Better Reading Spanish: A Reader and Guide to Improving Your Understanding of Written Spanish Better Reading Series: Amazon.co.uk: Jean Yates: Books

Product Description

This book provides a unique method of learning and sharpening your Spanish language skills. For the advanced beginner or intermediate-level learner, reading offers you the most convenient way to practice and sharpen your Spanish and monitor your progress: the more you read, the greater your knowledge of the language. However, you probably don't have the time, patience, or interest to tackle original literary works or course textbooks. "Better Reading Spanish" brings you short passages that reflect real-life, contemporary issues and situations, taken from magazines, the Internet, books, and newspapers. Each chapter features articles that cover a specific topic - cuisine, music, sports, cinema and theater, art, the family, today's lifestyle, or politics and history - with each piece becoming more challenging as the section progresses.Here you will find an article about the Seattle Mariners' Edgar Martinez, a tourist pamphlet from Honduras, a recipe for gazpacho, and more than fifty other selections to help you improve your reading speed and understanding. Following each article is a set of exercises that help your comprehension of that piece, as well as develop invaluable reading skills including: skimming material for general meaning; scanning for details; using word formation, cognates, and context to determine meaning; understanding idioms and artistic expressions; an appendix provides suggestions for websites and publications for further reading. "Better Reading Spanish" will not only help you improve or revive your language skills, it will open up the enjoyable and exciting world of reading in Spanish.

From the Back Cover

A unique method of learning and sharpening your Spanish language skills

For the advanced beginner or intermediate-level learner, reading offers you the most convenient way to practice and sharpen your Spanish and monitor your progress: the more you read, the greater your knowledge of the language. However, you probably don't have the time, patience, or interest to tackle original literary works or course textbooks.

Better Reading Spanish brings you short passages that reflect real-life, contemporary issues and situations, taken from magazines, the Internet, books, and newspapers.

Each chapter features articles that cover a specific topic--cuisine, music, sports, cinema and theater, art, the family, today's lifestyle, or politics and history--with each piece becoming more challenging as the section progresses. Here you will find an article about the Seattle Mariners' Edgar Martínez, a tourist pamphlet from Honduras, a recipe for gazpacho, and more than fifty other selections to help you improve your reading speed and understanding.

Following each article is a set of exercises that help your comprehension of that piece, as well as develop invaluable reading skills including:

Skimming material for general meaning
Scanning for details
Using word formation, cognates, and context to determine meaning
Understanding idioms and artistic expressions

An appendix provides suggestions for websites and publications for further reading.

Better Reading Spanish will not only help you improve or revive your language skills, it will open up the enjoyable and exciting world of reading in Spanish.

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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

This book is different and very helpful 8 Mar 2009

By Ann

Format:Paperback

I had a look at books offering reading practice in reading Spanish. This is the only one that did not give me a big yawn. And now getting into it I find I am progressing - try it !!!!! Obviously the author is very very skilled. I am going to try and find other text books by her.

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

Spanish reading getting better 28 May 2010

By D�naidh

Love this book. I've been learning Spanish for less than a year and find this book has greatly helped my reading ability and extended my vocabulary. The book starts at a fairly simple level - mostly in the present tense - but gradually takes the reader onto other tenses and more sophisticated structures. There is small glossary aside each chapter - adequate to allow me read through without the need for a dictionary. Short exercises follow each chapter which take minutes to complete.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Excellent for a beginner 13 Mar 2011

By Mrs. Susan Dodsworth

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Based on two students from an american college and their friends and family. Provides a great way to start reading short pieces of Spanish and answering comprehension type questions.