The Spanish Reference Guide by Alan Watkins, as I like to call it, started by me needing to make a study sheet for my final exam in the 3rd level of Spanish in College. While I was making this study sheet, I thought what a wonderful idea it would be to make a study sheet for the entire first three levels of college Spanish. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Spanish, all of the basics as far as tenses and conjugations are taught in the first three semesters.

As time went on, and I labored through a couple of Spanish textbooks, I pounded out as compact of a guide as I could, which came to about 30 pages. I went to my local Kinko's and had them bind it for me, and it looked like any other booklet teachers make you buy every semester! So, I saw how much this guide helped me, and I wanted to share it with other people. I started out by lending a copy to a couple of friends, and they said that they really liked it. So, I decided to see if I could get the thing published anywhere...well, I couldn't. Everywhere told me that they didn't publish that kind of stuff so I decided to just start giving copies away by e-mail. My main concern wasn't really to make money, but at least not to lose any. E-mail was a perfect way of doing this!

That brings me to where I am now. I'm still checking into publishers, but I'm not getting my hopes up because ven if I found a publisher, they would probably want to stick it in a regular bookstore. The place for this book is in a university bookstore...that's where it would do the most good. Anyway, until something like that happens, it will be available here for anyone who wants it. Please e-mail me if you have any comments, questions, or trouble downloading!

Click here to go to the download page.

History

Spring 1992

• Began writing Spanish Reference Guide in Word 4.0!
  
• Finished first version with ASCII graphics!
  
• Printed up and bound 2 copies
  

Fall 1992

• One copy got lost and the master disk became corrupt
  

Spring 1994

• Finished my minor in Spanish and went to grad school
  

Fall 1996

• Vowed to re-do the reference guide and get it on disk
  
• Used a graphics program and Word 5.1 to make it look better
  
• Transfered it to Word 6.0
  
• Started distributing it electronically
  
• Added a Quick Reference Guide at the beginning
  

File Explanations

quick.doc - One sheet quick Spanish Reference
toc.doc - Table of contents
spanish.doc - The Spanish Reference Guide by Alan Watkins

Problems? E-mail me!
The Spanish Reference Guide by Alan Watkins, Copyright 1996.