AUTHOR: Paco Inclán, Joan Negrescolor
PUBLISHER: Litera Libros
GENRE: Divulgative
READER’S NAME: Isabel Domínguez Seoane
DATE: August 1st, 2023
I do not recommend Lenguas del mundo for its translation and publication in the United States.
Lenguas del mundo is composed of two parts. The first part is a linguistic commentary by continent: a general commentary on the linguistic panorama of each continent, followed by a page with an illustration of the geographical space and some fun facts or brief data on its linguistic diversity. In the second part, on the other hand, certain "curious" aspects of the languages and/or linguistic diversity seem to be chosen and the illustrations take on a greater prominence.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, it is not very clear who is the target audience of this publication, which does not identify itself either as a picture book or as an divulgative essay, as both elements are represented insufficiently. The informative fragments or fun facts about languages are not connected or related to each other, giving an aspect more like a powerpoint presentation than a literary text. It is also not very clear why these
specific facts are selected and not others, since there is no line of argument except the geographical one during the first part of the book (which is no longer maintained in the second part).
The selected information itself is interesting, of course, but it does not identify any reader: the informative paragraphs are too technical for a children's picture book and too superficial and disjointed for an essay aimed at an adult.
Overall, although the topic is relevant and the idea is good, I don't think there is a solid audience for this specific book as, thinking even in bookstores, it would get lost among the different commercial categories. That is why I don’t recommend this book for its translation.
However, I would recommend this book for use in high school ELE classes, where the short paragraphs can be easily addressed by students, many of the technical terms are cognate, and the thematic variety offers the opportunity to assign each student a different topic to research on his or her own and develop, for example, a class presentation.
