Comments: In Other Words

Summary: Students in advanced Spanish courses come from many backgrounds, but they share a desire to use the language. Translation (traduccion), as used in "En otras palabras", is an activity that combines the intellectual with the practical: in order to produce an acceptable translation, students must focus their attention on lexical and grammatical detail. This challenging textbook combines incisive grammar explanation, relevant lexical information, and a wide variety of translation texts and exercises. "En otras palabras" contains two kinds of translation texts: Spanish to be translated into English, and English into Spanish. Translating into English requires students to understand every detail of the Spanish text, and then decide how these details might best be expressed in English. Translating into Spanish requires students to recognize how Spanish structures and words do-and do not-parallel those of English. Both activities provide advanced students of Spanish with an invigorating linguistic workout, and serve as an effective introduction to the practice of translation.