Saber escribir/ Learn to write By Instituto Cervantes

Las pautas que necesitas para aprender a escribir mejor. Saber escribir expone con claridad, amenidad y rigor las pautas necesarias para escribir lo que pensamos y decimos.

Sabe escribir un informe, una carta, el acta de una reunin o un proyecto? Sabe cmo tomar apuntes, contestar a una pregunta de examen o preparar su currculum? Sabe redactar una carta de reclamacin, presentar una instancia, dirigirse a la Administracin o componer una invitacin?

Saber escribir no es un manual de estilo o de correccin gramatical ni un diccionario de dudas; no es un manual de creacin literaria, aunque ensee tcnicas y recursos de escritura que aparecen en los textos literarios. Es todo lo anterior, y ms. Es otro concepto de manual. Es un instrumento imprescindible para los que dudan, para los que tienen pnico a la pgina o a la pantalla en blanco, para los que tienen necesidad de escribir, en definitiva.

Saber escribir expone con claridad, amenidad y rigor las pautas necesarias para escribir lo que pensamos y decimos. Nace con la intencin de ayudar a redactar; de ampliar los procedimientos de generacin y precisin de ideas, de documentacin y de planificacin; de seleccionar los elementos de unin adecuados; de relacionar de forma conveniente el contenido del tema con la expresin, el registro y el estilo elegidos, y de aprender a aplicar las tcnicas de revisin y correccin para lograr la redaccin y la disposicin exigidas en cualquier presentacin escrita. Saber escribir/ Learn to write

Instituto Cervantes ¹ 9 summary

Muy bueno 14th century

I am currently teaching a Composition in Spanish for Native Speakers course at a university, and when putting together the syllabus I found myself facing the difficult task of selecting a textbook. Many years ago I taught the same course for heritage learners, and I assigned Valdés’ _Composición: proceso y síntesis_ (McGraw Hill), which features interesting readings, effective strategies, and fruitful prompts. The latter, alas, is out of print. An online search led me for the most part to textbooks published in the US and meant for learners of Spanish as a second language. Then I remembered that for a Public Speaking in Spanish course I had assigned _Saber hablar_, a quick guide published by the Instituto Cervantes. _Saber escribir_ is part of the same series, which also includes _Saber leer_. I decided to go with this option.

Divided into fifteen chapters, _Saber escribir_ is quite lengthy (513 pages), and the topics are discussed in detail. The first chapter explores the Spanish language. It is followed by a chapter on communication and language, and another one on written communication specifically. Chapters four and five deal with mechanics and grammar, respectively. The authors then discuss the writing process, composition, and style. Chapters nine through eleven are concerned with the different genres: description, narrative, exposition, argumentation, dialogue, epistle. Three chapters follow on professional/administrative, academic, and opinion texts. The last topic the book explores is the impact that technology has had on writing. The topics, as you can see, are quite varied. _Saber escribir_ covers a lot of ground, approaching the act of writing from several perspectives.

Interspersed with advice and strategies on the craft, the reader will find very brief texts that illustrate some of the authors’ points. These texts include excerpts from García Márquez’s _One Hundred Years of Solitude_, Pío Baroja’s _The Tree of Knowledge_, Julio Cortázar’s _Hopscotch_, Juan Rulfo’s _Pedro Páramo_, Miguel de Unamuno’s _Mist_, Francisco de Quevedo’s _The Swindler_, and many other texts that are not so famous. Throughout the book the authors include charts with common erroneous expressions and the correct forms to replace them with. Many of the topics in the grammar and mechanics sections will seem basic to native speakers of Spanish, but other complex issues are also addressed. _Saber escribir_ is not designed for specialists or advanced writers. The authors have in mind primarily the person who wants to start expressing himself/herself properly and effectively through writing.

_Saber escribir_ includes plenty of advice on how to adapt the message one wants to convey to specific genres. The main point the authors make, which is the main point made in Composition courses, is that the writer must consider the rhetorical situation (purpose, audience, style, stance, etc.) and give shape to the text accordingly. The chapters that cover the different genres may be the most useful ones. The first three chapters contain valuable and interesting information about language and communication, and the chapters on composition and style provide ideas on how to produce a varied, pleasing text. The lists of appropriate verbs, adjectives, and transition words are of great help.

I find two main shortcomings in the book. The most patent one is its repetitiveness. Many of the arguments are unnecessarily restated throughout the book. The other issue has to do with the choice of texts to illustrate concepts. As I pointed out above, these examples are taken from a wide variety of texts, many of them classics, but they are not always the best examples. The intentions, in other words, are good, but the authors may have tried to hard to look for examples in texts that would “represent” most areas of the Spanish speaking world. At the end of the day, however, I feel that the positive aspects of _Saber escribir_ outweigh the negative ones by far.

If you are a beginner or intermediate writer looking for strategies and insight into the craft, this book should be a helpful resource for you. If you’re looking for a textbook to use in a class, _Saber escribir_ will also help, but I recommend supplementing it with readings. Composition should be paired with analysis (the two concepts are opposites: “to put together” and “to take apart”), and the latter is simply not given much space in the book. To be fair to _Saber escribir_, though, it was obviously not meant to be a textbook. Unfortunately for the teacher of Spanish in the US, there are not many options, and _Saber escribir_ has the huge advantage of being available in e book format at an affordable price.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the book! 14th century Great product 14th century I like it! 14th century Excelente! 14th century Se tornou um instrumento auxiliar nos estudos da língua espanhola, porque permite entender a maneira de escrever e entender este novo idioma. 14th century

Saber