Streetwise Spanish Dictionary/Thesaurus

by Mary McVey Gill and Brenda Wegmann

Book Overview

People who are fed up (hasta la madre--"up to the mother") with classroom Spanish will enjoy this A-to-Z thematic arrangement of more than 5,000 colorful terms and slang expressions from across the Spanish-speaking world. Streetwise Spanish Dictionary/Thesaurus includes numerous examples, quizzes, humorous illustrations, cultural information, and help with usage. How good is that? (Que Padre!--"What a father").

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0844225517
• ISBN13: 9780844225517
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Great resource

A good resource for anyone studying Spanish or trying to keep up to date with all the changes that the language suffers every day.

Ojala! Todos deben comprar este libro, tan llena de alegria.

I have used a number of the phrases unexpectedly on my friend,co-worker Spanish teacher..he laughed and asked where I had learned them....he was impressed and very surprised...as were many of the Hispanic students with which I work as a mentor. Muchisimas gracias!! Ahorita mi amigo me llama sabionda.

Best of its Kind

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!

Great resource for colloquialisms!

This dictionary/ thesaurus was wonderfully designed to enlighten, clarify and facilitate one's understanding of Spanish slang that is used in all Spanish speaking countries. The book is well organized thematically and alphabetically with colloquial words & expressions that are used and heard in the everyday spoken language. The book offers a broad range of expressions with examples of its usage in a phrase and the country of origin. Therefore, if you are looking to clarify queries concerning slang words or expressions this dictionary/ thesaurus would prove helpful and also is a learning tool for those who wish to learn and use colloquialisms from any the Spanish speaking countries in their everyday speech. Here are some examples of slang expressions, the respective country and common usage covered in the book: Under the theme "Going Crazy"1) Botar la canica- to go crazy -(Mexico)2) Caérsele un tornillo- to have a screw loose (Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador)3) Perder la chaveta- to lose, one's head, to be off one's rocker (Mexico, Chile, Spain, Dominican Republic) "Types of students"1) el cuadernícolas- a serious student who studies a lot (used in most of Latin America)2) La pollila de biblioteca -bookworm (used in most of Latin America and Spain)3) El/ la enchufado/a -teacher's pet (Spain)These are just a few examples of the types of expressions that the book has and as one can see they are definitely useful, heard, spoken and easy to learn. I strongly suggest purchasing this resource material if you wish to have a broader knowledge and understanding of colloquial expressions and everyday slang.

A Great Book for Learning Everyday Spanish

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.