Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish: A Creative and Proven Approach

"Madrial’s Magic Key", along with the expensive (but quite worth it) Pimsleur tapes, have corrected the “mis-education” I was subjected to. The drills Ms. Madrigal presents are easy to remember and fun to do, not like those tedious translations and verb conjugations that college texts are so fond of. In two months, studying this book in my spare time, I retained more Spanish than I did in an entire academic year. And, for the first time, I can actually say that I understand Spanish.

I would supplement this book with a comprehensive book on Spanish grammar (I have the Barron’s, but I suppose any would work) and a dictionary. I would definitely recommend “Breaking Out of Beginner’s Spanish” by Joseph Keenan for an in depth take on colloquial Spanish as well. Further, if you have the money, buy the "Pimsleur Comprehensive" series as well. Get vol.’s 1-3, even though they are pricey. If you are an audio/tactile learner like me, I guarantee that you will retain more Spanish idioms using the Pimsleur method than any other.


Fantastic start to learning spanish   January 10, 2004
Languagelover (Manchester, England)
66 out of 67 found this review helpful

Magic Key to Spanish is one of those rare books that you come back to again again, it inspires progress and there's so much to learn from it- it's certainly not going to be a dust gatherer if learning Spanish is what you truly want. If I've convinced you already buy it- if not read on.

The book starts with a very positive introduction and goes on to explain that an English speaker already knows hundreds if not thousands of words in Spanish and it gives you the rules that unlock this 'magic key' to Spanish. It then moves on to teach you grammar in a very novel way, none of the boring conjungations that had to be learnt by rote when doing languages at school. She starts with the past tense as this is how we speak to friends and then moves through much of the essential grammar required to Speak, Read and write Spanish.

I would recommend this book to all beginners in Spanish. It has got two downsides which are the layout, which is now dated (it was written in the early 1950's with Andy Warhol as the illustrator) and also (for me living in England) the fact that the emphasis is on South American Spanish not peninsular Spanish.

I wish the Magic Key to French and German were still in print as I have made substanital progress with my Spanish using this book, the method obviously works. If the publisher is reading this, please consider a reprint of the other two editions given the success of the Spanish version.

The late Margarita Madrigal was ahead of her time as the method she used in this book is akin to what trainers would now call Accerlerated Learning. A word of warning, make sure that you do all of the exercises and tests or you will not be learning to your full potential.

I recommend that you buy this book and use it in tandem with an audio course either the Pimsleur series (expensive) or Michel Thomas would be great- as these will give you the pronunciation which you will require to progress further. Both the audio courses are structured so that there is no repetition and so you have to consciously form the language and remain motivated not bored. If you would like more in-depth information on Spanish grammar I highly recommend 'Buscalo'

Hope this helps you with your introduction to the beautiful and very useful Spanish language- buena suerte!


An Excellent Book for Teaching Yourself to Speak Spanish.   October 27, 1999
Gary W. Schroeder (Seattle, WA)
63 out of 64 found this review helpful

I have searched for years to find good books to teach myself Spanish, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest. The clear structured organization and presentation make it easy to read and to study. Most others are too basic or, it seems, oriented to very young students. If you are seriously interested in teaching yourself conversational Spanish, then this book will be very helpful. It progresses at a good rate, integrates vocabulary painlessly and uses excercises that build conversational ability. If you are interested in teaching yourself Spanish, then this book is very effective. It uses some very effective shortcuts. For example, it omits the familiar form which reduces the number of verb forms without limiting your ability to comunicate. Many books seem oriented to college course work and seem tediously and academically oriented to stucture and detail, rules and form. This book does not suffer these defiencies. It is committed to teaching you to communicate in Spanish easily (at least as easily as possible)and effectively. I am just someone who wanted to learn to speak Spanish and for that purpose, I found it very effective.


A brief note about accents   July 13, 2002
doug edmunds (Salem, OR USA)
33 out of 34 found this review helpful

Since the original date of publication (1951), the Real Academia de la Lengua Española (guardian of the Spanish Language) officially removed the accents on some one-syllable words. The old spellings appear in the book. For example, in Chapter 31 (common irregular verbs), these words have changed:

Old form: ví, vió, dí, dió, fuí, fué
New form: vi, vio, di, dio, fui, fue
(NOTE: this is not a complete list!)

Old spellings also appear in exercises using these words.

These changes don't change the pronunciation of the words! Accent marks are used to show how a word should be written in accordance with the way it is pronounced. The rules on pronouncing weak-weak, weak-strong, strong-weak and strong-strong vowel combinations apply: so, for example, vio (new form) sounds the same as vió (old form).

This is a great book for learning Spanish. Don't let the age of it throw you.

My plug for a top-notch dictionary: get the Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary Second Edition (2000).


Simply the best book I've found....and I've bought them all   July 17, 1998
32 out of 33 found this review helpful

Learning Spanish should be fun and easy. If not, the odds are that you'll get frustrated and never learn this fantastic language.

Madrigal's Magic key is trully "magical." The book simply is entertaining and a very easy read. It makes learning Spanish fun and not a chore. The book gets the student right into the language without all those complicated rules. The emphasis is on buidling your confidence and establishing a Spanish vocabulary quickly without pain. This is accomplished based on your knowledge of English. For example, she teaches you the tricks of converting english nouns into verbs. The result is that you're not memorizing verbs but focusing on applying simple rules to building a large spanish vocabulary quickly and maintain conmfidence.

The book would truly be outstanding if it combined more exercises (writing) with her "See It and Say it in Spanish" book which is great also.

This is not a book that you'll read and forget a! ! bout. The second and third time I read it increased my comprehension significantly. My ownly regret is that I found this book after spending alot of money on books that only frustrated me, were virtually useless and definitely too much like work.