First Spanish Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book

by Ángel Flores (Editor)

Especially designed for the beginning student, this handy volume helps students learn Spanish by presenting simple, easy-to-read adaptations of classic Spanish stories and other material — with complete faithful English translations on the facing pages.
The selections, by significant writers of the past and present (Don Juan Manuel, Luis Taboada, Juan José Milla, Eufronio Viscarra, Ricardo Palma, Lope de Rueda, Enrique Amorim, Juan José Arreola, and other noted writers), derive from the best and most genuine Hispanic tradition, and are revealing of the life and psychology of the Spanish-speaking peoples.
The dual-language book will enable those readers with the most limited knowledge of the language to enjoy reading in the original Spanish from the very first day of instruction. Vocabularies and exercises are included as special aids for the student.

Genres: Spanish Literature, Language, Short Stories, Fiction, Reference, Literature, Cultural

176 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1988

Reviews

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been very helpful in my endeavor to regain my spanish skills. Pages are alternated between the spanish text and its english translation. The stories were all clever and interesting, and always having the english translation readily available on the adjacent page made for a genuinely educational experience. However, I did feel that the vocabulary and the grammar were a little more advanced than practical for beginners or even intermediate students.

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2nd reading: 10 April 2018:

I've gotten into the habit of reading a few pages in Spanish every day. With limited reading material around, I went through this one again. I actually enjoyed it more the second time around. Noticing my improvement since last time also improved the experience.

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3rd reading: 15 February 2020:

Still an enjoyable, albeit slow, read. Just a paragraph or page per day seems to really help my proficiency in Spanish. Today I'm starting Hoyos – a Spanish translation of the Newbery Award winning Holes.

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4th reading: 21 March 2022:

My Spanish is definitely improving. Reading it this time was pretty easy going.

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5th reading: 31 March 2023

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6th reading: 6 August 2023:

I definitely need to get more Spanish reading material so I don't have to keep coming back to the old stand-by's like this one.

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7th reading: 22 March 2024

Well, this will probably be the last time I read this book because I accidentally left it on the airplane I was on when I travelled back from my trip to New Zealand. :(

[Ex Libris Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The side-by-side translation was super helpful in understanding the Spanish language and learning new words and phrases. The proverbs and short stories were also a small window into the lives of native Spanish-speakers in Central and South America.

I do *not* consider this book for beginners. I have been learning Spanish for several years and I still found some parts quite difficult to understand. Without any Spanish knowledge, I can’t imagine one being able to understand much of anything!

[Gloo The third · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few chapters are really effective for Spanish beginners. At some point in the book, the language gets way too hard to be understood by beginners and the topics very from daily important words to know to pretty useless and boring facts about different countries. A pretty decent book.

[Mariah Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read these stories to the boys to begin learning how to narrate in Spanish.

[Shane Ver Meer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historias fantásticas para principiantes. La mayoria del lenguaje se queda sencillo, especialmente con traducciónes situadas en la pagina opuesta.

[martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The “Beginner’s...” in the title may be a little misleading as this isn’t suitable for someone who just started learning Spanish. It’s for those who’ve reached a sufficient level to start reading basic texts outside their Spanish workbooks.

It is a well-chosen mixture of adapted fables, folk tales, proverbs and short stories that gradually demand more and more knowledge in terms of vocabulary and grammar. There is a very good vocabulary list at the back but if you find a story too hard grammatically, you can always put it aside until you’ve learned the necessary rules and constructions. There are also comprehension and translation exercises at the back (but sadly no suggested answers, at least in my kindle copy)

I liked the selection of stories and tales as most are very entertaining or amusing. My favourite was the last one, El Guardagujas by Juan Jose Arreola.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other reviews are correct to point out that this book isn’t really for beginners. By the middle of the book I noticed that many of these stories and proverbs are actually really advanced and use tenses like the conditional, which beginners wouldn’t know. Also, the stories aren’t modern so I couldn’t always relate to their messages. I’ll revisit this book in about six months once I feel like my Spanish has improved.

[Tea73 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm at about an intermediate level, but it took me forever to get through this mishmosh of stories, fables and proverbs because they were in no way at a beginner level even if they have been abridged from their original versions.

But more importantly I just found it unpleasant reading. Perhaps because so many of the selections are from a different era I found the misogyny really off-putting. Many things that probably seemed funny at the time they were written fell flat. Thankfully, I know enough about contemporary Spain not to draw conclusions about what Hispanics are like from this collection.

The longer selections at the end were somewhat more interesting. The satire at the end of the poor guy who just wants to take a train to the destination for which he has bought his ticket is quite amusing if depressing.

