Did you know that Spanish is the second most-spoken language in the world? After all, around 440 million people speak the language worldwide. It surpasses the English-speaking people with only about 378 million.

If you want to learn Spanish, you can become a decent speaker within 6 months. Taking it to the next level, you might want to learn advanced Spanish. To test your vocabulary, you can opt to read books.

Here are some of the best books around if you want to advance in Spanish:

1. Palabra Por Palabra

This book helps you learn advanced vocabulary you can use in practical situations. When you read the book, you’ll see words and phrases from either slang or formal Spanish. You’ll find modern terms, phrases, buzzwords, and expressions common in different media.

You’ll see words from newspapers, magazines, advertisements, and the news. Most people that read it know it’s the popular culture language. You can even learn how to say oddly-specific terms such as swine flu and the like.

If you don’t want to get left out with native speakers, this book is for you.

2. Advanced Spanish Grammar: A Self-Teaching Guide

This book’s sole purpose is to challenge your knowledge of the Spanish language. The entire book is in Spanish, which means you can’t rely on English translations as a crutch. It’s versatile as a grammar study guide and as a reference book.

The index covers a broad range of topics. If you want a refresher, you can go back to the beginning of the book. You can start studying the -AR, -ER, and -IR verb conjugations.

The best part of the book is that it gives you a lot of tests. It helps you solidify your knowledge and improve your practical understanding. This book is one of the best grammar learning and practice around.

3. Say It Right in Spanish!

Beginners and intermediate learners benefit from this book more. But if you want to get your pronunciation right, going back to the basics using this manual can help a lot.

Most non-native speakers have a problem with pronunciation. This especially affects English learners since a flat American accent can ruin a perfect sentence in Spanish, so if you don’t master the Spanish accent, native speakers will still struggle to understand you.

4. Spanish Pronunciation: Theory and Practice

The book helps with hard Spanish words since it has the correct pronunciation for words. It also has phonetic guides that make it easier for your mouth to adjust to the Spanish language. It does so by explaining the language principles underlying the language.

If you learn more by understanding the concepts behind it, use this book.

5. Chilenismos: A Dictionary and Phrasebook for Chilean Spanish

Chilean Spanish is a whole different thing compared to its traditional counterpart. The language they speak inside their country has a lot of different pronunciations, with some consonants getting dropped while the words get blurred in together with their unique vocabulary.

Chile’s current population is around 18 million, representing about 0.24% of the world’s population. If you plan to spend time in Chile soon, better grab this book and have a good time.

6. Gritty Spanish Original

From our popular Gritty Spanish audios, these book will give you the opportunity to read all the stories. You can read the stories in this book in both English and Spanish on your Kindle. Slang and unique expressions are explained with the click of a button.

This is great for high- intermediate – advanced learners. Of course it does not include the audios, which features all dramatically voice acted by native speakers you’ll find on GrittySpanish.com.

Gritty Spanish original PDF eBook includes 31 stories. In one episode in Gritty Spanish original, you’ll read an exchange between a very racist cab driver and a customer, another features a vietnam vet on the NYC subway system begging for money and much more!

7. Spanish Verb Tenses

This is an awesome book if you would like to get a handle on Spanish verbs. It’s excellent for beginners and advanced learners alike. The enhanced version of this book on the Kindle has lots of audio, you can hear the verbs in various tenses in sentences in the examples. The end of each section has a very short story containing the verbs and tense you just learned, which also contains audio (Kindle enhanced). Highly recommended!

8. Dictionary of Spanish Slang

A lengthy trip to Latin America is always great. However, understanding local slang for different countries might leave you with an incomplete experience. This book fills that in since it’s an organized reference book for each Spanish-speaking country.

It has a great number of Spanish slang at around 4,000 terms. It’s organized in an alphabetical manner as well as by country or region. Each of the terms has a sample sentence that demonstrates its proper use.

9. Gritty Spanish Parte II

Another book based on our popular Gritty Spanish audios. Gritty Spanish Parte II is the follow up to the cult classic Gritty Spanish Original. Again, you can read the stories in this book in both English and Spanish on your Kindle. As with the original version, many of the slang and unique expressions are explained with the click of a button.

This is an awesome resource for high- intermediate – advanced learners.

Gritty Spanish Parte II PDF eBook has 36 stories. In one episode, you’ll read an exchange between a customer service rep and a guy who had lost his cell phone, a guy explaining how he illegally visited Cuba, drunken men getting stopped by the police, etc.

10. The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems (Bilingual Edition)

Latin American literature is beautiful, and these timeless poems made by a Chilean Nobel Prize winner are the best place to start. It has a natural flow of romantic language and its vocabulary stays consistent with a theme. Each poem is distinct and a delight to read.

Majority of the poems Neruda wrote has passionate love and nature at its center. It deals with human nature but it’s perfect for people looking for some advanced language reading.

11. Caña Quemada

This book is a collection of Spanish poems written by Cuban and Cuban-American authors. It has English translations for the sake of people who want to enjoy it for its literary value. It has stories about old friends, love, coming of age, and other nostalgic topics.

It’s a powerful and memorable book. Even if you aren’t learning Spanish, this is a great read.

12. Espejos y Ventanas

The author of the book wanted to express themselves completely that they wrote both in English and Spanish. It’s a bilingual book that details the modern issues plaguing Mexican and Mexican-American people, so it’s a perfect piece of reading if you want to gain insight on the problems with American immigration while learning about Spanish.

13. The Big Red Book of Spanish Vocabulary

This is the grandfather book when it comes to learning the Spanish Vocabulary. It contains anything you need to learn about the language. It’s not an understatement since it’s a massive book that has all the useful words.

It’s organized in such a way that it’s easier for you to study and reference. If you want to take your Spanish learning to the next level, this book can give that and more.

Learn Advanced Spanish Today!

Learning a new language takes a lot of time and patience.

This happens when the language you’re learning is so different from your native language. No matter what motivation you have for learning advanced Spanish, know that there are a lot of books out there that can help you.

These 12 books are great for Spanish learners since it teaches you how to speak at a conversational level.

If you want to learn by listening instead, we have real urban voice actors from Latin America and Spain. Check out what we have to offer by clicking this link!