Spanish Books For Beginners
Have you ever felt the satisfaction of finishing a movie or a song in Spanish, and you can understand each word from it? Or the pleasure of finally being able to start a conversation with a Spanish native-speaker confidently, without being lost for words?
If you’ve done that, your next goal might be to finish reading a book in Spanish. There’s nothing quite as gratifying as reading a whole book in a foreign language and realizing that you are in the final page, but none of the words seem difficult for you to understand.
In this article, we will help you reach your goal and provide a guide to Spanish books for beginners. These books will help you understand and acquire Spanish vocabulary.
Best Spanish Books for Beginning Learners: Frequency Dictionaries
Some words are more important than others when learning a new language. The 1000 most common words make up approximately 80% of daily conversation, so it's helpful to learn them first. There are 150,000-300,000 words in modern use, and knowing just 5000 words can help you understand 95% of all spoken language. There are diminishing returns after a certain point, but even knowing a small fraction of all the words out there can help you communicate effectively.
Beginner learners can start learning the 100 most common Spanish words for free by downloading the ebook from our website. This core vocabulary alone accounts for about 50% of all Spanish language already.
The following Spanish frequency dictionaries will help you learn Spanish vocabulary quickly and efficiently. There are a total of 10,000 words in these books, making them perfect for language learners of all levels. They contain practical vocabulary for both spoken and written Spanish. These dictionaries can either be used alone or in conjunction with other language learning programs, apps and books:
The Essential Vocabulary of Spanish: 2500 Most Common Spanish Words
The Spanish Frequency Dictionary: Essential Vocabulary contains a word list that will help you learn Spanish vocab. You can study the most frequently used words to quickly build your Spanish vocabulary. These high-frequency words are great for beginners and intermediate students. The CEFR vocabulary ratings range from absolute beginner (A1), to somewhat proficient (B1).
Intermediate Spanish Vocabulary List: 2501-5000 Most Common Spanish Words
This frequency dictionary is intended for intermediate Spanish learners. You will be able to speak Spanish like an adult native speaker if you know the 5000 most commonly used Spanish words. Your vocabulary will be improved from CEFR A2+ to CEFR B2+ level.
You will be able to express yourself easily and carry on your day without any problems. You can comprehend and listen to almost all radio and television shows, websites, or newspapers. However, reading literature can still be challenging. It will also take you a while to find the right words.
Advanced Spanish Vocabulary: 5001-7500 Most Common Spanish Words
This book will help you learn advanced Spanish, since it covers advanced Spanish vocabulary. You will enhance your Spanish vocabulary from CEFR B2 to CEFR C1+.
You will be able to speak Spanish like an adult native speaker if you know 7500 of the most commonly used Spanish words. You can communicate your feelings in many situations. 93% of all Spanish text and 97% all spoken Spanish can be understood.
Fluent Spanish Vocabulary List: 7501-10000 Most Common Spanish Words
This dictionary is intended for advanced Spanish speakers looking to improve their Spanish proficiency. This dictionary will help you expand your vocabulary from CEFR C1+ to CEFR C2+.
Knowing the 10,000 most commonly used Spanish words will give you a vocabulary comparable to one who has completed college or university. 98% and 95% of all spoken and written Spanish will be understood. You are able to speak Spanish fluently, and can express yourself well in Spanish. You can handle academic and cognitively challenging material. Depending on your grammar skills, you may be able to use Spanish to an almost-native level. Your Spanish may be higher than a native speaker in certain areas.
Below are the links to the paperbacks on Amazon. They are affiliate links. That means we might get a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking these links.
- The Essential Vocabulary of Spanish: 2500 Most Common Spanish Words
- Intermediate Spanish Vocabulary List: 2501-5000 Most Common Spanish Words
- Advanced Spanish Vocabulary: 5001-7500 Most Common Spanish Words
- Fluent Spanish Vocabulary List: 7501-10000 Most Common Spanish Words
If you prefer ebooks, you can download the ebooks in PDF format directly from our website. Check out what our customers have to say here in the Spanish Frequency dictionary reviews.
Spanish Bilingual Books for Beginning Students
A bilingual book offers two different translations of a single story. This means that one half of the page is in English, and one is in another language (in this case, Spanish).
The English and Spanish translations are directly next to each other, which will allow you to save a lot of time and prevent frustration. This will save you from the trouble of searching for words that you don't understand, and make it easier to read. Additionally, these books also include Spanish to English dictionaries that are specifically designed for these Spanish stories. And with that, by simply sitting down and picking up your book, you can easily learn and study new languages.
Alice in Wonderland in Spanish is one example of this kind of book. In Spanish, it's called "Alicia en el Pais de las Maravillas". The book has approximately 30 thousand words and is 135 pages long. It contains only 2032 different root words, which makes it an ideal book for beginner or intermediate learners of the Spanish language.
Another bilingual book that you can use is Around the World in Eighty Days. In Spanish, it's called "La Vuelta al Mundo en Ochenta Dias". This book is an excellent choice for intermediate to advanced Spanish language learners who want to learn more vocabularies. This bilingual book contains just 3973 different lemmas, has approximately 65 thousand words, and is 269 pages long.
"Alicia en el Pais de las Maravillas” as well as "La Vuelta al Mundo en Ochenta Dias” both have the English translation on half the page and the Spanish version on the other. This will give you the opportunity to practice Spanish reading skills, as well as assistance when you have difficulty grasping the terms or sentences.
Reading bilingual books offers many benefits. One way to expand your vocabulary is to learn how to use words in paragraphs. You can also read anywhere, anytime with these books.
How to Choose the Perfect Book to Start Learning Spanish?
In order to improve your Spanish language skills, you must choose a level-appropriate Spanish textbook. Assess yourself with how much vocabulary you know and how many words you find difficult to understand by taking online quizzes in Spanish language, or by turning off the subtitles when watching a film or series. You also need to know which type of book is convenient and effective in your learning process.
Knowing these things will help you to be certain in what books you need to reach your goal, and know just how near or far you are in reading a whole book in Spanish without much difficulty.
For learners looking for practical Spanish vocabulary, we recommend our Spanish vocabulary lists. Our dictionaries are based upon how often you would use a word. These dictionaries were designed to enable learners to rapidly expand their vocabulary. IPA phonetic transcriptions of Spanish words are included in each entry, so you can always be confident in your pronunciation.
Grammatical information is also provided for each word, so you'll know whether it's a noun, adjective, verb, or can be used in multiple ways. To top it off, each entry also comes with a bilingual sample sentence, so you can see the word being used in context and get some reading practice too.
Don't miss out on these fantastic books for beginners. They can give you a big boost on your journey to becoming fluent in Spanish. And by the time you finish a dictionary, you'll be able to read a short novel or stories in Spanish with ease.
END NOTE:
Manually writing out lists of words can be helpful if you are a beginning learner, but digital options are endless if your preference is for learning on the go. For example, MostUsedWords has eBooks in PDF format of Spanish Frequency Dictionaries and bilingual books that can be purchased on these links. The dictionaries provide a vocabulary, listed by its frequency and alphabetically. Each book contains varying vocabulary depending on the levels of fluency. We have books especially made for beginners, intermediates, advanced, and near-fluent learners.
Of course, you won’t learn Spanish in just an instant. Learning a second language is similar to learning your native language. You won’t know every single word, but what’s important is learning the most common words. The words that you will use every day in practice.
Find somewhere to relax and read your book. You can relax on the sofa, in a park, or just in bed, and enjoy an effortless, easy way to learn Spanish by reading.