The Berlitz Self-Teacher series is very helpful in introducing and immersing the reader in a new language. Lessons are built on real-life conversational Spanish, the type you would encounter on the street among friends and acquaintances. Particularly useful is the pronunciation guide, which avoids the distortion English speakers usually impose on the Spanish language. For example, "N'est" and "Le" are properly pronounced "neh" and "luh" and not "nay" or "lay" as English speakers would probably say it. Early chapters start out slow, and build on previous chapters as the book progresses.