Book Summary:
Anyone can read, write, and speak Spanish in only a few short weeks with this unique and proven method, which completely eliminates rote memorization and boring drills.
Amazon Reviews (5 Stars – 122, 4 Stars – 18, 3 Stars – 4, 2 Stars – 3, 1 Stars – 1):
I got decent grades in college Spanish; two “A-‘s” and a “B+.” However, when I needed to actually speak Spanish, I was lost. I couldn’t say much except “Mas cervezas, por favor (More beer, please)!””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.
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!
Margaret Madrigal is probably deceased and this book will never be revised, updated or improved in any way–the first edition came out in 1951.
Grammar notes are often either repeated, or given out of order with respect to the exercises. For instance, almost the same discussion of the use of lo and la is given in Chapter 32 and then again in Chapter 33. And, explanations of grammar constructs are often missing, or the order in which they’re presented doesn’t make sense. For instance, it is pointed out that the imperfect past tense of saber and querer is usually used instead of the preterit past. This was mentioned without any explanations or comparisons, even though this was the first time that the imperfect past tense was mentioned. In another poorly explained manner, the imperfect past of estar was introduced without explanation.
In fact, grammar is never actually discussed, it’s just presented in terms of usage, much like we learn a language as children. For instance, the progressive tenses are never explained and compared with other ways of presenting the same idea as they are in other books.
The exercises and tests are fairly good for verb usage and the answers are provided, however, very little of the vocabulary that she introduces (maybe 5%), is used in the exercises. For instance, Madrigal’s favorite words seem to be parque, cine, tren, semana and a few others that she uses over and over again.
Still, in spite of all of its flaws, the book is worth owning, largely because of the exercises with answers and the simplified way in which Spanish is presented.
What was refreshing about this book is the fact that the past tense is immediately introduced. Think about it, how many times do you tell people what you did a day ago, an hour ago, etc? The answer is – often.
In my high school Spanish class I took more than a decade ago, it was unfortunately anchored by slower/uninterested students. We never even got to the past tense. I was stuck in the present with no past and future!
Not anymore!
This book will make one the master of the preterite as well as the present. What I can understand and speak has multiplied tremendously. What I wish this book delved into a bit more is the subjunctive tense. It seemed merely touched upon. Also I really loved doing the exercises. When I was confused about a concept, the exercises would finally make things clear for me. The last two chapters have no exercises, it’s only reading. I wish at least an exercise or two appeared in order to cement the rest of the concepts home.
Despite that, this book is wonderful for people like me who need to refresh their high school Spanish and would be great for beginners who wish to have a try at different verb tenses immediately.
My hint- DON’T SKIP ANY OF THE EXERCISES!
Make no mistake, you won’t be fluent. But you will have a great Spanish foundation to build upon after finising this book. I ditto what others have said about also getting resources to go along with this book. I found the Michel Thomas Method to be an excellent accompaniment and found his explanations for the preterite as opposed to the imperfect are very similar. He will slam dunk the grammar into your brain without you realizing it!
Also I just started listening to Learning Spanish like Crazy based on recommendations. After doing the book and MT, I feel pretty advanced right now(I am just starting at the beginning so that may change as I progress). But for pronunciation practice it can’t be beat!
Also Madrigal’s book See it and Say it in Spanish is also a great little book you can use. Small enough to carry around everywhere!
A great improvement to this book would be audio! Publishers are you listening? Still a great learning tool without it. This book was published, I think in the 60’s?? It still holds up to this day!
This method is very old.
It is very hard to memorize very long lists of words.
Language learning needs to be fun and this book isn’t.
Barnes & Noble review ( 5 Stars – 6, 4 Stars – 5):
Anonymous March 17, 2004
Best to Learn Spanish Easily!! 5.0 out of 5 Stars
I bought this book for my boyfriend, because I am from El Salvador, and he MUST learn spanish to speak to my mom! This book is great to learn the language! The author teaches the most important parts first and then goes into more detail, and she also makes you understand the relationship between english words and spanish words, so you easily understand how to pronounce them. Also she teaches conversations early in the book, so you can actually start practicing. I am so glad I bought this book for my boyfriend! After just a few weeks from starting the book he can actually converse with my mom! :o)
Anonymous November 18, 2005
Buy This Book!!! 5.0 out of 5 Stars
I bought this book about 6 years ago. I just came to this site to see if she had any other materials available and decided to write this review. Like I said, I bought the book about 6 yrs ago but just decided to read it last spring in preparation for a missionary trip that I was taking to Mexico. Well, the book was very helpful, but I crammed in about 2 months and forgot most of what I had learned when I got there. I came home in July and reviewed everything I read and read about 3/4 of the way through the book. I went back to Mexico again in September. The difference was amazing! I have never taken a Spanish lesson in my life, yet with the help of this book I was able to communicate quite well with the kids. I could get most ideas across to adults, and could converse enough to buy goods at the store. I am trying to finish the book before I go back in January, but I want to say, I cannot picture it being any easier than this. This book is great. It makes it fun, and through repetition and exercise you really learn enough to get by without a huge amount of effort. Thanks Margarita!!
GoodReads Review ( 5 Stars – 17, 4 Stars – 9, 3 Stars – 7):
The second times through this book, I became conversant for the first time. Although I was hesitant, I could carry on a bit of conversation. This time through, I’m amazed at how easy it is. Plus, I’m learning the concepts at a different level.
I’ve tried all sorts of methods from Power Glide, to Learnables, to Rosetta Stone and more. I’ve discovered that Madrigals along with reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and translating children’s books has made me move forward like none of the others did at all.
March 31, 2012
Stats from the basics and follows a efficient learning approach contrary to just mugging up and cramming.
Lucid style of explanation with lots of exercises for self practice
Best Seller Reviews 
DinoLingo.com
July 10, 2012 at 3:34 pm
I have seen this book in my local library and I have to say it is a great book for beginners. Great job! (http://blog.dinolingo.com)