Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

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badger
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Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby badger » Thu Jun 25, 2020 1:26 pm

El viejo y el mar - Ernest Hemingway. definitely the best book in Spanish I have read. (& also the only book in Spanish I have read :D )
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Dagane
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Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby Dagane » Fri Jun 26, 2020 9:46 am

badger wrote:El viejo y el mar - Ernest Hemingway. definitely the best book in Spanish I have read. (& also the only book in Spanish I have read :D )


I think it was the book by Hemingway I enjoyed less :D. It is so short and yet so repetitive. Other than that, I actually love Hemingway's books!

However, it may be a good book to learn Spanish because of its length and repetition.
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samfrances
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Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby samfrances » Sat Jun 27, 2020 2:58 pm

Thanks @chove and @badger. I'll add those to the list.
0 x
: 156 / 156 : Schaum's grammar, Fluent Forever
: 642 / 1000 : Learn / make flashcards for 1000 most frequent Spanish words

Sam's Spanish Log
Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish
Dipping my toe into Latin

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samfrances
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Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby samfrances » Sat Jun 27, 2020 3:01 pm

My father-in-law gave me some good advice on reading in a foreign language the other day.

For the first twenty pages of any novel look up and memorise any word that you are not familiar with and make sure you understand every point of grammar that is not immediately clear to you. ...If you do this – admittedly a slow painstaking process – for the first twenty pages of a novel you will then be able to read relatively easily the rest of the book, needing to look up only the occasional word. The principle behind this was that most writers have a ‘personal palette’ so to speak of vocabulary and sentence construction and so after the first twenty pages you should find that you have internalised that writer’s personal groove of language and grammatical style with the result that progress through the remainder of the book becomes relatively quick and easy.


I'm going to try this once I'm past the "easy reader short story collection" stage.
2 x
: 156 / 156 : Schaum's grammar, Fluent Forever
: 642 / 1000 : Learn / make flashcards for 1000 most frequent Spanish words

Sam's Spanish Log
Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish
Dipping my toe into Latin

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samfrances
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Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby samfrances » Tue Aug 18, 2020 7:46 am

Reseña de “Short Stories in Spanish” de Olly Richards

“Short Stories in Spanish” es una colección de historias cortas escrita por Olly Richards, del popular blog “I Will Teach You a Language” (Le Enseñaré Una Lengua). Las historias son de varios géneros: ciencia ficción, literatura fantástica, histórico, comedia, etc. A veces los argumentos son tontos, pero siempre muy entretenidos. Tienen niveles entre A2 y B1, y son muy apropiadas para estos niveles. Se nota que Olly Richards sabe lo que es aprender una lengua.



Review of “Short Stories in Spanish” by Olly Richards

“Short Stories in Spanish” is a collection of short stories written by Olly Richards, of the popular blog “I Will Teach You a Language”. The Stories are of various genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Comedy etc. At times the storylines are silly, but always very entertaining. They are at levels between A2 and B1, and are very appropriate for these levels. You can tell that Olly Richards knows what it is like to learn a language.
3 x
: 156 / 156 : Schaum's grammar, Fluent Forever
: 642 / 1000 : Learn / make flashcards for 1000 most frequent Spanish words

Sam's Spanish Log
Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish
Dipping my toe into Latin

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samfrances
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Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby samfrances » Tue Aug 18, 2020 7:49 am

Next up! Fantasmas en la escalera (Pepa Villa, taxista en Barcelona) by Alicia Estopiñá and Neus Sans.

Image
3 x
: 156 / 156 : Schaum's grammar, Fluent Forever
: 642 / 1000 : Learn / make flashcards for 1000 most frequent Spanish words

Sam's Spanish Log
Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish
Dipping my toe into Latin

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samfrances
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Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby samfrances » Tue Sep 08, 2020 6:46 pm

Reseña de “Fantasmas en la Escalera”.

“Fantasmas en la Escalera” es un cuento sobre Pepa Villa, taxista en Barcelona, sus amigos y su vecina la Señora Montserrat. El fantasma del difunto esposo está asustando a la Señora Montserrat. Pepa descubre una conspiración para robar una herencia. Muy entretenido y gracioso, esta historia contiene palabrotas, así que a lo mejor no es apropiada por lectores jóvenes.
2 x
: 156 / 156 : Schaum's grammar, Fluent Forever
: 642 / 1000 : Learn / make flashcards for 1000 most frequent Spanish words

Sam's Spanish Log
Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish
Dipping my toe into Latin

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samfrances
Orange Belt
Posts: 201
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:41 pm
Location: United Kingdom
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Learning: Spanish (B1/B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2967
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Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby samfrances » Tue Sep 08, 2020 6:48 pm

Next! Apartamento en la Costa Brava (Pepa Villa, taxista en Barcelona) by Alicia Estopiñá and Neus Sans.

Image
2 x
: 156 / 156 : Schaum's grammar, Fluent Forever
: 642 / 1000 : Learn / make flashcards for 1000 most frequent Spanish words

Sam's Spanish Log
Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish
Dipping my toe into Latin

User avatar
samfrances
Orange Belt
Posts: 201
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:41 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: Native: British English
Learning: Spanish (B1/B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2967
x 311

Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby samfrances » Tue Sep 22, 2020 8:19 am

Finished the latest Pepa Villa. Can't be bothered to write a detailed review, but I recommend it. Te hará reír a carcajadas.
0 x
: 156 / 156 : Schaum's grammar, Fluent Forever
: 642 / 1000 : Learn / make flashcards for 1000 most frequent Spanish words

Sam's Spanish Log
Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish
Dipping my toe into Latin

User avatar
samfrances
Orange Belt
Posts: 201
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:41 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: Native: British English
Learning: Spanish (B1/B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2967
x 311

Re: Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish

Postby samfrances » Tue Sep 22, 2020 8:24 am

I'm going to take a leap now and try to read something actually written for native Spanish speakers (children, but still natives). If it's too difficult, I'm going to give myself permission to give up, fall back on some graded readers and try again later. I'm going to try applying the advice of looking up absolutely everything for the first 20 pages or so.

Here goes: Esperanza Renace by Pam Munoz Ryan.

Image
4 x
: 156 / 156 : Schaum's grammar, Fluent Forever
: 642 / 1000 : Learn / make flashcards for 1000 most frequent Spanish words

Sam's Spanish Log
Sam's Year of Reading Only Spanish
Dipping my toe into Latin


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