Stories from Latin America/Historias de Latinoamerica, Second Edition (Side by Side Bilingual Books) 2nd Edition

I have been studying Spanish for a few years now and am at that point where beginners courses are too basic for me, but I am still not advanced enough to hold a conversation of read a newspaper in Spanish. I read that this book series was a good one for learners like me and I thought I would give a try.I must say, these books are very helpful and I am not at all disappointed. What I like about them is that they reuse difficult words in the stories so that the vocabulary sinks in. Also, I love how you learn a lot about the culture and people of various countries that are featured. The fact that the English is on one side and the Spanish is on the other, with the sentences side by size is a huge help. I have highlighted words that I do not know and read and reread the articles and have seen my reading comprehension and vocabulary skills increase greatly. In fact, it also helps with seeing the Spanish grammar in action.The only thing that I do not like is that there are not audio readings for each story, but that is alright with me. In short, if you are looking to build your language skills and learn a lot of new vocabulary while strengthening your already learned vocabulary, get this book. It does not disappoint!

A lot of these dual language books are a little to "literary" for my level of reading. While I have studied the language for some time, I just want something "real" to read. This book has great stories and they are written at a "common" language level. This book also has a decent dictionary at the back to help with understanding of unfamiliar words. I find the English translations are not always "verbatim" but often will say a phrase with similar meaning and not properly translated. Most of the others are too "Shakespearen" for me; very likely they are good literature for the very advanced Spanish Reader but not of much value to my state of comprehension.

It's a wonderful resource. It is interesting and a great learning tool. I love the audio so my ear is better trained to understand Spanish when I am spoken too. I gave it four stars because the audio is embedded in a Windows flash program and it can't be downloaded to a handheld device. I practice listening to Spanish while I drive and exercise.

The stories and the translation are excellent. The font and the layout of the the English and Spanish are great. I bought other stories from amazon but they do lack the quality and do not motivate the readers to keep on reading. I really like these two authors and that is why I bought the other books about Spain, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. If you are a foreigner like me, you will improve your English and Spanish at the same time.

Just what I was looking for. I've been studying Spanish on Duolingo for months and I was ready for something more. These short stories about Latin America were perfect for taking my reading to the next level.

This is a great way to help you learn Spanish, it is interesting and very accessible wording of stories that also teach you some folklore, meanwhile you can flip to the English to understand what you didn't get trying to read the Spanish

Are they all written by the same person? If not, the index doesn't mention who the authors are. The translations are pretty stiff too.

I love the side by side (not so much the top and bottom) format - I know I've got the right interpretation, as well as the direct translation.

Nice stories and rather easy to read. My Spanish is improving.

These books with the simultaneous translation are exactly what I need!

Great for beginners. My favourite.

very good

It is very good for beginner and intermediate Spanish learners.