Customer Reviews

Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a great, easy, relaxing way to keep up your already advanced Spanish. It might also be a good way to greatly improve your intermediate Spanish. Keep a dictionary and a notepad handy for those new vocabulary words. Or don't. After a little while of recording new words, I finally quit and just read for the pleasure of it, deciphering words by context. Sometimes I grabbed the English version to check a phrase. That worked well, too. In short, for use as a language builder and confidence builder, I highly recommend this book to you. However, if you're hoping to comprehend the complexities of grammar, there are just enough strange turns of phrase in this book that I would say this is not your first source for grammar lessons.

Nunca se deberia traducir palabras como "embarrased" a "embarazado". No tiene sentido. Le quita la dicha a uno de leer este libro. Lo compre para leereselo a mi hijo pequeno y tengo que siempre cambiarle las palabras "al vuelo" para que las oraciones tengan sentido. Una lastima que una obra tan buena se feamente desmejorada por la pesima traduccion

I studied Spanish in high school and university. I am far from a fluent speaker, though I don't think I'd get myself killed wandering around in Mexico or Spain. Having read all of the Harry Potter books in English many times, I decided to give this a try to brush up on my Spanish skills. I am only about 50 pages into it (reading Spanish takes me a lot longer than English!) but so far I am enjoying it immensely. Of course, it helps that I know what is happening, but that has also helped me with my understanding of the Spanish. I've really enjoyed this experience.

The quality of the CD production is fine. My only complaint is the narrator tries to imitate the voice of the many different characters in ways that would (probably) be entertaining to elementary school age children. Since I am an adult listening to these CDs to improve my spoken Spanish comprehension, the exaggerated voice styles are not so amusing. On the other hand, the audio exactly duplicates the Spanish version of the book, so it's quite handy for reading a chapter and then listening to it. All in all, I'll buy the same versions of the sequels when they become available.

It's a shame that such a wonderful book was translated so poorly. The translator, Alicia Dellepiane, has a tendency to translate literally. For example, she translated to "have a fit" (referring to the baby, Dudley, on the second page of the book), as "tenía un berrinche." In Mexico it's "hacía un berrinche" and in much of Latin America it's "daba un berrinche." Errors such as this one abound. It's awkward for readers who know Spanish well and misleading for those who might pick up this book to study Spanish.

I rate the English version as five star.

I had read the complaints about the translation, and so I didn't buy it, but it is now at our local library in Spanish! Ha! And I wondered, is my Spanish good enough to read this book? And is my Harry Potter quotient high enough to smooth that over? Will I even understand why people don't think the translation is great (since I had not seen any specific criticisms)? After reading through it (and only stumbling over what it is Mr. Dursley sells for a living -- I'll never forget "taladros" now!), I can pinpoint what I think the weaknesses are. Tiny flourishes are left out. The vocabulary used isn't as rich as the English. There are small interpretive errors (Filch is the one who says "Bien, bien, bien ..." when he catches Harry and Hermione out of bed, not Harry). But I think the Spanish language publishers did not understand how wide a target audience was available to them. It's a children's book, right? How complicated does it have to be? As the "Piedra filosofal" stands now, it's ... enchanting! I would recommend it for a classroom where students can see the use of real grammar in sentences they might actually enjoy reading or as a gift for the Pottermaniac in your home who is waiting waiting waiting for the next installment.

Harry Potter, por J. K. Rowling, ha despertado una ola de interes sin precedentes en la magia de la lectura para ninos (y adultos). La razon es simple: La serie Harry Potter es una de esas raras obras que, siendo perfectamente accesibles, son tambien un tributo a la imaginacion y a la inteligencia. En 'Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal', las aventuras de Harry y sus amigos se inician al comienzo de su primer grado en el colegio de magos. Personajes y lugares son presentados con lujo de detalles y humor, asi como tambien los rasgos principales de la historia que se desarrollara en siete volumenes, el cuarto de los cuales es actualmente un fenomeno de ventas aun antes de ser publicado.

Lo siento a todos para mi espanol. Puedo leer mejor que escribir. Por eso voy a escribir mas en ingles para los que estan tratando a aprender espanol. Creo que es mas facil aprender una lengua nueva cuando esta leyendo un libro tan excelente como esto.

As you can see, my Spanish is not very good anymore; the only practice I get is from reading books which were originally written in Spanish or have been translated, as was Harry Potter. For those of you who are interested in beefing up on your grasp of the Spanish language, I highly recommend these books. Although they will be difficult at times, it is still a great read, especially if you have the patience to take your time with the novel. [If you want to read it quickly and easily, try the English version; it's just as good!] Reading a book that is as good as this one makes learning the language so much better, as I'm sure you're aware.

The hero of the story is Harry, a kid who's entire life has been spent in a cupboard under the stairs, being raised by relatives who don't love him at all. One day he finds out he's really a wizard, and has been accepted at Hogwart's, the greatest school for wizards in the world. When he enters the wizarding world, adventures just seem to jump into his lap. It's a great story for all ages!

Que te diviertas!

Este libro me ha captivado desde el primer instante en que lo leí. Si usted es un hispanoparlante o estás aprendiendo español no tendrán ningún problema con este libro. He leído todos los libros de Harry Potter en español y cuando los comparo con las versiones americanas no veo nada perturbante. Recomiendo a todos que lean esta serie porque es tan buena que nunca querrán parar de leerla. And for you english speakers who are scared, dont be. This is after all a children's book. If you feel intimidated then have your spanish english dictionary handy because there are some words that they just dont teach you in spanish class, lol. If you have payed attention in your spanish classes and know all your grammar then the only thing that you might not know are some new words, and hey...thats how you learn anyway. happy reading

No hablo castellano perfectamente pero sin embargo decidí leer un de mis libros ingleses favoritos para mejor y debo decir que la traducción no me ha gustado. En la traducción algunas detalles que existen en la versión inglesa no se mencionan y de vez en cuando se traducen algunas palabras al español muy mal. A veces era como si un ordenador lo hubiera traducido y muchas veces habían perdido el sentido. A pesar de esto, no obstante, 'Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal' tiene una historia preciosa que me encanta. Seguro que toda la gente disfrutaría leerlo. Si eres hispanohablante pero hablas el inglés perfectamente recomiendo que leas la versión inglesa antes, pero si eres como yo, alguien que aprende el español y quieres mejorar, recomiendo que leas la versión española porque ahora sé muchas más palabras que antes....