In Stories from Latin America/Historias de Latinoamerica , we've placed the Spanish and English stories side by side-- lado a lado --so you can practice and improve your reading skills in your new language while enjoying the support of your native tongue. This way, you'll avoid the inconvenience of constantly having to look up unfamiliar words and expressions in a dictionary. Read as much as you can understand, and then look to the facing page for help if necessary. As you read, you can check your comprehension by comparing the two versions of the story. You'll also find a bilingual vocabulary list at the end of the book, so you'll have a handy reference for new words. Stories from Latin America/Historias de Latinoamerica gives you the chance to
Three stars for the ingenious side-by-side English & Spanish format. This would be a suitable gift for ESL students or Spanish learners.
Disappointing book if, like me, you purchased it mainly for the stories. Should have been titled 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘔é𝘹𝘪𝘤𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘍𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮é𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢. I was looking forward to more stories from Central América.
The book consists of sixteen legends from Latin América which span 2000 years, from pre-Columbian times to the 19th century. Of the 16 stories, 5 are from México. The remaining are 1 from Paraguay, 1 from Colombia, 1 from Argentina, 2 from Perú, 1 from Guatemala, 1 from Bolivia, 1 from Honduras, 1 from Venezuela, and from Puerto Rico.
As I'm learning Spanish, this book was really helpful in giving me confidence in my reading skills. The stories are short, but challenging (in a good way) for a beginner. It was great way to expand my vocabulary.
Stories from Latin America : Historias de Latinoamerica by Genevieve Barlow tells stories in “side-by-side” English and Spanish versions. I picked it up about a month ago to brush up on Spanish which I haven't used much for decade or so. It was the right thing me. Stories were short and comprehensible – unlike another “side-by-side” book that contained a long story that I had difficulty following in English. Vocabulary was appropriate for someone at my level – many words that I recognized or could easily guess and a few new ones. Translations appeared to be accurate, unlike yet another “side-by-side” book that sometimes embellished the English version. From my perspective the book's only shortcoming was that the stories (legends from the Spanish-speaking world) weren't something I'd be inclined to read for themselves.