Stories from Latin America/Historias de Latinoamerica, Second Edition

Stories from Latin America is one of the most valuable books a Spanish student can own. It contains 16 short and entertaining stories in both Spanish and English. Reading this book is the perfect way to review your Spanish reading skills if you haven't taken a course in a while, or if you are simply looking to improve your reading speed. The book is geared toward intermediate Spanish students (equivalent to Spanish 3 or AP Spanish in high school). If you're new to Spanish, then the book will probably be pretty difficult. If you're intermediate or better in Spanish, then I highly recommend it.

I've been trying to learn Spanish on my own with limited success over the past 2 years, but I think I'll make alot of progress using bilingual books. Repeated exposure to proper Spanish grammar, verb tenses, and vocabulary is far more beneficial to me than rote memorization from a textbook, and sometimes the stories are so interesting that you forget that you're reading a different language. The folklore of Latin America is brought to life by the stories, which cover many scenarios and countries. My biggest criticsm is that the dictionary in the back should include more words, and the translation could be more literal, if possible. Sometimes, although rarely, words are used that aren't translated and aren't in the dictionary. Nevertheless, I felt my Spanish comprehension and vocabulary improving with each story I read, and I'm looking forward to moving on to Historias de Mexico.

This is a great book for anyone at the intermediate Spanish level. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the stories were short - each of the 16 stories is about four pages long (four pages each of Spanish and English). My only complaint is that 4 of the 16 legends are from Mexico, which seems a little Mexico-centric, given that there is a companion volume of legends from Mexico available. But that is a minor flaw of a very enjoyable book.

I found the title a very valuable resource in assisting me to learn Spanish. As an adult, it is good to read something that is not purely aimed at the younger person. The stories were interesting to me as an adult. I found the level of the Spanish at a standard which was not too complex yet still gave many challenges - a good combination. For someone wishing to improve their understanding and comprehension of written Spanish I believe this is a very useful addition to their library.

This is a wonderful book for those wishing to learn more Spanish or English. As well as being a resource for learning a language, it contains many anecdotes and legends of Latin-American history. The ability to check your comprehension and translation by only looking to the opposite page is excellent. Instead of having a Spanish-English dictionary in the other hand, the text is presented only a quick glance away. This is instrumental in helping the reader stay focussed on the story and the grammar of Spanish (or English). I will be recommending this to fellow classmates as well as buying other "Side-by-Side" books