Customer Rating: 
Summary: WORST SERVICE/CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Comment: I WAS SUBSCRIBED FOR A YEAR WHICH ENDED LAST MONTH, I ONLY RECEIVED 2 ISSUES, CALLED MANY TIMES TO COMPLAIN AND NO FAVORABLE ANSWER. OTHER MAGAZINES I ORDERED ARRIVED WELL. I WILL SAY WORST SERVICE, WORST CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, WORST SERVICE, AMAZON SHOULDN'T HAVE AS A PRODUCT.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Vocabulary builder, but not your father's Reader's Digest
Comment: A reluctant "thumbs up"(the other one is helping to hold my nose)...Reader's Digest used to be a rather conservative offering, but now has undergone several recent transformations, resulting in something designed to compete with "Us" or "People", as evidenced by the now-standard kiss-up softball fluff piece to this or that Hollywood celebrity, nearly all airheaded pinko lefties. This from the once staunchly anti-Soviet/anti-communist magazine.
That being said, I've reluctantly continued my subscription for 10yrs., because it is a good vocabulary builder. NOTE: have plenty of dictionaries handy! Whoever translates the article may call it what it's called in Venezuela & not Colombia. The world "regazo"("lap"[i.e., a place to sit] in Eng.) is common in the magazine, but my (Venezuelan) master's degree tutor & her PhD (Mexican) gal pal had never heard of the word! (They say "piernas"[legs] which conjures up a humorous image to the native speaker of Eng.).
Whatever. Back issues are hard to find, sadly, because these'd be a treasure. Mexico's version of eBay, perhaps.
That the articles are different is prob'ly a matter of demographics(as applies to advertising)/audience appeal/simple editorial preferences. Yes, I too thought I'd simply place the Eng. & Span. editions side-by-side & have the translations spoon fed to me, but this isn't the case.
Also, not all editions in Spanish are available to US addresses! Forget it if you want the magazine that's printed/distributed in Spain!
flagday1960 / [email protected]
Customer Rating:
Summary: I agree with Katty Estevez
Comment: I was also very disappointed to learn that the Spanish version of Reader's Digest does not cover the same articles as the English version. My wife' primary laguage is Spanish and I also was hoping to discuss the articles that we would read in the publication. Can anyone give us the reason for the decision by the company not to have mirror versions in English and Spanish?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Selecciones - why different from Reader's Digest?
Comment: When I suscribed to Selecciones I was under the impression that it would cover the same articles as the English version of Reader's Digest. I think Reader's Digest creates a disservice to spanish readers by offering a product that does NOT produce the same well known, widely read product to English language readers. I was very disappointed that the magazines covered different topics --when trying to discuss articles from a Reader's Digest magazine with my mother, who reads only in Spanish, hence only suscribes to Selecciones. Why not offer the same well known product with the same articles that appear in Reader's Digest? Though selecciones is a good magazine, I don't see why the clear separation of topics from one magazine to another. It is misleading to suscribers who are looking to read the Reader's Digest widely distributed product, when they're actually buying an inferior product.
Customer Rating:
Summary: good for building a vocabulary
Comment: This unpretentious little magazine would perhaps be good for an intermediate Spanish language student. With its wide assortment of topics, there's bound to be a few articles to hold ones interest.
The variety for the month of May '02 includes "El Pantanal Brasileño", about the wildlife in Brazil and which includes many photos, a piece on Sophia Loren, another on conserving ones memory as one ages with mental exercises that are supposed to help, and many more. The one that appealed to me was "La Magia Curativa de la Cocina Oriental" as I'm one of those "you are what you eat" believers.It also has those "tidbits" like "La Risa, Remedio Infalible", and of course, the intimidating "Enriquezca su Vocabulario", which I find quite a challenge, and only occasionally have reached the lowest score of "Bueno" !
One has to remember that these articles are for the most part translations condensed from U.S. magazines, and don't have the cadence of something written originally in Spanish, but the translations are well done, and it's in that handy, easy to carry "fit in your pocket" (well, almost !) size.
