Richard, I have a volume of short stories in Spanish so I’ll have to find that and give a try. I appreciate all your suggestions — and intend to give them a try! Thanks for the visit!

Jenny, it’s hard to keep up without people in-real-life to talk to us, huh.

Steph,. I think you’re right – a children’s book is the way to go. And I’m so glad you’ve gotten to read Neruda too!

Amanda, I remember you didn’t like Cisneros much but I felt I was so distracted with trying to read it in a different language that I couldn’t really have an opinion about it either way. Just a neutral book for me. Glad I tackled it though!

I think Harry Potter in a foreign language is a delicious idea!!

Stefanie, I do think it’s not fair of me to put Cisneros up against Neruda in this post, but ah well! It was fun to try the Spanish. I do look forward to more Neruda.

Trisha, I’ll have to look up that Neruda as well. I think a Spanish audiobook would also be fun! Thanks for the idea.

Amatuer Reader, Yeay! I stumbled upon analysis! I’m glad it came across that way: I still feel I’m rambling here sometimes.

Rebecca, I think French would be quite handy for a bibliophile. I often run across French conversations in classics British lit! I’m glad you love Neruda too!

Emily, I remember seeing your post. I was so impressed! I suspect that Le Clezio is more challenging than Cisneros!! It does make me appreciate translators more!

I do think I’ll try YA or kid’s books next!

Eva, *BLUSH*. I’m so embarrassed — going to fix it now. I did read the entire intro to the poetry volume but I apparently left my brain with the book when I returned it to the library and finished this post! Thanks for being naggy — I like to get those things RIGHT.

I think reading the original next to the English was lots of fun for poetry! I only know Spanish, though — my husband laughs at me if I try to read French!!

But, and I really hope this doesn’t naggy, because I don’t want it to be, Neruda’s Chilean, not Argentinian. Two of my best friends have been Latin American study majors! hehe (And he’s one of my fave poets.)

When I’m reading in French or Spanish, I do use my dictionary but I try to limit the words I look up – I don’t look things up unless I’m missing the sense of an entire passage. Usually it only takes 1-2 lookups in cases like that before the meaning becomes clear. It seems like young adult novels or kids’ books would be a good next step for you; good luck!

Pablo Neruda’s Fully Empowered, at least my edition, has the Spanish version on one side and the English on the other, so that might be an option. I would also recommend getting Spanish audiobooks as hearing it is a necessity; it’s one of the reasons I can still read in Spanish but I can’t speak or listen to it.

Neruda is marvelous. I liked House on Mango Street but if I had to choose between reading Cisneros or Neruda, Neruda would win every time.

Good luck. Keeping a foreign language without some serious practice opportunities is really hard, and I regret my loss of language skills, too.

Finally, I don’t read a lot of poetry, but Neruda is the one poet I LOVE. Last year for Christmas, Tony and I didn’t do big gifts for each other, but I did get him a volume of Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. Neruda is just amazing!