A First Spanish Reader: With Questions and Vocabulary

by Erwin W. Roessler

To make it available for use almost at the very beginning of the Spanish course only the present tense has been employed in the first twenty-three selections and difficult constructions have been consistently avoided. With one or two exceptions, many changes have been made in the selections taken from Spanish authors in order to adapt them to the needs of the beginner. This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book

Genres: Spanish Literature

366 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2005

About the author

Full name: Erwin W. Roessler.

Reviews

[Sean McGowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.

[Dave Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to learn the Spanish language. Towards this end I read this book in parallel with Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish. (An excellent book that I am re-reading. See my review..

I picked this book up for free (or .99) on Amazon. I thought that reading a Spanish-language book would sharpen my woeful Spanish acumen. According to reviews, this book seemed a good means to that end.

The book is organized as a series of some 63 readings. The earlier topics had to do -- presumably -- with a bio on the author. The reading level of the earlier essays approximated my skill level. I used a Spanish-English dictionary for the words I wasn't familiar with or had forgotten. The grammar progressed in subsequent readings to more advanced levels. The topics covered by the readings were very diverse including overviews of Latin America countries, to short stories, and concluding with poems and songs. This book was written decades ago (a century?).

The book had a glossary at the end that translated many of the words. It also had a "Preguntas" (questions) section that quizzed readers about the readings (I skipped this).

As I progressed through the book, I generally found it more difficult to follow the content. GENERALLY, I understood the high points of a given essay but I know that I was not "getting" crucial subtleties that compromised my comprehension.

Overall, I'm glad to have plodded through this book. The essays were well-done. I enjoyed a couple of the stories (the ones I understood) very much. In the future, I think a true parallel Spanish-English book would be more beneficial in my Spanish-language studies.