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Rating: 
Summary: The Ambiguities of Spanish and the Solution
Review: I'm referring, of course, to there not being a 0 star rating. This is without a doubt the most useless, inaccurate, and misleading publication I have ever seen. Why? Well, each entry is followed by translations that are wrong or misspelled or committing some other dictionary-destroying information. To the dictionaries credit I did find that it was about 8% accurate. I calculated this by adding up all the entries (a rather limited and useless compendium of words to begin with) and determined from various sources which were accurate and which were not. About 8 in 100 fit the bill, meaning that 92% of the dictionary is just plain wrong! Since the author does not have the courtesy to point out which entries are properly handled, it leaves you looking like a sucker after buying this book. Do yourself a favor and keep clear of this book. Please keep way clear if you want any chance of learning any Spanish.
Rating: 
Summary: More frustration!
Review: I'm referring, of course, to there not being a 0 star rating. This is without a doubt the most useless, inaccurate, and misleading publication I have ever seen. Why? Well, each entry is followed by translations that are wrong or misspelled or committing some other dictionary-destroying information. To the dictionaries credit I did find that it was about 8% accurate. I calculated this by adding up all the entries (a rather limited and useless compendium of words to begin with) and determined from various sources which were accurate and which were not. About 8 in 100 fit the bill, meaning that 92% of the dictionary is just plain wrong! Since the author does not have the courtesy to point out which entries are properly handled, it leaves you looking like a sucker after buying this book. Do yourself a favor and keep clear of this book. Please keep way clear if you want any chance of learning any Spanish.
Rating:
Summary: The Ambiguities of Spanish and the Solution
Review: Spanish is one of the languages I work with. On the face of it Spanish is a rather simple language, but when it comes to common everyday words there are many ambiguities and varieties. On a recent visit to Puerto Rico I saw three foodstores on the same intersection, and each referred to itself by a different name. Later, while visiting the rain forest, I came upon a waterfall with signs on both sides of the road. One sign referred to it as "caida de agua," and the other called it "cascada." It was the same waterfall. When I translate or edit documents from English into Spanish, I keep running into the problem of words such as grapefruit or strawberry which have different names in countries like Mexico or Chile. For years, I was hoping someone would come up with a dictionary of this nature. Now finally someone did. I realize this dictionary does not take the place of the regular English-Spanish dictionaries, but it is a great auxiliary tool. I further realize that its definitions are not always cast in stone, since the usage of everyday Spanish words often defy defintion. Nevertheless, this is so far the only dictionary of its kind, and as such it is enormously useful. One can only hope it will be revised and expanded soon, as the need for it is beyond dispute.
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Summary: This Dictionary Saves the Day
Review: The Multicultural Spanish Dictionary is a book my translation agency has been looking for for years. Each time we translate something from English into Spanish, we run up against the problem of the thousands of words which are different in each country of the Spanish-speaking world. No one Spanish speaker or translator knows all the variations of everyday Spanish words in countries like Mexico, Peru, Chile, etc. As soon as we started using this dictionary, which, we realized right away, was far from exhaustive, we did a huge translation job involving thousands of technical and legal pages, from Mexican Spanish into English. One of the terms that kept appearing over and over again was a car part, which has the same name throughout Latin America, but a different name is Mexico. Our translators, all of them highly experienced, come from all parts of the Spanish-speaking world, and most of them missed the Mexican term. After checking it in this new dictionary, we realized what the problem was, and equalized the translation of this particular term. This is a good example of how a specialized dictionary of this kind can save one a great deal of grief. A word of caution: It does not replace the general Spanish-English dictionaries, of which there are several good ones. It is to be used as a supplement in cases where a basic word changes meaning from one country to the next. We are looking forward to a future expanded edition, but in the meantime, this is the best there is.
Rating:
Summary: A disaster!
Review: This book goes a fair way toward fulfilling the crying need for a dictionary of Spanish dialects. It contains much useful information. I have not been able to detect any outrageously inaccurate information, which is quite an accomplishment in a field noted hitherto for the abysmal quality of its production. Nonetheless, this dictionary leaves much to be desired, since it contains many gaps and inconsistencies. In the first place, in the English-to-Spanish section, the Spanish equivalents are given only for some countries, not for all. To make up for this, the authors introduce the concept of "principal term", which they leave undefined, but which presumably is the term used in the countries whose Spanish equivalents are not listed individually. However, the "principal term" they list is often incorrect for some countries.
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Summary: Very Helpful Dictionary Fills Vacuum
Review: This is an extremely helpful book which, while it does have its limitations, provides essential assistance to the linguist, business person and traveller unaware of the differences of expression throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Astonishingly, there doesn't appear to be anything else like it available, so its publication is more than welcome. It also provides a fascinating account of the cultural differences between Spanish-speaking countries and cultures extending from their linguistic diversity. A worthy investment!
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