Customer Reviews

Costa Rican Spanish: Lonely Planet Phrasebook

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

 

 

This 2nd edition is more than just a beauty cleanup of the 1st. It completely changes the content, the intent and therefore the usefulness of the book. It is full of pronunciations, painstakingly spelled out as if someone was going to read them preferentially over the Spanish words. It's sort of lame, because Spanish pronunciation is basically invariable (accents aren't, of course) and if you are having trouble with it that is best fixed with a different book. It seems like there is less information, because a big chunk of the page has gone over to pronunciations. It has been scrubbed of most of the sketchier inclusions of the 1st edition, which are fun. The very useful verb endings charts and some of the Tiquismo sidebars are gone. I also find the typeface harder to read in dim light, especially the dictionary. On the plus side, it is prettier, and perhaps better organized and easier to find information.

I had my 1st edition stolen while down there. I hadn't been in a hurry to replace it, but the minute I received this 2nd edition, I scoured the 'net to locate another 1st. You should consider the same.

This new edition has corrected some of the mistakes I pointed out in a previous review and in an email exchange with the author. As I thumbed through the book I didn't see any "tu" conjugations, only "vos" and "usted". This is much more accurate for Costa Rican Spanish and was a blunder in the first edition. There is also an explanation at the beginning of the book about Costa Rican Spanish, which includes mention of the predominance of the voseo en Costa Rica. Nonetheless, I still give the book one star for two reasons. First the pronunciation section, as Mr. Kohnstamm informed me, was done by someone from Australia (if I remember right). So if you are from the U.S. several of the pronunciations are incorrect. Second, it only took me about a minute of looking through the book to see several mistakes in grammar and translation. Example: "Si vengas a Costa Rica..." should be "Si viene/venis a Costa Rica..." and "Adonde es la sala ejecutiva?" should be "Donde esta la sala ejecutiva?". These types of mistakes really stand out and defeat the purpose of the book, which is to help English-speaking tourists fit in and learn correct phrases for interacting with the locals... at least I think that is the purpose here.

Book is fine for beginning Spanish speakers but only somewhat useful to semi-fluent Spanish speakers.

Although I'm glad I read other reviews about the use of the formal you instead of familiar that is addressed in the book, overall, I am much more pleased with the layout and content of the this compact travel book than some of the reviews had led me to believe.

I took a copy of this book on our family vacation to Costa Rica over winter break and it got passed along to all family members ages 10 - 75! Everyone got something from the book and my sister purchased another copy while we in Costa Rica. The small size was handy, very light weight and the contents are organized logically.

Admittedly, a lot of the time I was using basic phrases, but I actually was able to ask if my eyeglasses could be repaired, which is going above and beyond for a travel phrasebook. Definitely recommended.

This book is nice to have when your going on a vacation. It's really going to help. My spanish is really dusty. This little guide will help out alot.