The Best Spanish Book for Beginners? [Review: Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish]

Is Margarita Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish the best book for beginners learning Spanish? Find out in this book review by Jim from Spanish and Go.

Are you looking for a beginner or intermediate book to help you learn Spanish? Margarita Madrigal will get you learning Spanish fast with cognates and shortcuts to expand your vocabulary in a matter of weeks.

Margarita Madrigal is arguably one of the best language teachers of all time, and her methods are still widely used by language instructors today.

Have you read Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish? Did it help you? Let us know in the comments!

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Thanks for watching! ¡Saludos! -Jim

[jbunny]

I have had this book for years. It's literally tearing apart. I had to tape it back together. That is how great this book is. If you are serious about speaking Spanish get this book.

[kellikocha]

I didn’t realize how many words I already knew in Spanish without even knowing it. I want to learn Spanish so I can understand the music I listen to.

[GypsyCurls]

I bought this book a few weeks ago because of this video. I am currently on leccion doce! And it has set my spanish on fire. I feel that I have made more progress sing this book than anything else. Starting with cognates and past tense is the bees knees. You truly can’t go wrong using this book. I like the layout of it and it very conducive to get up running conversationally. She also doesn’t bog you down with silly and useless exercises. It is a good use of your time. So far I am doing a lesson a day. But I am sure that as I get farther into the book it may slow down as you get into tougher territory, maybe. I wrote all of the cognates that she gave throughout the book because that was about 1000 words you already know. It gives you a huge working vocabulary and the ability to turn some of those nouns into verbs easily was brilliant. I am using this book in conjunction with Assimil’s Spanish with ease and using it also for the spoken dialogue to train my ear as Madrigal trains my vocabulary and speaking skills building off that vocabulary and unique way of approaching acquiring the language. Thanks so much for this suggestion. I had kept seeing it on Amazon and kept passing it by while searching for learning materials. This book is showing me that I can learn Spanish and absolutely become fluent.

[mannyargandona]

The tú for is taught in the book, but in chapter 45, it's only 3 pages. The rules are there. You're welcome

[DonQ]

Love this book! And the little drawings were by some unknown artist, somebody by the name of Andy Warhol.

[evolvingdaisy]

I just picked up this book for $.070 at Salvation Army and was looking for a review. So glad I grabbed it based on your review! Can't wait to start! Heading to Mexico soon.

[CoachAdamRuns]

Book Trivia: Madrigal was also illustrated by one of the world’s most famous artists who was mostly unknown at the time... Andy Warhol. Yep that Andy Warhol.

[almaofearthia]

I've recommended this book to a zillion people over the years and have bought 5 or 6 copies to give to people. It's great for absolute beginners and for those of us who need a refresher. The chapters are short and very manageable so you don't feel overwhelmed. You can't beat this book for the price! I've purchased them mostly from discount bookstores like Half Price Books ($3.99 & $6.99 for the last 2 copies).

[surrealchemist]

If you listen to the Language Transfer course, they start off explaining that something like 3000 words are based off Latin origin so if you just pronounce them the Spanish way they translate over. It’s pretty interesting.

[Bri-ylyk]

man i know the basic, i understand everything, i just have problem speaking. i just want to talk to grandma and my older cousins

[jamesmccloud]

I bought it after I watched this video last year, and I must say it has helped me learn so much! The only thing is that it focuses a lot more on the Usted form rather than Tú. But besides that, it is a phenomenal book that helped me during my beginner stages. Thank you for recommending it to me!

[wanjunli]

I cannot praise this book enough. I have been a beginner for several years and I bought this book a few days earlier. It is revolutionary for my journey of learning Spanish. Everyone should get one if he or she is serious about mastering Spanish. I did not know it was written almost 70 years ago. It is still the best. Thanks for sharing this good news around.

[theskintexpat-themightygreegor]

I was given this book as a birthday present. One of the two best presents I ever one of the three best presents. And they all came to me at the same time, from the same person. This book, a calendar of really cool Mexican icons, and a CD of Los Lobos, Colossossal Head. All highly recommended, but especially Margarita Madrigal's Magic Key To Spanish. Damn and oh my god. This book changed my life in a HUGE way, and for the better. The calendar and the CD were awesome, but the book was a life-changer.

[halleyscomet]

This book will be the best Spanish learners book forever, it's become a classic must have book.Tons of Spanish in such a simple and structured way.

[languagelearningdabbler]

Got my copy in the mail yesterday! Thanks! 😍🤓

[izabela]

OK, i've just bought this book.. and continuing learning spanish in english... I am Polish!!! OMG

[lashtechbecky]

I’m Mexican but I need to better my Spanish 😣 my first language was Spanish but once I had to go to school and learn English my Spanish became horrible and I forgot most of it

[tobikrutt]

I was so surprised to see you recommend this book--most people don't know about it. The teacher of a Meetup Spanish study group that I go to every Saturday morning recommended it to me back when I was in beginner-stage, and she was right--it is terrific! It helps you understand the sentence structure for simple and common modes of speech. HINT: Do the exercises at the end of each lesson, don't just skim through them. They will help you remember the information as you practice. Also, her rules for cognates are fantastic, and helped me improve my vocab tremendously. In fact, I loved them so much that, as a favor to a friend who was beginning to learn Spanish, I went through the whole book and made a Google doc of all 23 cognate rules, with a few examples of each one. If you review these rules and practice them, in very short order you will be able to guess quite accurately how to say specific words in Spanish, based on how they are spelled in English. :-)

[AJearth]

I wish I would've had this info years ago. I tried learning Spanish in my early 20s..some things clicked, other things didn't such as past tense and present tense. Another thing that trips me up is when to use Por/para. I have a working knowledge of Spanish, and if I read, say a news article for example, I get the jist of what was written, so I can *read* Spanish better than what I can speak it or hear it.