A Second Spanish Reader: A Dual-Language Book (Dover Dual Language Spanish) Paperback – 22 September 2009

Currently, I am an overall beginner (advanced beginner perhaps) in Spanish with intermediate reading skills. I would argue that the book is quite good for an intermediate reader, specifically because the translation is good and ideally placed thanks to the dual language format. It is a solid book to read intensively as I find it exposes a good snapshot of the richness and variety of the language. I was always taught to seek material one level of abstraction beyond what I expect to need daily and that is precisely what excellent literature like this offers. I would have been quite disappointed had I opened the text and found a dumbed-down version of Spanish literature with contrived content. The author's selection packs substantial learning opportunity per page read, offering a very good combination of interesting and efficient. I'd dare almost anyone to read this at intermediate and write an honest review saying that they didn't learn quite a bit.

à recommander chaudement à tout afficionado de l espagnol en particulier aux étudiants de la langue de cervantès ; toutefois les débutants risquent d etre déroutés par des textes souvent difficiles et parfois anciens , du répertoire classique ; à noter que la traduction en regard est très fignolée et le plus proche possible du texte original; manquent parfois quelques notes , cependant ces ouvrages sont top

While it's understandable that the editor wanted to present a range of genres and epochs, in doing so in such a slim volume he has dampened the effect that each entry could have otherwise had. Some selections are but a few paragraphs, frustratingly brief.A better choice is "New Penguin Parallel Text Short Stories In Spanish," in which entire, if short, pieces are presented, allowing you the satisfaction of beginning, middle, and end.

This book is definitely a great resource as it contains 50 excerpts from Spanish literature spanning 500 years along with their corresponding English translations, but to echo what others have said it certainly is not as described on the back cover as "geared towards beginners". I am at a fairly advanced level in Spanish and I had difficulty reading the early works in particular.For the majority of these earlier works, the difficulty of the content would be comparable to Shakespeare or Chaucer in English, definitely not for a beginner or even an intermediate learner. It certainly would be a good supplement to an advanced level literature class or simply to challenge yourself if you are fairly fluent, but if you are still building vocabulary or getting the grammar down you should wait until you are at a more advanced level before purchasing.

Exact literal translations of foreign languages often result in tortured English phrases that make it difficult to follow the story. Stanley Appelbaum is my LEAST favourite dual language editor.