Introduction
Reading Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez, in Spanish is my one real goal that will probably take the rest of my life. A tough read for a self-taught Spanish learner. My grammar is decent and I haveThe New Reference Guide to Modern Spanish to consult if I have questions. My vocabulary is large, but I never seem to have quite the right word that conveys to meaning I want to express. I try to never say 'definition' or 'this word means...', rather I hope to remember to say "This word is used to express..." or something on that order.
Every page of this book contains at least one, or more likely many more, Spanish words I have to look up. Not just in one dictionary, but sometimes in all six I have access to. Harper-Collins, Word Magic, 2 in Word Reference app and website, Velázquez (which needs to come with a magnifying glass like the print OED), and the one I use in the beginning class that I teach, SpanishDict. The latter also has quite good teaching material and lots of example sentences, thesaurus, phrases, pronunciation clips and conjugation for every verb; all-in-all a good one for beginners..
Then once I look up a word, the question is what usage did he intend. Often none of the words used in the definition(s) are exactly right, so I must choose. When that doesn't work I go to the English translation, but sometime even the translator's phrasing does not feel quite right. Aaaaaaargh!
I have read the English translation four times, but the last was quite some time ago, so that while the story itself is not new it takes on a clarity when read in the original language. In the hands of a prose poet like GGM the characters and their environs become even more vivid.
This blog is for me. I am hoping that writing about it, tracing my trip into GGM's lexicography, his poesy, his painting of life and people of Macondo will add even more to my magical realism ride.
