beige_alert | revistas en español (Reply)

While looking for things to read in Spanish I’ve found a surprising number of Spanish-language magazines available locally. Perhaps the most surprising is Foreign Affairs en Español, which I didn’t even know existed until I saw it at a local Barnes and Noble. It’s more than I want to take on with my current ability with the language, but it is nice to know that it is waiting for me. I used to subscribe to the English-language Foreign Affairs and always liked reading it. I actually have an odd foreign-language story involving it---while carrying a copy someone asked me if I spoke Chinese. I was mystified by the question until I saw that the advertisement on the back cover included a few large Chinese characters. I explained that that was just an ad for a financial services company and the actual content was all in English.

A bit more suitable for my minimal ability with Spanish is National Geographic en Español, with lots of pretty pictures and a lot of short articles. Another good one is GQ España, which is actually published in Spain and so contains ads for interesting things like tiny European automobiles. It also features lots of short, easy articles, and, better yet, photos of naked women, which is always a plus. “What are you looking at so intently?” “Oh, I’m studying a foreign language....”