Customer Reviews

2001 Spanish and English idioms (2001 Idioms Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked up this book from a shelf in a bookstore and I just had to have it. It is neatly organized by keyword and has both a Spanish and an English side. Each entry consists of a keyword, a brief definition, and the most common expressions using that word along with an example using it. People often face the problem of hearing a word in the context of an expression and finding it in a dictionary that gives its literal meaning. This book solves that problem. There are too many expressions, and no book could have every one imaginable, but this book makes a great attempt. I recommend this book to anybody who is at all interested in Spanish, in any stage of learning it.

Any additional reading material other than a text book is always helpful when studying a language. Idiomatic expressions always present difficulties or challenges especially if they cannot be translated word for word. The objective of this book is to provide the reader with an explanation of the meaning and an example of how some common idioms are used in the Spanish language. I found that the book is well organized, divided alphabetically, concise and covers a broad range of examples non specific to a country, region or group of Spanish speakers. Once again NTC Publishing Group has provided readers and learners of Spanish with a useful and handy reference that can definitely enrich one's knowledge and understanding of Spanish either written or spoken. Here are some examples of the range of idioms that are outlined in the book:

1) de hecho = in fact (cannot be translated literally)
2) sin embargo = however (cannot be translated literally)
3) a primera vista= at first sight (common, everyday expression. Easy to understand)
4) dar la lata = to make a nuisance of oneself ( cannot be translated word for word, common expression)
5) tener mala pata= to have bad luck (common everyday expression)

This book not only contains idioms but everyday short frases that sometimes are hard to express correctly if one has not learned the correct way or has not heard it used prior. An example of this would be #1 and #2 above. These types of short frases are important because they are of everyday usage and the more one knows the more authentic the Spanish will sound. If you are looking to enrich your Spanish regardless of your current level, this book will definitely be of great help and will broaden your overall knowledge and understanding of the language.

Compared with some of the other books in my Spanish reference collection, this one is not absolutely indispensable, hence the four-star rating. It does have a lot going for it, though, and the previous two reviewers mentioned some of those useful features. For one thing, the book is highly readable and easy to follow. Also, the sample sentences provide excellent context for each idiomatic expression. And the format of the book is almost identical to that of a bilingual dictionary, allowing the reader to look up idioms by language. All expressions are translated between the two languages, but some idioms are listed in only one language or the other.

As a supplement to this book -- and to have a measure of comparison -- I bought "The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs" by Peter Weibel. Besides claiming to have 12,000 idioms, "Big Red" is a little more recent and is part of the outstanding Spanish reference lineup from publisher McGraw Hill. I have yet to find a be-all and end-all bilingual reference book of Spanish and English idioms. You can definitely choose worse than "2001"; you can choose better by going with Weibel' book, but "2001" is a pretty close second -- for me, anyway. Savaiano's most comprehensive entry in the field (he's written other similar books) has generally met most of my expectations.

I'm a senior citizen taking a Spanish conversation class. This book was recommended by our instructor and each week we select 2 or 3 at random and discuss them. The material is excellent and fun. I always like just browsing and seeing how similar and how different Spanish idioms are from the English.

I have had this book for many years and, altho it is helpful at times, there really should be an electronic, computerized version that has a good search engine and that can easily be added to and/or edited in order for it to be really useful. A command of idiomatic expressions is major dividing line between a native and non-native speaker. It would be great to have something more useful and complete than this book.

Having trouble following the conversation? The reason might not be that you haven't studied your Spanish vocab! Prepare for casual conversation with this book. The book contains a great collection of idioms/idiomas. Great for enhancing conversation skills and making sure that "proverb" translates the way you want it too! Avoid embarrassment and confusion with this handy resource! Great for any level student of the Spanish language.