Latin American Spanish (Lonely Planet Phrasebooks) [Paperback]

Roberto Esposto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

Speak the right lingo in country after country, for over 5,000 miles! This book covers the local Spanish of: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay & Venezuela.

For additional travel in the region, see Lonely Planet's Mexican Spanish, Costa Rican Spanish and Quechua Phrasebooks.

Our phrasebooks give you a comprehensive mix of practical and social words and phrases in more than 120 languages. Chat with the locals and discover their culture - a guaranteed way to enrich your travel experience.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 5 edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740597125
• ISBN-13: 978-1740597128
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 3.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Foreign Language Nonfiction > Spanish
  • #8 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Spanish
  • #9 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Spanish

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My favorite phrasebook, February 20, 2009

By 

S. Heneghan "One Woman Book Club" (Lincoln, RI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Latin American Spanish (Lonely Planet Phrasebooks) (Paperback)

I have purchased both the Latin American Spanish and the French versions of this phrasebook. The phrases are organized by category, with an alphabetical index in the back. This organization makes it easy to review a few key phrases before entering a restaurant or museum etc. so you can sound like less of a tourist. Also, the book is so small it is very discreet and takes up hardly any room in a purse or backpack. However, the way the pronunciations are spelled out is rather strange sometimes. I would recommend knowing some basics in the language before you use these books, so you can recognize proper and improper pronunciations.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great little book, March 8, 2010

By 

redninjatwo - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Latin American Spanish (Lonely Planet Phrasebooks) (Paperback)

For every significant trip out of country, I've picked up a copy of the pertinent Lonely Planet Phrasebook and I have yet to be disappointed. I purchased two of the Latin American Spanish edition prior to a recent trip to Honduras. As with other Lonely Planet Phrasebooks, this one includes basic pronunciation and grammar, phrases organized by category, short dictionaries in both languages, and cultural commentary. While they aren't comprehensive in their vocabulary, they are compact and can easily be carried in a pocket. Unless you plan to really dig in and learn the language, my personal opinion is that one of these books is all you need to get by.

For me these books have also provided a great way to connect with local speakers. I have handed my copy to new friends more than once so they could look up phrases or words to communicate with me. When traveling to a location where you don't speak the language (in this case, Spanish), these phrasebooks combined with a smile and a good sense of humor will demonstrate a real desire to communicate in the local tongue, get you through many common situations, and ultimately help enrich your travel experience.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good content but hard to navigate, June 1, 2011

By 

Becky Hayes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Latin American Spanish (Lonely Planet Phrasebooks) (Paperback)

I took this book with me on my travels around Buenos Aires and it definitely helped me out in times of dire need. It was full of great words and phrases and the fact that it had phonetic descriptions was great to. But the reality was i didnt get to use it much in social situations, as the navigation was so terrible. I tried to ask a cab to take me somewhere using the book... and it took me 5 minutes to flick through and find the right page! I opted for a crash course at Expanish Spanish school instead. To those who dont have a word of spanish, I would suggest doing a course and taking a smaller phrasebook