I would like to dedicate this post to us: the Hispanic grown-ups who live far from our native countries.
For those who know me well, you know I love reading books. There are times in which I can read a whole thick book in less than a week. But, sometimes I am a bit busy or I am less literary encouraged, and it is a bit difficult for me to finish the book I am reading.
I have been reading in English for several years. Not only it helped me enlarge my vocabulary, but also helped me to better understand basic grammatical structures. At the beginning it was very hard for me to get involved with the story. Not understanding all the words frustrated me, and having to stop to look for every single word in a dictionary distracted me. With time I learnt how to follow the stories without the need to understand everything I was reading. It wasn’t the ideal situation, but I admit I got used to it and I continued with my readings. And, when I found a book with too much technical vocabulary, I simply abandoned it.
The invention of new technologies like Ipad, Nook or Kindle made it easier for us to read in a foreign language. Today is as easy as clicking in the word you don’t understand to access to the dictionary. I know it is practical and useful; however, I still like paper books, I love their smell, and bending the pages’ corner to mark my progress on my reading. Sometimes, I like making notes, underlying words, or simply putting post-its to remind me of something I liked. What can I say? I’m an old fashion reader.
So after a lot of time, I read a book originally written in Spanish. What a pleasure to understand ALL the words in every page of a book! How fast the author’s phrases entered my mind. How wonderful to imagine characters and places with all details provided by the authors. Understanding each phrase like I’ve written it myself. I feel like I finally found that old doll that I’ve lost a long time ago. And now I want more.
It is good not only for our children, but for ourselves too, to be in contact with Hispanic literature. We have so many good authors. Who didn’t go crazy with 100 Years of Solitude from GabrielGarcia Marquez? O who hadn’t cried with Paula from Isabel Allende or felt in love with Pablo Neruda’s poems? Who doesn’t feel proud of Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa or Ernesto Sabato? Besides, it is a way to help not to lose the Spanish. After so many years living outside of Argentina,I lost some of my Spanish, and sometimes it is difficult for me to express myself or find the proper words even in my own language.
Thank you for Sharing, I love your article. In my case i was brought into the US when i was only 9 years old…My father would read everyday to us in spanish, i loved it when he would read to us…sometimes he would read extra fast in to finish the story…Probably because he was tired…little did he know how that kind of reading made on impact on my brain…i can do that too…its a skill that comes in handy FAST READING that is!!!! I feel like i have lost my love for reading in Spanish, I mean i will pick up a book too and read it in a couple of days…BUT I need to reconnect with mis raices when it comes to reading. once again thank you for your post.
I love the idea behind your blog! I am reading the most recent entry on your vacations back home con sus hijos.
As the only one of my parent’s children who does speak Spanish with some fluency, I definitely understand the need for more blogs encouraging bilingualism.
I just finished Esmeralda Santiago’s Conquistadora, which is sort of a Puerto Rican Gone With the Wind (are you familiar with this film? the book is basically the story of a Spanish girl who becomes obsessed with Puerto Rico and travels there to run a plantation with her husband. She begins to see herself as deeply tied to Puerto Rico and to the slaves who work her sugar plantation, calling them “nuestra gente”.) It takes awhile to get into, but it’s filled with historical information that most stateside Puerto Ricans probably would not be familiar with.
I’ve wanted to read Allende’s work for awhile. How is she? Aside from repetitive, it seems.
I’ve never heard of that book before but Gone With the Wind is one of my favorites movies, so I will put in my list of books to read.
Thank you very much for your comment on the blog. I am working on posting some book reviews for adults too and also I will publish some of my work for kids. If you know people that would be interested in the blog, I would appreciate if you encourage them to read it. I would love to have more feedback.
Regarding Allende, I can tell you that she has written amazing books. I’ve cried and laughed with her stories. I love her biographies, Paula is amazing and the also The Sum of The Days. I also like Eva Luna and La Casa de Los Espiritus.
Let me know if you read them.
I’m a literature student and a writer and English dominant. I guess I approach this from the other side of the coin, mostly I read in English…though lately (and especially at work) I’ve been reading more in Spanish. I think the moment when things click for you is exciting, no matter how frustrating it is. I do agree there’s a certain amount of relief in returning back to the native or dominant language, but as a Latina…I want that relief when I read in Spanish too!
Even though I’m English-dominant, there are times when I mostly only feel safe in Spanish…even though I’m not fully able to express myself in it just yet.
I really enjoyed this article and I’d love to hear more about your favorite books and your thoughts on reading Spanish literature in English and vice versa!
Hi Shakti,
I liked your comment a lot. How wonderful that you can feel safer in Spanish even if you don’t think you can fully express yourself in that language. When I read those words at the beginning they sounded strange to me. However, now that I think about it, It happens to me too with English. There are certain things that I rather talk or read in English even though it is my second language.
I am a writer too. I write children’s stories and songs in both English and Spanish. and I also have a blog LittleSpanishers.blogspot.com which is dedicated to help our kids embrace Spanish.
I am currently reading ISabel Allende’s El Cuaderno de Maya. It is a good book. However, when I go through the pages of the book I feel like I know the characters already. I love this author but I am starting to get bored. What did you read lately?