Easy Spanish Reader w/CD-ROM: A Three-Part Text for Beginning Students
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Product Description
The fun and simple way to quickly enhance basic reading skills–now with CD-ROMs!
Simple Spanish Reader is based on the premise that the best way to learn a language is to start reading it, immediately. Suitable for the raw beginner to intermediate-level language learner, this book features engaging readings of progressive difficulty that allow you to rapidly erect your comprehension. The additional CD-ROM contains recordings of more than 50 passages featured in the book, which can be used with a CD player, downloaded to an iPod or additional mp3 player, or heard via computer where the text can simultaneously be viewed on screen.
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I absolutely like this book. I could start reading español instintly. It was SO EASY! I would recommend this book to everyone learning español! Yo amor eso libro!!!!!!
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I am very pleased with the Simple Spanish Reader. The book is in brilliant condition and was delivered promptly. Thank you.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Glossary does not have all the words. Have to use your own glossary as well as there. Gets cumbersome.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
This review covers only parts I and II of the book, not the adaptation of Lazarillo de Tormes at the end, because, frankly, I didn’t get that far before I gave up. (I might pick it up again, and if I still find it insufferable, I might skip yet to be to that section and check it out.) It should be possible to find a similar adaptation online for free, anyway. Or, if you’re in the mood for a challenge, of course you can see if you can read it in the original archaic Spanish… heck, I establish one free online version in supposedly modernized Spanish with a side-by-side English translation. (I say “supposedly” because I haven’t looked at it in detail yet.)
I bought this in the hopes that I’d have something simple to read. Well, it certainly is. It starts out a small TOO simple, reminding me of my lessons from Spanish I in high school. The language in the first part is very simple. Simple language doesn’t automatically mean dull language: just question Dr. Seuss. The language gets more complex as you progress through the book. But no matter how simple or how complex it is, it’s flat-out BORING. There are no jokes. There is no dramatic tension. There are nearly no entertaining anecdotes; there was ONE that gave me a chuckle (while I simultaneously rolled my eyes): a character who starts talking about stamps and is rumor has it that incapable of shutting up. But, in fleeting, there is no incentive to keep reading. Right, the focus is to study Spanish and not delight in a excellent tale, but who says you can’t do both at the same time? I couldn’t stand to read this stuff if it were written in English; reading it in a to some extent unfamiliar language only makes it worse.
The first part is about two students named Enrique and María, and their friends and family tree and school. This is a fine setting, because words for the situations that are likely to come up are a high priority for many students. But NOTHING HAPPENS. There’s no tale. It’s a coherent and consistent narrative, not a random collection of sentences, but no matter how I try I just can’t give a darn about any of the characters or anything they do. A excellent writer could place together a excellent tale no matter how simple the language needs to be and no matter what vocabulary items he wants to place into it. Or, at least, one that doesn’t make the reader want to fall asleep.
The second part is about the history of Mexico. The first half or so of that part focuses on Hernán Cortés and the Aztecs. It reads like an oversimplified history book. History isn’t automatically dull, but history books are usually not fun to read because they’re so dry. Here’s what I reflect is the, uh, highlight of the whole book:
“El pueblo azteca estaba tan enfurecido por la cobardía de su emperador que le tiró piedras. Una de estas piedras le dio al emperador en la frente y causó una herida grave. Algunos días después, Cortés mató al pobre emperador.”
For persons of you whose Spanish hasn’t reached this level yet (and if it has, don’t even bother with this book), it says this:
“The Aztec people were so enraged by the cowardice of their emperor that they threw stones at him. One of these stones hit the emperor in the forehead and caused a severe wound. Several days afterward, Cortés killed the poor emperor.”
Please! This could have been FUN to read. I could have been held in suspense, wondering what the Aztec people were going to do, and after they hit the emperor, wondering if the emperor is going to make it… no, there’s no tension or suspense at all. There’s a book on programming (Writing Levelheaded Code by Steve Maguire) that talks about how code needs to be as clear and simple as possible, rather unlike a mystery novel. But about that mystery novel, it says, “If you wrote, ‘Somebody walked up and stabbed Joe,’ you’d place your reader to sleep.” A book on PROGRAMMING — something that has very small to do with writing — demonstrates a better grasp of storytelling principles than this book does. Doesn’t the part I quoted above come down to small more than “Somebody walked up and stabbed Joe”?
The reason that this book doesn’t get one star is that it does get a couple of things right. The text is simple to know, and for words I don’t know, there is usually either a quick definition in the margin or, failing that, one in the back of the book. If you have an urgent need to read something, anything, in Spanish that you can know, it’ll do the job. If you’re intimidated by Spanish and want to erect confidence, this book can probably help if you absolutely can’t find anything better. But this book is strictly for studying, nothing else. If you’re looking for any entertainment at all, look elsewhere!
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I bought this book so that I could practice reading in Spanish. I chose this one because it included history and literature in the readings. But, about half way through the section on Mexican History, I realized that this was a ridiculously biased and wholly inappropriate text.
The Mexican people are described as stupid, Cortes is described as a valiant hero, and “Malinche” is used as a term of respect and admiration for the valiant beauty who helped Cortes conquer the backwards Mexican people! The essays even go so far as to insult the beliefs of the Aztecs, calling them “weird” and implying that their religion was silly.
These types of readings, but grammatically simple they may be, are counterproductive to the larger goal of understanding and appreciating the history and culture of Spanish-language people, particularly persons in Latin America.
This book is blatantly bigoted and therefore, completely distracts the reader form the task of learning Spanish. I dread that new readers with limited exposure to Mexican history may, in the process of learning to read in Spanish, unknowingly accept this white supremist view of history.
I urge you not to buy this reader, and to ensure that your children are not using this reader in their classrooms.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5