Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10638 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 260 pages

Customer Reviews

A rare Central and South American Spanish phrase book.
Many people may think that the Spanish spoken in Spain is the same Spanish spoken in Colombia or Peru. That fact is there are some differences and just like English spoken in England and the English spoken in the U.S.A or Australia these differences are slight and can still be easily understood by the other peoples. This book offers better regional knowledge of the Castilian Spanish spoken in Central and South America and will make the locals realise that you are making extra effort to connect to the unique Spanish of their country and not that of Spain. Even in this region the words can vary and it can be easy to find that a word for something in Venezuela is different to the same thing in Argentina. It is not surprising that same words may vary considering the influences that this Hispanic region has and being over 5,000 miles long helps make Spanish one of the most spoken languages in the world today.

The subjects covered are the ones you would expect in travel situations. Transportation, booking accommodation, shopping, ordering food, clubbing, health issues, romantic sayings and helpful information like numbers, dates and directions are all covered.

A good read for those who are fond of languages or those intending to visit anywhere between and including Mexico (in the North) to Chile and Argentina (in the South).

Lonely Planet LatinAm Spanish - okay for beginners, advanced users ignore
This is a useful phrasebook with excellent commentary on pronunciation etc. It starts from a basic level but is accessible and has some use if you already know some Spanish. However I wouldn't say it makes many distinctions between mainland Spanish and LatAm Spanish, so it is best bought if you speak little to no Spanish and specifically want to visit Latin America. It will NOT give you much on the DIFFERENCES between mainland and LatAm Spanish and is generally too basic for an advanced speaker - but fair enough, as that's probably its remit.