Short Stories in Spanish: New Penguin Parallel Text (Spanish and English Edition)

Wow this will be good study as i advance in my Spanish! Not written for the beginner by any means, but valuable none the less. It is hard finding this type of side by side Spanish English story book.

The stories are all very good. The translations are interesting to think about. Deriving meaning in English from the Spanish text lead to sometimes different results between myself and the translator. Of course I defer to the expertise of the translator as am just a novice. There are numerous footnotes on the translations which are quite informative and useful. I want to rate the stories in their basic literary mode and it is difficult since they are all very good. I will note in particular though the following: "Walimai" by Isabel Allende is remarkable and also I found it to be the most easily read for my current abilities in Spanish. The story "Maria dos Prazeres" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is remarkable. I read it months ago and still can picture the woman and her pet dog and can see her and her daily activities as though she was real, it seems so real and there is meaning and message to the story. I was so moved by this short story that I purchased Cien Anos de Soledad by same author who is Nobel laureate btw. I did not find Cien Anos compelling and it is a bit rambling but I have read only 48 pages so far. There are "logic" errors which are distracting and other elements which do not make sense. I understand the book was published in the 1960's so it probably was well received then as most people were on LDS... "On the Honeymoon" by Javier Marias is quite good with humor to make you smile/laugh. Same for "A Literary Tea Party" by Ribeyro. I enjoyed the collection so much that I have purchased the 2dn ediion and will start reading that tomorrow. I believe I have improved my Spanish reading skills by completing this collection. And I am taking more of the approach of enjoying the stories as primary and learning Spanish as secondary. Both are paramount though. It is a little hard to explain. When I start a story I am highly focused on the translational aspects and then by the end of the story I am keenly interested in learning the conclusion(!) Fun stuff. Highly recommended.

I read at the advanced end of the B1 level and this book is challenging. Lots of idoms and some dark comedy that requires a few reads for me to understand and gives my translate app a good workout. Mostly I can get the gist without translations when I'm reading at my level but this is beyond me so is certainly a good challenge. The stories can be pretty dark but I personally think it's easier to remember negatives than positives (it's how brains are wired) so is actually quite helpful. Looking forward to growing into this book but I do wish the print was a bit larger as even my late 40's eyes with readers are challenged.

I think what people are displeased with is their own abilities. This book is exactly what it says that it is...engaging Spanish literature stories side-by-side with their English translations...of COURSE it's going to have unknown phrases and words...its LITERATURE not kindergarten stories. If you are a beginner...you can sense sentence patterns, definitions and how phrases in English translate into Spanish...the book's "limitations" are only to the extent that you can understand...it is not the book's fault. Regarding the font being tiny and on 'newspaper-type' paper...I'd have to disagree...again, people are basing things on their own abilities...I wear reading glasses myself...and I did not find the text hard-to-read at all...and the pages texture is like any other paperback.

This book is perfect for what I wanted, to practice my Spanish language skills with immediate feedback. Ten short stories by ten Spanish or Latino authors, with Spanish text on the left-side page, and the English-translation text on the facing (right-side) page. The vocabulary difficulty level is at the adult level, in my opinion. Not overly difficult, but not really what I'd call ideal for junior high school language students -- and that's not a criticism, but a just a note so you are aware. John King's introduction to the book is very helpful in introducing the authors and their stories, and I especially liked the "NOTES ON SPANISH TEXTS" in the back of the book, which commented on numbered footnotes throughout the short stories. But some Amazon.com customers will want to know that the FONT SIZE of the print throughout the book is TINY -- I mean REALLY TINY -- it looks similar to Times Roman size 8 or 9. And the paper is similar to old newspaper. HERE'S A TIP: To see the ACTUAL font size in Amazon's "CLICK TO LOOK INSIDE" preview, adjust your computer screen (zoom in or out, pressing your CONTROL button while rolling the scroller on your mouse is ONE of several different ways to do it) so that book's PAGE PAPER size in Amazon's "Look Inside" PREVIEW measures five (5) inches wide on your computer monitor, and that's the font size you'll see in the actual PRINT book. --- I AM NOT COMPLAINING, and I gave the book all 5 Stars, but SOME customers WILL want to know about the tiny font size BEFORE they click the "ADD TO CART" button. Another reviewer commented earlier, "Recommend the publisher indicate somewhere up front that the print in the book is extremely small." (and gave a dismal rating of 1-Star as a result). I saw that comment but I did not pay much attention to it, because it would not have stopped me from buying the book, but my old eyes are probably going to need my 3X FULL PAGE MAGNIFIER FRESNEL LENS (search B001TLJXJ8 in Amazon.com) to read this book. I'm OK with that, but I thought you'd want to know.

Se lo regalé a un amigo que está aprendiendo español y me cuenta que las historias son muy entretenidas, y le resulta muy útil aprender frases hechas que no tienen una traducción literal. Sirve tanto para el que quiera aprender español, como el que quiera aprender inglés, ya que cada página tiene su traducción en la siguiente. Así no se hace pesado esperar a buscar en un diccionario la traducción.

Die Geschichten sind eher langweilig und nicht einfach zu verstehen. Am störendsten ist, dass die Übersetzung sehr frei ist. Es ist nicht für Anfänger geeignet.

Product received in good condition. Good learning material for advanced learners.

Acabei de receber o meu livro por isso ainda não li nada mas eu queria falar que ele é bem grossinho, geralmente livros de contos assim são bem finos, mas esse não. Além disso, a história é contada de um lado em espanhol e do outro lado em inglês, o que eu não fazia ideia até ter ele em mãos. O livro veio certinho e tem 10 contos no total!

A quite brilliant little book buy it's not for beginners. The format of the story in Spanish on one page and then in English on the opposite page is a great way to read Spanish but have a ready translation for the words you don't know. It is also a great way to pick up little colloquial phrases that really useful in conversational Spanish. Great value for money: I've bought several copies and given them as presents to friends who are learning the language.