Customer Reviews

My Toys/ Mis Juguetes

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

 

 

I purchased several of these books from this author and my boys were never interested in them. The illustrations are simple, fabric, pictures and they are not very interesting. The price is inexpensive, however, but I'd buy something else.

This brightly colored book is great to use as an addition to a Spanish curriculum.

The sturdy pages continue to wow my classes of ages 3 all the way to 14 years old. If you'd like to introduce your child to Spanish, I might choose an animal, colors, or shapes book before this one, and you might want to get something they can WRITE on or color rather than just look at.

Overall, I think it's great to know ANY word (especially toys, which are everywhere!) when you're trying to introduce a second language to your child. It's a big endeavor, and this book helps!

Sra. Gose
Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 2

This series is a great way to introduce Spanish to your child. The board books are sturdy and colorful. Each is theme-based, with food, toys, clothes, numbers etc. Starting out with just words will give your youngster the impetus to move on to more words or even sentences next!

Another reviewer had commented on a myriad of errors in this series of board books. He did not comment on this one specifically, so I purchased it. I am disappointed in the quality of the translation, hence my rating, because it seems the editor/publisher did absolutely no checking on the correctness of the Spanish words and phrases.

For those people who would like to teach their children correct Spanish, here are the corrections. I used my knowledge as a native speaker, my father who has a PhD in linguistics and translated for 30 years, and the Spanish Royal Academy dictionary as resources.

Front Cover & Spine: In Spanish only the first word is capitalized in a title. Therefore, the correct title for the Spanish portion is "Mis jugetes". It is possible this is changing in practice because of the influence of English, but the guide on grammar and spelling still lists this as the rule.

Inside:
Jump rope is either "la comba" or "la cuica" depending on where you are from. I am familiar with and use the latter. The action to jump rope is "brincar cuica". It is true that just the word rope is "la cuerda", but you can't translate each word individually in order to get to "jump rope". "La comba" is also used to refer to the game of jumping rope, but since it also means the actual rope, it suffices to use that word alone. I have never seen jump rope translated anywhere else as "la cuerda de comba".

Tub toys should be "los juguetes para el ba?o" not "del ba?o".

Dress-up clothes is correctly translated as "la ropa para disfrazarse", literally "clothes to dress-up in" (dress-up as in a costume).

Paints: I have never heard the use of the plural "las pinturas" when referring to paints, as in liquids of many colors spread on a surface with a brush. "La pintura" is used in the both singular and plural meaning. "Las pinturas" really means "paintings", such as painted works of art on canvas, which is not what is pictured in the book.

Back Cover: "Colectar" in Spanish is used for the collection of money or debts. To collect, as in amass in a collection, is "coleccionar". The phrase, correcting the verb and the preposition, should be "?Coleccione todos los libros en la serie!"

You be the judge as to whether 6 corrections are too many.

Note on Crayons: Crayons can also be either "las crayolas" or "las ceras" again depending on where you are from. Until recently, no where could I find that "los crayones" was correct. But then I saw an episode of Plaza S?samo (Spanish Sesame Street) which is made in Mexico. One of the children used "los crayones" for crayons. It seems that this term is correctly used in Mexico. Language usage differs among Spanish-speaking countries. Usually the biggest differences are between Spain and the Americas, but there are also differences among the Latin American countries and the Caribbean. "Las ceras" is used in Spain and "las crayolas" is used in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries.