Isa
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Post by Isa on Feb 20, 2007 8:23:12 GMT -5
I'm just curious to know if any of you guys ever read books in Spanish. I'm doing my best to learn that beautiful language and I think reading more would help me a lot, but I obviously can't start with something too big or difficult. Any suggestions/ recommendations?
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Post by Dominique on Feb 20, 2007 8:33:53 GMT -5
Slightly off topic but have you learnt the cockroach song yet? It was practically all we did in spanish class at school. la cucaracha, la cucaracha. ya no puede caminar. porque no tiene, por que le falta. las patitas de atrás (the cockroach, the cockroach, can walk no more. because it doesn't have, because it lacks. her little last pair of feet) That's the version I found on yahoo answers anyway. Sorry I don't know any Spanish books but I felt like contributing
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Nathalie
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
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Post by Nathalie on Feb 20, 2007 9:13:29 GMT -5
I read in spanish sometimes... I started by reading the harry potter books and pippi longstocking, you know, children books that I already knew. I also read "curious incident of a dog in the nighttime" in spanish.
My spanish teacher recommended reading "la casa de los espiritus" (house of spirits) by Isabel Allende, but I that's a bit more difficult.
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Post by Hanna on Feb 20, 2007 14:15:01 GMT -5
I read a bit in Spanish. I studied Spanish while living in Bolivia, and one of the classes was Latin American literature, so Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Octavio Paz, Manuel Puig, Maria Luisa Bombal...we read them all. I'm not too fond of Bombal, the stuff I have read by her depresses me too much (La almojada and la ultima niebla) My personal favorite is Jose Marti. I can read his poems again and again. I also read Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings in Spanish.
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Post by Hanna on Feb 20, 2007 14:16:23 GMT -5
Oh I forgot, the thing about Bombal though is that both texts I mentioned are short stories (about 50-60 pages) so it could be an easy start. Or just to read a book you've already read only in Spanish would be an easy start too. Good luck!
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Michelle
First novel published
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Post by Michelle on Feb 20, 2007 15:22:33 GMT -5
I started by reading the harry potter books That is a good idea. I think I'm going to try Harry Potter in Spanish. I've been meaning to brush up on my Spanish. I may need a quick refresher in grammer first though.
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Isa
Administrator
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Post by Isa on Feb 20, 2007 15:43:35 GMT -5
Thanks, those are good ideas! Oh and thanks for your input, Dom
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Isa
Administrator
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Post by Isa on Feb 26, 2007 9:11:17 GMT -5
I ended up buying La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Might take me a year to get through it but I thought I'd better go with a book I truly wanted to read.
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Bina
First novel published
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Post by Bina on Mar 16, 2007 4:02:54 GMT -5
I´ve only ever read La Muerte de Lord Edgware by Agatha Christie. I know, weird choice but I was on vacation on Teneriffe and ran out of books It was an easy read although I don´t know much Spanish. You could try watching films in Spanish, it help a lot.
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
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Post by Kristie on Mar 16, 2007 15:52:05 GMT -5
I am an American. I do not know a foreign language. I have never read a book that wasn't written in English.
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sagedautumn
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
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Post by sagedautumn on Mar 16, 2007 16:34:38 GMT -5
i've read Le Petit Prince in French that's about as far as i've gone
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Post by Hanna on Mar 16, 2007 17:06:14 GMT -5
Is it not obligatory in the US to learn at least one foreign language?
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Michelle
First novel published
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Post by Michelle on Mar 16, 2007 17:20:00 GMT -5
It is encouraged a little more now, but in the past, no, most Americans only know English. If we do learn another language, Spanish probably the most popular since there are so many Spanish speaking people here. I wasn't required to take a language in high school, but in college I was required to take 4 semesters. But that isn't a very hard requirement to meet since you can test into later semesters (I only ended up with 1 semester in college). And they don't start us out early enough here. If you do learn a language, then you start in high school. I think it's different here b/c there wasn't a real need to learn any other language like there may be in Europe where the countries are smaller and closer together. I think this might change b/c the world is becoming more global and there are so many Spanish-speaking people now. Anyway, that is my long answer to your simply question.
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sagedautumn
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
You Might Need This!
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Post by sagedautumn on Mar 17, 2007 11:27:50 GMT -5
Yea in most schools its a graduation requirement in order to pass high school. I have taken French for six years.Senior year was the first year that i decided i would not take it.
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Post by Hanna on Mar 17, 2007 21:34:11 GMT -5
Thanks memccart and sagedautumn! I've heard that in order to actually learn a foreign language fluently you have to learn it (or at least begin to learn it) before age 12...
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