Streetwise Spanish : Speak and Understand Everyday Spanish

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Spanish "slang" books on the market
Review: (By Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One," ISBN:1591133343)

This book explains the usage of numerous Spanish colloquialisms, through realistic dialogs, and extensive additional notes.

While there are some off-color words included in the book, the authors do not expend all of their energies listing countless obscenities that you would never want to use (a classic failing of the "slang" foreign language genre). Rather, the book focuses on colloquial expressions that you will actually be able to employ the next time you visit Spain or Mexico.

The authors explain how colloquialisms vary by region, making distinctions between expressions that are used in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, etc.

In summary, this book is a solid addition to the library of any student of Spanish.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Spanish "slang" books on the market
Review: (By Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One," ISBN:1591133343)

This book explains the usage of numerous Spanish colloquialisms, through realistic dialogs, and extensive additional notes.

While there are some off-color words included in the book, the authors do not expend all of their energies listing countless obscenities that you would never want to use (a classic failing of the "slang" foreign language genre). Rather, the book focuses on colloquial expressions that you will actually be able to employ the next time you visit Spain or Mexico.

The authors explain how colloquialisms vary by region, making distinctions between expressions that are used in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, etc.

In summary, this book is a solid addition to the library of any student of Spanish.

Rating:
Summary: not what i thought
Review: i have been studying espanol for about 4 years now, and it seems like every book tell's you the same thing. i wanted a book that would tell me how to say "what's up!" not "how are you?" so I bought this. it was the best twenty bucks i ever invested. my boyfriend, who is mexican, was shocked when i started speaking not just fluent spanish, but common fluent spanish. a definite if you want to learn how to speak in a less formal manner. nothing stiff about the book at all.

Rating:
Summary: Best of its Kind
Review: There are a plethora of books purporting to deal with Spanish slang on the market; a surprisingly large number of them have come out in just the last few years. After having checked out many of them, I must say that this is far and away the best one that I have encountered to date.

One of the problems with dealing with colloquialisms in Spanish is that they differ so much from region to region. This book addresses this by setting the dialogues in different Hispanic countries, including (dare I say it?) that particularly large Hispanic country called the United States, specifically in California and Florida. The book then selects out the colloquialisms covered in the lesson and tells you what the equivalent terms are in other Hispanic countries.

Another problem with learning colloquialisms, and this is true in any language, is that they tend to vary considerably depending on the social type you're dealing with: students, business types, street people, etc. Not infrequently, the learner may have to deal with several different strata in the course of his or her travels, and so familiarity with several situations is called for. The different lessons, and lectures, in this book intentionally vary the milieu of the characters so that you get an even spread.

The book also has an abundance of cultural notes and asides, jokes, and situational items to polish up your skills. Among the features I enjoyed best was the essay on that famous Hispanic folk art, the "piropo", including examples of the genre, along with some snappy comebacks for women to use when encountering this phenomenon on the street.

So may study aids come out on Spanish every year that it's hard to single out the real winners. This book is definitely one of them, and regardless of your interest in the language you'll find your money well spent on this one. To top it all, it's a good read!

Rating:
Summary: Best of its Kind
Review: There are a plethora of books purporting to deal with Spanish slang on the market; a surprisingly large number of them have come out in just the last few years. After having checked out many of them, I must say that this is far and away the best one that I have encountered to date.

One of the problems with dealing with colloquialisms in Spanish is that they differ so much from region to region. This book addresses this by setting the dialogues in different Hispanic countries, including (dare I say it?) that particularly large Hispanic country called the United States, specifically in California and Florida. The book then selects out the colloquialisms covered in the lesson and tells you what the equivalent terms are in other Hispanic countries.

Another problem with learning colloquialisms, and this is true in any language, is that they tend to vary considerably depending on the social type you're dealing with: students, business types, street people, etc. Not infrequently, the learner may have to deal with several different strata in the course of his or her travels, and so familiarity with several situations is called for. The different lessons, and lectures, in this book intentionally vary the milieu of the characters so that you get an even spread.

The book also has an abundance of cultural notes and asides, jokes, and situational items to polish up your skills. Among the features I enjoyed best was the essay on that famous Hispanic folk art, the "piropo", including examples of the genre, along with some snappy comebacks for women to use when encountering this phenomenon on the street.

So may study aids come out on Spanish every year that it's hard to single out the real winners. This book is definitely one of them, and regardless of your interest in the language you'll find your money well spent on this one. To top it all, it's a good read!

Rating:
Summary: not what i thought
Review: This book is a great buy. I bought it recently for my final stage of Spanish, slang. I have already mastered the grammer and much of the vocabulary, so this is the last thing. When I say slang, I do not exactly mean profanity. I am talking about idiomatic expressions. This book greatly helps you to sound like a native speaker. It has a dialogues, translations, vocabulary notes and lists, exercises, jokes and cartoons, and some culture notes. It also has reviews and answer keys, as well as a bilingual glossary. I appreciate its warning of how vulgar a word can be, and also its explanation on how different words are used in different Spanish-speaking countries. You can't get confused while using this book, because everything is so easy and clear. A very good choice to learning everyday Spanish.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book for Learning Everyday Spanish
Review: This book is a great buy. I bought it recently for my final stage of Spanish, slang. I have already mastered the grammer and much of the vocabulary, so this is the last thing. When I say slang, I do not exactly mean profanity. I am talking about idiomatic expressions. This book greatly helps you to sound like a native speaker. It has a dialogues, translations, vocabulary notes and lists, exercises, jokes and cartoons, and some culture notes. It also has reviews and answer keys, as well as a bilingual glossary. I appreciate its warning of how vulgar a word can be, and also its explanation on how different words are used in different Spanish-speaking countries. You can't get confused while using this book, because everything is so easy and clear. A very good choice to learning everyday Spanish.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, Real, Entertaining Spanish!
Review: This book is the best birthday present I ever got from a friend...It is at once a GREAT read, with hilarious jokes, situations, and catroons sprinkeled throughout; and a solid educational resource...although you won't find it in your high school Spanish class. Also, it covers a wide spectrum of slang, from innocent proverbs to informal greetings to more risque or vulgar phrases. Which of course help you to be an informed global citizen, haha. When you think you're done learning all the words for one lesson, you can quiz yourself with the brief excercises at the end of each chapter!
But wait, there's more! Since Spanish is the official language of a dazzling 21 countries, this book also does a great job at pointing out and explaining regional differences. All in all, this book will teach you to greet, express a multitude of emotions, complain, respond to lewd comments, spout proverbs, and overall feel a lot more comfortable with your usage and understanding of everyday Spanish. With readings, excercises, vocab lists, fun, and a dictionary in the back, this book is your one-stop for picking up tons of casual Spanish as it is really spoken.