Posted by One of the most up to date Parallel Spanish Text Workbooks.
Victor’s Adventures in Spain is what you might call a good all-round book for any student of the Spanish language.
One of its many strengths is that it offers the reader practical Spanish scenarios which show the learner exactly how to use their language in a ‘native-like’ way.
Making small-talk is a definite skill.
We recently made a podcast on how to make Small-Talk in Spanish and have been really surprised at how popular the video has been. It seems that we were not the only ones who thought that this was an important subject to cover.
Here is a sample of some small-talk (hablar de cosas sin importancia) that Victor makes whilst in a bar in Spain. Perhaps you can take some tips from the scene yourself:
Lo que nota Víctor es que en cada calle hay por lo menos un bar, pero frecuentemente hay hasta dos o tres.
What Victor notices is that in each street there is, at least, one bar, but often there are up to two or three.
No están muy ocupados pero siempre hay algunas personas adentro. Más interesante es que el suelo de cada bar está lleno de deshechos como servilletas y restos de comida. Parece que la gente tira su basura directamente al suelo.
They aren’t very busy but there’s always someone in there. More interesting is that the floor in each bar is full of rubbish like serviettes and leftover food. It looks like the people throw their rubbish straight onto the floor.
Entra en un bar medio lleno de gente y pide una caña. Un hombre a su lado lo saluda.
He goes in a half-filled bar and orders a beer. A man at his side greets him.
Hombre -Hola, buenas tardes. ¿Qué tal?-
Man “Hello, good evening. How are you?”
Víctor -Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?-
Victor “Fine, thanks. And you?”
Hombre -Fenomenal, gracias. No eres de aquí, ¿verdad?-
Man “Phenomenal. You’re not from here, right?”
Víctor -No. Soy inglés, pero ahora vivo aquí.-
Victor “No, I’m English, but I live here now.”
Hombre -Ah, bien. ¿A qué te dedicas?-
Man “Ah, good. What do you do?”
Víctor -Acabo de llegar; pero el viernes empiezo como camarero en el restaurante, El Mesón de Cervantes.-
Victor “I’ve just arrived but on Friday I start as a waiter in the restaurant, Cervantes Tavern.”
Hombre -¡Qué bien! Trabajé de camarero durante una temporada. Es un buen trabajo aunque no me gustó mucho el horario.-
Man “That’s good! I worked as a waiter for a while. It’s a good job although I didn’t like the hours much.”
Víctor -A mí tampoco, pero por lo menos tengo algo. Más tarde puedo buscar algo más de mi estilo. Tengo una pregunta. ¿Por qué la gente tira todo al suelo en los bares?-
Victor “Me neither, but at least I have something. I can look for something more my style later on. I’ve got a question. Why do the people throw everything on the floor in the bars?”
Hombre -¿Cómo dices?-
Man “What do you mean?”
Víctor -Es que, en Inglaterra, nunca haríamos eso. La mayoría de los bares tiene moqueta y tirar basura al suelo sería muy mal educado.-
Victor “It’s just, in England, we’d never do that. Most of the bars have carpets and throwing rubbish on the floor would be very rude.”
Hombre -Ah, ya veo. Aquí es la costumbre. De verdad, para nosotros, los mejores bares son los de los suelos más sucios. Eso significa que el bar es popular y que las tapas son buenas.-
Man “Ah, now I see. It’s the custom here. In truth, for us, the best bars are the ones with the dirtiest floors. That means that it’s a popular bar and the tapas are good.”
Víctor -Vale, ya entiendo, gracias. Aun así, me daría cosa hacerlo a mí.-
Victor “Okay, now I understand, thanks. Even so, I’d feel bad doing it.”
Hombre -No te preocupes, después de pasar seis meses aquí vas a estar tirando tú servilletas como cualquiera, jaja.-
Man “Don’t worry, after spending a couple of months here you’re going to be throwing serviettes down like anyone else, haha.”
All backed up with Grammar exercises and Audio book
Every chapter is complemented by a grammar lesson which is then followed up with a short test to be sure you have understood that grammar portion. The fun part of all of this is that every grammar section is also backed up by LightSpeed Spanish’s very own podcasts which can be found on their page https://lightspeedspanish.co.uk/ and also on their Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/LightSpeedSpanish
Great for building Spanish vocabulary too
If you are interested in building your vocabulary, then Victor’s Adventures is for you. The book contains a speed learning technique that allows you to retain vocabulary and verbs faster than ever before. Once again, for those who enjoy watching a video, the entire Spanish verb and vocabulary builder can be found on Youtube also.
Come and join us
During your learning journey, you are not alone either. We provide our Facebook group filled with Spanish speakers, many of them native speakers as well as thousands of students just like yourself with all kinds of questions that are always answered (sometimes within seconds.) In addition to that we have our main Facebook page where you will always know what the latest news is.
Available just about everywhere online.
If you would like to get your copy of Victor’s Adventures in Spain, one of the key parallel Spanish text books for beginners, then just click this link or visit your closest Amazon online retailer or any other reputable online book seller.
Saludos de Gordon y Cynthia:)
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