I read it in a Hoopla version which is a little hard to navigate. I did not realize there was a glossary at the back and that a large part of the book is devoted to suggested exercises, but without any suggested answers, this is a waste of space for someone not working with a teacher.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable sayings and short traditional folk tales in spanish with english translation, easily read in bite sized chunks, for English speakers learning spanish.

Its was a bit awkward in the Kindle version that I read to jump forward a back betweew English and Spanish versions, but doable. A paperback version would have been easier though.

The back half of the book is taken up by bilingual exercises and a Spanish-English glossary, which i didn't read or do, so the amount of Spanish text I read would have taken up a little less than 25% of the book with another 25% for the English translation.

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the perspective of total beginner - the stories are a little bit too hard for me. But I enjoyed the process of trying to figure out what the story is about and get it from the small context I had. I felt it's helping me to grow. When I figured out my understanding of words go lower than 20% I just started with English instead of Spanish.

Some stories are just boring and have no sense to me at all even in English, so it took a lot of time to read it.

[Alexander Parady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Happy that I completed this one, but man is this book a slog. The stories are so unintriguing, weird, and all over the place, which really did not instill enjoyment in reading a book in a second language for me. I'm reading Harry Potter in Spanish right now and this is a significantly more enjoyable read, while at 1/5 my typical reading speed.

Feeling accomplished from having this one in my rearview, but probably recommend a alternative method for trying to develop bilingual reading skills.

[Rebecca I · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through it. Good for working on some different forms of the language than the modern as these are folk tales by different authors and would be more like reading fairy tales in English by different authors. Good for seeing how many stories are expressed and not so stilted as are some readers for children.

[Judi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for the Spanish language learner. With English on the right page, and Spanish on the left, it is filled with fables, short tales, and poems to help an intermediate Spanish reader practice.

[r · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite for beginners. Quickly becomes more difficult than the B2 graded readers I've read. But having English on the side helps, and overall it is a nice collection of stories, some from culturally significant writers.

[Darren Labenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not for beginners. This has college level English vocabulary that is not useful or something that I would expect anyone to learn. That said, the stories were good and funny. Maybe read if you are fluent, but otherwise look for something else.

[Belle Meade School]

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[Anne Buchert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read for an A1-A2 level. The stories are funny even as an adult. I read out loud along with the audiobook to practice pronunciation.

[Mad Hapa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be challenging for beginners. It's better for low to medium intermediate readers.

[paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve had this book for months and I’ve read it off and on. At times the stories were boring and hard to follow but overall it helped me improve my vocab and grammar.

[Noah Clemens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like it and I use these stories to also have my English students read to me and be able to have the Spanish translation there for them to understand the story more if it seems nececary

[Diana Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very old stories and vocabulary that is not incredibly useful.
Probably will be a better read when I am closer to bi-lingual.

[Narise · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a dual language book with classic stories and parables that is a great tool to Spanish language students.

[Rosie Gearhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Side-by-side translation is very helpful. Stories get progressively more difficult as you move through the book. Nothing spectacular, but a good resource.

[Logan Matlock · Rating 3 out of 5]

difficult difficult lemon difficult

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esto es muy útil para aprender español. Cuidado con el racismo obsoleto.

[Seamusin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely mix. Increases in complexity at a good pace. Hit and miss with the stories. Some had me really laughing, though some (more toward the end) left me staring at the page at the end just thinking - Y qué? Definitely reccommend.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed nearly all the stories in the book but I feel that as a "First Spanish Reader," it progresses much too rapidly from the initial stories to the stories at the end of the book. The final stories require a huge vocabulary--I ended up looking at the English translation on the opposing side much more frequently. Hence, the problem is more about the title of the collection than the collection itself! It should of been called, a Spanish folk tales in Spanish and English. Period. No "first" or "beginner" mentioned. The stories are fun, though, most with easily digestible lengths.

[Constance · Rating 5 out of 5]

"En primer lector español " es un montón de diversión. Aunque no es mi primer libro bilingüe Español - Inglés , este volumen es todavía un reto a los lectores no nativos . Gracias a Angel Flores, Dover Publicaciones, y todos estos autores con talento. ~ google translate

"First Spanish Reader" is a whole lot of fun. Although not my first Spanish-English bilingual book, this volume is still challenging to non native readers. Thank You to Angel Flores, Dover Publishing, and all these talented authors.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great way to reinforce your (beginning) Spanish. It is a collection of short essays, poems, stories in Spanish, with their English translation on the opposing page. Much more fun than a textbook....