Product Description

This phrasebook contains a two-way dictionary, with dialect variations, slang and grammar specific to Latin American usage; identifies differences in usage and vocabulary from country to country; conversation topics such as sport and romance; and specific needs including travelling with children.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207100 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
National Geographic Traveler, September 2006
'Lonely Planet Phrasebooks. Portable, pocket-size, cheap, and available for almost any country you might want to visit...'

Customer Reviews

Funny Phrases!
Now, I'm not a spanish speaker at all and so this little book was to be my only way to commuicate if spanish was needed and as a rule it worked out very well. In fact I returned from my travels speaking much more spanish than I ever thought I would! What makes this book special though are the random, realistic and essentially very funny phrases included. It goes way further than the standard 'Donde esta el banco' (where's the bank?) with phrases such as 'Lo siento, no puedo levantarla' (I can't get it up - sorry!) providing hours of amusement! Well worth the buy if only for the romance/getting closer section - hilarious, especially when you 'accidently' come out with the wrong phrase to a local campesino!

Useful, easy to read
The layout of this phrasebook is excellent, clearly colour coded into sections. It has modern colloquial phrases and slang, the kind of language people really use, rather the traditional guidebook thing of " I come from an industrial town in the northwest of England" stuff. It also has interesting facts about each country throughout and a few social tips. Very useful.

Great book, always in my pocket.
I found the colour coded sections very easy to navigate. I travelled for two months in South America and found that by and large the menu items were in the food and drink section, and usually a word or similar word could be found in the dictionary. The regional variations are helpful, for example a bus station could be 'estacion de Autobuses ', or 'terminal de omnibuses', depending on where you are.

I never really used the front grammar section, and there's no past or future tenses, but it's amazing how much Spanish you pick up from it. Small, discreet and fast to access once you know the sections, I would highly recommend this book. A Spanish CD course before I left helps with pronounciation pitfalls, but generally the phonetic spelling is spot on.