First Spanish Reader

I bought this book too early in my learning journey- it was far too difficult for me as a beginner. Now, as I have got quite a lot better through other books, CDs and so on, i have returned to this and found it useful and enjoyable. Each page has Spanish on the left page and the English translation on the right page which makes understanding easier, although sometimes you have to resist the temptation to jump to the translation rather than figure it out.The stories are mostly amusing, short fables, with proverbs, sayings and a few longer stories which run to several pages in the last 3rd of the book. I found this very useful for learning colloquial phrases and for improving my understanding of speech construction, and helping to build vocabulary. But vocabulary is a problem sometimes - my Spanish speaking girlfriend had never heard of a few of the Spanish words - this because, as another reviewer has pointed out, some of the stories are quite old and the language and translation reflects that occasionally. The print quality is surprisingly poor - smudged a little at timesHowever I enjoyed the stories (which often made me smile), I found the book easy to use and I leaned new expressions and vocabulary. Vale la pena.

Very disappointed in this. I bought it as a present for my friend as we're both learning Spanish. The quality of the paper was very poor, as stated by another reviewer. It claims to be beginner/intermediate level. You definitely need to be a good intermediate level in order to understand the stories without pouring over a dictionary.

Two main disappointments about this book. The first to hit me is the quality of printing. To start with, I was wondering why there was an asterisk and what strange letter was that. Then I realised it was an extra blob of ink or a half printed letter. Added to which the thickness of the letters alters in some places and I found this distracting. I presume it is a 'print to order' but for whatever reason, I feel the quality of printing is extremely poor.My second disappointment is the stories themselves as they are mainly old fables and proverbs which means that the stories and many of the words are outdated. In the english text, you will find words such as, 'soliliquized, platitudinous, imperturbably, obscurantism' and stories about the Switchman, The Pedagogical Parrot, The Miser Burst his Bag and a glee club of maddening monotony. In fact the book was compiled in 1964 but the stories go way back before that.Additionally, one quarter of the book is given over to vocabulary and whilst this is useful, it leaves little room for the actual stories since of course there is the dual text to consider and also questions after each story. You actually end up with just 54 pages of stories in Spanish.Other reviews I read commented that this is not a beginner's book but more for intermediate. As I was looking for something intermediate, I bought it on that basis and would completely agree that it is for intermediates (with an interest in fables.)Would I buy it? Yes - if it was £1.00.

I love this book because the little stories are unusual but was disappointed when I bought it as it is not another First Spanish Reader book but a previous one in a new size with a new cover hence I now have two, shame but does not detract from the fact that it is good.

If you see the words you understand better how to say them, combine this with an audio course and ...hola !!