Yo compre diez libros...

[MonteChristo]

En eBay, compré diez libros de niños. Todos los libros tienen doce páginas. Compré los libros porque están escrito en español y creo que van a ayudarme a aprender vocabulario.

El primer libro que voy a leer se llama "Fieles Compañeros" No es el mismo que el "The Great Gatsby"... Seguro esto por un otro año.

¿Que piensas?

MC

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by MonteChristo

De eBay, Yo compre diez libros de los niños. Todo los libros tienen doce paginas. Yo compre los libros por que habieron escrito in español y creo que irán ayudame aprender vocabolario.

El primer libro voy a leer se llama "Fieles Compañeros" No es el mismo de "The Great Gatsby"... Seguro esto por un otro año.

¿Que piensas?

MC

Unas correcciones:

En eBay, (yo) compré diez libros de niños. Todos los libros tienen doce páginas. (Yo) Compré los libros porque están escritos en español y creo que van a ayudarme a aprender el vocabulario.

El primer libro que voy a leer se llama "Fieles Compañeros". No es el mismo que el "The Great Gatsby".

Seguro esto por un otro año.
What did you mean here? My guess is "I'll secure this another year."

You're doing pretty well. I hope the books encourage you.

[gatitoverde]

What really got me off and running in Spanish was reading "El León, la Bruja y el Armario," (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). I think the first twenty pages took me a month to get through, but I learned soooooo much. I think you're doing yourself a real service.

[poli]

Write down words you don't understand, look them up in a dictionary, and write down the definition. If you are not happy with the definition, run it through the forum. There are people here who will help you.

[MonteChristo]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Seguro esto por un otro año.
What did you mean here? My guess is "I'll secure this another year."

Yes. My intent was to say, I'll save this one for another year.

Originally Posted by gatitoverde

What really got me off and running in Spanish was reading "El León, la Bruja y el Armario," (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). I think the first twenty pages took me a month to get through, but I learned soooooo much. I think you're doing yourself a real service.

That would be a great book to use. Funny, I have these ten books with 12 pages each and I look them and think, Ok I can do this one or oh this one looks like it's going to be hard. I'm sure in time I'll feel different, but now these are a huge challenge.

Originally Posted by poli

Write down words you don't understand, look them up in a dictionary, and write down the definition. If you are not happy with the definition, run it through the forum. There are people here who will help you.

What a tremendous resource this form is. I will certainly take your advice. I'm not sure where these books came from. The publisher is I believe in Argentina. One of the words I had trouble with was "mamadera". Supposed to be baby bottle (Peru). I had never heard it before.

Thank you
MC

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by MonteChristo

Yes. My intent was to say, I'll save this one for another year.

To say that, try: Éste lo guardaré para otro año.

Literally:

Éste      lo  guardaré       para   otro      año
This one  it  I will keep    for    another   year

Originally Posted by MonteChristo

One of the words I had trouble with was "mamadera". Supposed to be baby bottle (Peru). I had never heard it before

What was the whole sentence that you found this word in?

[poli]

mamadera=biberón=baby bottle
Biberón is more common, but down in Argentina sometimes things change.
Tú is vos down in B.A. and it's followed by a different verb tense. Instead of tú tienes, they say vos tenés(I think it's tenes). Just bare in mind that when reading Argentinian Spanish you will come across this slightly different verb form for the informal you.

[Tomisimo]

The only conjugation of vos I know is vos sos (tú eres). Mamila is another way of saying baby bottle in Mexico. (Biberón is also correct).

[Alfonso]

Hi, MonteChristo,
I think everything you do for learning Spanish would be OK if you can take advantage of it. And those problems that can appear shouldn't discourage you.
Anyway, when you start learning a language, and you like to read, there are thousands of lecturas facilitadas (I have to write this in Spanish as I don't know what to call this in English) that can make your trip a little less hard. They are specifically written in language that is easy and worthy of learning. These books are also classified by language levels, so you have from beginners to advanced learners. I hope this will help you.

Can anybody help me? What you call in English lecturas facilitadas?

[Rusty]

I suppose lecturas facilitadas would be Easy Readers in English.

[poli]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

Hi, MonteChristo,
I think everything you do for learning Spanish would be OK if you can take advantage of it. And those problems that can appear shouldn't discourage you.
Anyway, when you start learning a language, and you like to read, there are thousands of lecturas facilitadas (I have to write this in Spanish as I don't know what to call this in English) that can make your trip a little less hard. They are specifically written in an easy and worth to learn language in language that's easy and worthy of learning. These books are also classified into by language levels, so you have from beginners to advanced learners. I hope this will help you.

Can anybody help me? What you call in English lecturas facilitadas?

Simplified versions.

[MonteChristo]

Originally Posted by Tomisimo

What was the whole sentence that you found this word in?

Con mis blancas ovejitas felices dias pasamos. Yo les doy la mamadera y a la mamita jugamos.

Wth my little white sheep we pass the days happily. I give them the baby bottle and we play like I'm their mommy.

Am I close? It seems this really doesn't translate word for word. So I'm hoping to capture the meaning in my translation.
I may be way off. If so, enlighten me please.

MC

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Rusty

I suppose lecturas facilitadas would be Easy Readers in English.

Originally Posted by poli

Simplified versions.

I think both of those options are good.

Originally Posted by MonteChristo

Con mis blancas ovejitas felices dias pasamos. Yo les doy la mamadera y a la mamita jugamos.

Wth my little white sheep we pass the days happily. I give them the baby bottle and we play like I'm their mommy.

Am I close? It seems this really doesn't translate word for word. So I'm hoping to capture the meaning in my translation.
I may be way off. If so, enlighten me please.

I think you've captured it pretty well. Great job!

[gatitoverde]

I agree with the term easy reader. I have one written for German about a century ago. The editor calls it a primer, but I believe that's simply a broad term for textbooks that teach children to read. I'd go out on a limb in saying that it is, bar none, the best tool I've ever found to learn a language. Over the course of 100 pages, the editor slowly adds new words and more difficult constructions to simplified fairytales, some adapted from the Brothers Grimm. I've since tried to find similar books for Russian to no avail. And yes, I'm peppering my writing with idioms, but not intentionally. I just talk like that.

[Tomisimo]

Yes, progressive reading where it starts out simple, new vocabulary is added slowly and previous vocabulary is constantly reviewed, is one of the best ways to learn. It goes right along with Krashen's i + 1 acquisition theory.