Vocabulary forms the building blocks of language learning, and it is essential for learners to expand their vocabulary - whether for active communication, or passive oral understanding or written comprehension. However, most existing vocabulary books don't provide any assistance in actually learning and assimilating the words - the student might as well just look words up in a dictionary.

In answer to this need, The Big Red Book of Spanish Vocabulary is a unique reference that provides students with a tremendous resource by combining three key, complementary approaches to vocabulary building:

* Cognates: the easiest way to build vocabulary - by learning words in Spanish that are similar to the English meaning. This section contains 14,000 cognates thematically arranged into 20 thematic groups, which are further divided into 100 topics.

* Root families: another key way to expand vocabulary is to learn related word families that have the same root. This section contains 14,000 terms grouped by 2,200 root categories. The headwords (the most commonly used word in the family) are ordered alphabetically.

* Suffixes: more than most languages, Spanish relies on suffixes to denote parts of speech and convey nuances of meaning. This section contains 130 of the most common Spanish suffixes, grouped alphabetically. The meaning of each suffix is explained, and then exemplified by an illustrative list of words taking the suffix (4,000 words in all), their English equivalent, and the stem to which it is related.

These three sections are complimented by a Frequency Index that lists the 5,000 most frequently used words in Spanish. The 1,000 most commonly used words are illustrated by example sentences that provide contextual usage. This index is cross-referenced to the Cognate, Root and Suffix sections.

In addition, an Alphabetical Index cross-references all the entries in the Root, Suffix and Frequency sections.