Books by level / Spanish books
El estudiante de Salamanca: reading level, length and free edition
El estudiante de Salamanca by José de Espronceda is a narrative poem in Spanish. Our team rates it C1. It runs to 48,386 words with 10,997 different word forms, about 4–8 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.
- Author
- José de Espronceda
- Language
- Spanish
- Level
- C1
- Form
- narrative poem
- Words
- 48,386
- Different word forms
- 10,997
- Forms for 95% / 98%
- 8,578 / 10,030
- Reading time
- 4–8 h
- Free edition
- Project Gutenberg
Poema narrativo romántico sobre un libertino castigado por sus pecados.
Is El estudiante de Salamanca right for your level?
To recognise 95% of the running words in El estudiante de Salamanca, you need its 8,578 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 10,030. The median Spanish C1 book in our table needs 6,704 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is harder than most for its level: number 5 of 6, easiest first.
A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.
Which words should you know before you start?
These are the words that El estudiante de Salamanca uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 36 Spanish books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.
- syllable 82
- were 61
- rime 60
- stress 58
- than 53
- pron 51
- when 50
- these 44
- upon 42
- most 42
- like 42
- same 41
- only 40
- where 39
- verses 34
How does it begin?
The selections from Espronceda included in this volume have been edited for the benefit of advanced Spanish classes in schools and universities. The study of Espronceda, Spain’s greatest Romantic poet, offers the best possible approach to the whole subject of Romanticism. He is Spain’s "representative man" in that movement.
From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.
How long does it take to read?
| Words | 100 wpm | 150 wpm | 200 wpm | 250 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48,386 | 8 h | 5.5 h | 4 h | 3 h |
Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?
Where can you read it for free?
The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #15781. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.
To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.
What to read next at C1
Spanish books at the same level that ask for a similar amount of vocabulary:
- Facundo: Civilización y barbarie, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento: 101,153 words, 8,673 forms for 95%
- Novelas ejemplares, Miguel de Cervantes: 188,535 words, 6,913 forms for 95%
- Del sentimiento trágico de la vida, Miguel de Unamuno: 100,338 words, 6,495 forms for 95%
- Libro de poemas, Federico García Lorca: 15,045 words, 2,656 forms for 95%
- Romancero gitano, Federico García Lorca: 5,332 words, 1,477 forms for 95%
See also all Spanish books by level and books at C1 in all five languages.