning more vocabulary and grammar. It's also about understanding the culture and developing the right mind set for thinking, listening, and talking like a native.
The next best thing to a year abroad, the books in this exciting new series offer language learners an entertaining and practical way to hone their foreign-language conversation skills. Tune Up books are structured around 10 key areas for improvement, covering everything from tricky grammatical structures to gestures, slang, and humor. In each area, key phrases are presented in "Top Ten" lists, including everyday expressions for filling pauses, icebreakers, and more. An excellent brushup for learners returning to a language they studied in high school or college, Tune Up books feature:
- Practical advice on improving conversation skills
- Valuable insights into how difficult verbs and structures work
- Tips on how to avoid taboos and common faux pas
- A 60-minute audio CD with key phrase lists and exercises
From the Back Cover
See, Feel, and Say Things the Spanish Way!
If you are among the many people who studied Spanish in high school, college, or even beyond but still get stuck when it comes to actually speaking the language, this book is for you. Tune Up Your Spanish will help you refresh and build on what you already know and give you the confidence to put it into practice. By demonstrating the connection between spoken language, body language, sound, and ways of thinking, Tune Up Your Spanish takes you beyond basic grammar to help you find your Spanish voice and --agarrar la onda--get with it (literally, "catch the sound wave").
Structured around ten "Tune Ups," this fun, informative, and highly effective book provides:
- Practical and realistic advice for improving spoken Spanish
- Over 100 "Top Ten" lists of key Spanish phrases and expressions
- Interjections, vocal noises, and physical gestures that make the most of nonverbal communication
- An understanding of the reductions and linking that occur in Spanish when spoken at natural speed
- Essential phrases for venting emotion, sharing enthusiasm, and expressing irony
- Cultural guidance for rules of courtesy
- Practical language for everything from saving money at a restaurant to resolving problems in a hotel to starting a conversation or a relationship
- An overview of regional variations from expressions to festivities to food
Also included are preview questions and review exercises for each chapter, an answer key, plus an invaluable audio CD that presents key phrases from throughout the book, tips on pronunciation and rhythm, and engaging audio exercises. From idioms and attitude to gastronomic adventures and conversation starters, now you can discover what it means to see, feel, and say things the Spanish way!
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