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Re:The Neural Advantage of Speaking 2 Languages by wallflower on Thursday January 21, 2010 @12:45PM (#1067801)
> There's small payoff for an American to study a 2nd language.

If you are only looking at economic payoff.

I've been to countries/cultures (Latin America) where I feel that if you don't have a grasp of the language - you can only be a tourist. Reusing cliches but not being able to speak a language - you lack the passport to truly immerse yourself - you'll only be a tourist if you can't speak (to a point) the language.

I'm really looking for an app that will find Spanish texts for me to read that have words that I don't already know (e.g. smart enough to learn what your working vocabulary set is). Since I'm starting out - almost every text will have words I don't know. Anyone know of an app geared towards reading and vocabulary building (and possibly reading material discovery)? Or do we have to build one (it will be a little harder because of the conjugations, m/f variants of words)

Re:The Neural Advantage of Speaking 2 Languages by nfnaaron on Thursday January 21, 2010 @01:10PM (#1067880)
I don't have an app, but here's a book that I've been liking:

Easy Spanish Reader: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Spanish-Reader-William-Tardy/dp/0...

same, with CD: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Spanish-Reader-CD-ROM-Three-Part/...

It's for beginners. You just read, simple stories. Some words are defined in the margins, some in the glossary, and some you just get from context. I like it a lot.