Spanish for Reading: A Self-Instructional Course

by Fabiola Franco, Karl C. Sandberg

A unique approach to Spanish reading comprehension, Spanish for Reading can be used as a textbook supplement in classrooms or by anybody who is teaching himself Spanish. It begins by demonstrating similarities between words and parts of words in Spanish and English, and proceeds to offer practical instruction that will help readers broaden recognition of words and phrases. Each of the book's fifteen chapters concludes with a reading passage, the first of them quite easy to comprehend, and successive passages increasingly complex and sophisticated. Early passages are simple essays on Spain's and the Spanish-speaking world's language, geography, and culture. Later passages are excerpts from well-known works by world renowned Spanish writers, including Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, and Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. Students who use this volume methodically will ultimately be reading and understanding these passages in their original, unedited Spanish, without need to seek outside help. Short of spending time in Spain or Latin America, here is as good an introduction to Spanish culture as a student will be able to find anywhere. Photos and line drawings.

Genres: Language, Spanish Literature, Nonfiction

360 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

Reviews

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this book to prepare for a doctoral level translation exam. Given that Spanish was the foreign language I've been learning from grammar school through college, it made for a conveniently concise review. However, it should be noted that this workbook contains many errors and typos, which a beginning student may not necessarily notice: caveat emptor.

Students looking for a comprehensive grammar review in greater detail should pick up En Breve: A Concise Review of Spanish Grammar
by Phyllis M. Golding and Seymour Resnick.

Though I did like that the readings are graded in difficulty, the readings did lack diversity in subject matter. Additionally, more difficult readings should be included in a future edition. Students can check out Cuentos espanoles contemporaneos by Juana Amelia Hernández and Edenia Guillermo for intermediate and advanced readings. (This book may be out of print: tracking down a used copy is worth it, especially for building your vocabulary.)

Finally, though the reading practice sections amount to a general "answer check" for the reading/translation passages, no language book should be without a glossary and answer guide.

Bottom line: If you've studied Spanish before - and remember enough to catch errors - this book is a great for a quick and clear refresher. If you are struggling with grammatical terminology, you may still like this book as a guide, but do proceed with caution (and the use of additional materials).

[Irena Pasvinter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The texts could have been more entertaining, but as the goal of "Spanish for Reading" is to teach students reading different kinds of texts -- fiction, poetry, academic boredom -- the mixture of texts presented in the book suits this goal perfectly. An approach to explaining grammatical foundations of Spanish through increasingly complex Spanish sentences with English translation available for verification was extremely helpful and effective. Perfect as a self teaching text book if your goal is to read in Spanish and to gain a sound understanding of the Spanish grammar.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good way to start reading Spanish. It is not like any other Spanish book I have read, and I've got quite a few. It concentrates on reading, and if you like to read, provides another great way to learn. I still use my Spanish tapes and my verb charts. But this is another way to keep it interesting.

[Daniel Evensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came into Spanish For Reading full of expectations. I've been through Sandberg's similarly titled French and German books, and was certain that this book would have the same high quality sentences and clear grammar teaching as those.

I'm quite disappointed.

The articles here are simply uninteresting. Both the French and German books had numerous selections from well-written history and literature. This volume begins with a number of short texts that seem intended for tourists, as if they came straight from travel guides. The history section isn't interesting at all, and the literature included here bored me to tears.

There are numerous mistakes, particularly in the English translations. There are also formatting errors that should be extremely embarrassing.

The truth is that Sandberg's approach, while innovative in the 1990s, is no match for the various spatial memory software suites that one can download for free these days. Spanish for Reading is particularly poor in that there is absolutely no grammatical explanation or gradual learning curve. The student is stuck right in the thick of things from the start, told about a few cognates and false cognates, and then left entirely on her own.

I do enjoy the general concept, and I find this approach superior to the more traditional textbook approach to language learning. However, this book is simply a mess.

[Ashlaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on language learning with a focus on acquiring improving reading comprehension. You may learn some things about cultural aspects or myths of Spanish-speaking countries but take it with a grain of salt (for example, there is no actual proof that natives in Mexico performed human sacrifices.)
The vocabulary learned may not necessarily be of use to you but the book will help you get comfortable reading spanish. It also teaches you about (real and false) cognates in the beginning (and how to form words in Spanish from words you know in English), which is (IMO) a good way of teaching a language that shares many similarities to another one of the student's/reader's languages.
(Resources suggestions)
If you like the approach too, you might be interested in something like this: http://www.cognates.org/ which I've not tested. The Michel Thomas & Paul Nobles audio methods also follow this approach at the very beginning but their focus isn't on reading (well, duh!)

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you have some background in Spanish, this book will be helpful in quickly increasing your comprehension of written forms of Spanish. But it contains a ton of typos, both in English and in Spanish, that occasionally made me question whether I had basic concepts down at all! Some of the content (you read excerpts of important pieces of 20th century Spanish writing or writing about majority Spanish speaking places) is fine and enjoyable, but much of it displays how late twentieth century liberal developmentalist ideologies carry and only politely modify earlier forms of Western colonial projects and attitudes. There’s some really breathtakingly condescending, if not racist, sentences and passages in here. Change those traditional attitudes! Modernization now!

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A course like this is an excellent idea, and the approach is effective overall. There are, however, enough typos, awkward translations, and gaps in the presentation of the material to make it a little challenging to follow at times. I do feel like my reading skills are significantly strengthened after going through this course, though, so despite its shortcomings the course does deliver.

[Pen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came at this with a few semester of Spanish, albeit several years ago, so I can't speak to using it to learn from scratch. From my starting point, however, this provided an excellent refresher before my grad school language reading exam. I appreciated the concentration on reading instead of conversation or pronunciation, which is exactly right for such an exam. It goes far beyond the level of knowledge needed for the exam (i.e., many esoteric verb tenses), too. One quibble that may not bother others: the equivalent French text uses reading samples that seemed perfect for my field (history of science and technology); this one seems aimed more at reading Spanish literature (though it includes a lot of very basic Latin American history and culture). That didn't much affect its usefulness, though, and at a price point *way* lower than the French (and even moreso than the German) equivalent, I can't really complain! I'd recommend this.

[Mark Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very helpful book in moving someone who has a beginning knowledge of Spanish further. My only complaint is that the verb tense explanations could be clearer and use more examples.