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I wonder if this is true for other languages? I’m trying to find relatively simple Spanish texts read by a native speaker.

rodrigo_b 5y ago
Are you looking for anything in particular? I wouldn't mind recording myself reading a couple Wikipedia articles. I'm a native speaker from Argentina.
- wrycoder 5y ago
  I’m looking for texts at a beginner or intermediate level, read by native speakers, which have not been abridged. For example, I have a dual language text of Hesse’s Damien. I found an audiobook on Amazon, but it has been abridged, to the point that individual sentences have been changed - with words eliminated! That makes it very difficult to follow text while listening. I’ll see if Librivox, mentioned above, has a copy. Thanks! What I’m trying to avoid is starting to read Spanish with an English hybridized with Latin pronunciation running in my head. I can halfway understand written Spanish already, so I figure that a few weeks following audiobooks with a text would be very helpful to getting a good start on a proper accent.
mynameisash 5y ago
You might have some luck with Librivox. There are Spanish recordings[0] that you could use to practice your comprehension. I did this with French, and it was very helpful. Years ago when I naively tried to learn Japanese, I listened to Oku no Hosomichi[1] over and over again, which I still to this day find to be a beautiful listen, though I gave up on trying to learn that language. [0] https://librivox.org/search?primary_key=5&search_category=language&search_page=1&search_form=get_results https://librivox.org/search?primary_key=5&search_category=la... [1] https://librivox.org/oku-no-hosomichi-by-matsuo-basho/ https://librivox.org/oku-no-hosomichi-by-matsuo-basho/
- mdp2021 5y ago
  (Apologies for the marginal OT, but browsing just now those pages and skimming over 'Dos años de vacaciones' from Verne, the automatic reconstruction was the misreading 'Dos años de vac·un·aciones'. It's really been two toll-taking years.) Back to the topic: thank you! Any similar non-fictional material around? Edit: librivox also contains non-fiction, according to the filters. (I rest my case with relevance to the above note.) It is probably not the most specialized repository for informational or educational material though? In fact, Spanish language records filtered as 'Non-Fiction', https://librivox.org/search?title=&author=&reader=&keywords=&genre_id=36&status=all&project_type=either&recorded_language=5&sort_order=catalog_date&search_page=1&search_form=advanced https://librivox.org/search?title=&author=&reader=&keywords=... still produce literature (works which have their value mostly in being literary products instead of contemporary essays).
Rebelgecko 5y ago
At least in English, the spoken articles are biased towards things that people think are funny. For example half the "Culture and society biographies" are people who were in the Netflix show "Tiger King". The health section is full of articles detailing all the things you can do with a urethra, "pussy torture", etc

rodrigo_b 5y ago

Are you looking for anything in particular? I wouldn't mind recording myself reading a couple Wikipedia articles. I'm a native speaker from Argentina.

wrycoder 5y ago
I’m looking for texts at a beginner or intermediate level, read by native speakers, which have not been abridged. For example, I have a dual language text of Hesse’s Damien. I found an audiobook on Amazon, but it has been abridged, to the point that individual sentences have been changed - with words eliminated! That makes it very difficult to follow text while listening. I’ll see if Librivox, mentioned above, has a copy. Thanks! What I’m trying to avoid is starting to read Spanish with an English hybridized with Latin pronunciation running in my head. I can halfway understand written Spanish already, so I figure that a few weeks following audiobooks with a text would be very helpful to getting a good start on a proper accent.

mynameisash 5y ago

You might have some luck with Librivox. There are Spanish recordings[0] that you could use to practice your comprehension. I did this with French, and it was very helpful. Years ago when I naively tried to learn Japanese, I listened to Oku no Hosomichi[1] over and over again, which I still to this day find to be a beautiful listen, though I gave up on trying to learn that language. [0] https://librivox.org/search?primary_key=5&search_category=language&search_page=1&search_form=get_results https://librivox.org/search?primary_key=5&search_category=la... [1] https://librivox.org/oku-no-hosomichi-by-matsuo-basho/ https://librivox.org/oku-no-hosomichi-by-matsuo-basho/

mdp2021 5y ago
(Apologies for the marginal OT, but browsing just now those pages and skimming over 'Dos años de vacaciones' from Verne, the automatic reconstruction was the misreading 'Dos años de vac·un·aciones'. It's really been two toll-taking years.) Back to the topic: thank you! Any similar non-fictional material around? Edit: librivox also contains non-fiction, according to the filters. (I rest my case with relevance to the above note.) It is probably not the most specialized repository for informational or educational material though? In fact, Spanish language records filtered as 'Non-Fiction', https://librivox.org/search?title=&author=&reader=&keywords=&genre_id=36&status=all&project_type=either&recorded_language=5&sort_order=catalog_date&search_page=1&search_form=advanced https://librivox.org/search?title=&author=&reader=&keywords=... still produce literature (works which have their value mostly in being literary products instead of contemporary essays).

Rebelgecko 5y ago

At least in English, the spoken articles are biased towards things that people think are funny. For example half the "Culture and society biographies" are people who were in the Netflix show "Tiger King". The health section is full of articles detailing all the things you can do with a urethra, "pussy torture", etc