First Spanish Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book (Beginners' Guides)

Decades ago I bought this book as a spanish learner in a book shop near where I live. That spanish language book shop is long gone so when the dog went after my copy that was out because my wife is now learning, I was disenheartened but Amazon came to the rescue though I do miss they old cover art my scribbled margin notes. There's a reason this book has been in print for decades. The stories are classic, charming, from authentic spanish language sources yet still are quite accessible and well ordered in difficulty AND length. The first stories are from 1-5 paragraphs and towards the end they are several pages long. Most of them lean towards parables and folk tales with humorous twists that make them fun to read more than once. In 2023 the spanish tilts toward an older style sort of like how Mark Twain's prose sound a little strange today but that doesn't mean that it's hard to understand like trying to read Don Quixote or Lazarillo de Tormes. This is a wonderful aid to learning spanish or as stories to read to young learners of spanish. I highly recommend it.

This book offers a good amount of challenge. when you begin reading the book and open it up, you find the left side pages are written in español and the right right side is written in english. Its nice that if you get lost or encounter a new word you simply look to the right side and find the translation of the prase or the word. I am considering highlighting through the book as i go. so that at a later time i could have quick reference or write the words out to flash cards for easier memorization. Also near the back of the book there are quizes, and short dictionary that has many of the "stuck" words you encounter. this book is very inexpensive and offers alot. The stories are good old stories that have a moral to the story. Also its something different it takes your mind off of learning and lets it happen without thinking about it, while you fixate on the story. i like the book alot and for 2.50 i cant see how anyone could pass up. I think anyone reading this review should atleast try it out, the worst case you will be out a few bucks. i would say its intermediate level. Good luck

While recommended for the beginning student, the selections in this book still necessitate some previous Spanish study and/or exposure. I would say that the student using this book needs to have 18 months of language study or have been immersed in a foreign culture for several months. What is imperative is that the learner has an adequate base of vocabulary. If the learner lacks an adequate base, even with this book, you will be forced to stop and examine/cross reference the English translation every other word. That requires times and can quickly become tiresome. I think this is a good book but the learner needs to have an adequate base of vocabulary and adequate exposure to verb tenses to use this book efficiently. Pros: 1.The book doesn't throw it all at you - The book is progressive in nature by focusing on present tense and than moving to imperfect, preterite, conditional and future. The subjunctive is not used in this book. 2.Good for self study - You don't need a dictionary or a professor to go through this book. You can practice reading and practice identifying verb forms and vocabulary on your own because you have the Spanish and English version side by side. 3.You will acquire a sense of Hispanic literature - These are genuine pieces of Hispanic literature and poetry that expose the learner to a mix of authors. If you dislike one author, it is easy to move on to the next. 4.Manageable to process - This book is small and easy to pack. The selections are also short. The pieces rarely exceed five pages making this a good book to use for study at the doctor's office or during the lunch hour. 5.Additional exercises are provided - There are additional exercises which could be useful for a professor or teacher to give to a student. For the person reading this on their own, these exercises may be not be ideal since answers are not provided. The exercises are based on the pieces in the book and students are asked to answer Spanish questions orally in Spanish and to translate English sentences into Spanish. While using this book, I recommend having a stack of colored note cards or spiral bound index cards (mead sells these). While processing passages, note verbs you do not know of a particular colored card and nouns on another to create a flash card set. This book is manufactured in the United States.

You cannot and should not use this book to learn Spanish. Take the time to learn all the verb tenses, the grammar, etc., and after you have comfortably completed the equivalent of three semesters of college Spanish (e.g., all 14 verb tenses, incl. past perfect subjunctive), then you can try a reader like this one. Who cares if some of the words are antiquated? It will help you learn etymology and the history of the language. And for the people who have problems with the Kindle version, adjust your font size and page width, and then you only have to flip one page to see the English. If you were really ready for a reader, you wouldn't need the English translation much anyway. Regarding the Esclava Perezosa story, I think that it is funny. The servant does whatever he wants, and the master is powerless to change his behavior. It's based on a 13th century parable, so try not to impose modern norms and beliefs on people who lived 900 years ago, if you are able.

Des histoires courtes, amusantes, faciles à lire. Des pensées d'auteurs, des proverbes.

A companion for Spanish learners

This book is okay, but it’s from 1965 so a lot of the language used is not common now. This makes it less useful for a beginner.

This is a great little book to help a beginner in learning to read and write in German. It really helps a complete beginner to understand the vocabulary and sentence structure when you can compare the German to the English. The poetry half way through the book was a very unexpected but welcome surprise.

Es fácil y muy interesante, perfecto