Customer Reviews

Latin American Spanish Phrase Book (Berlitz Phrase Books) (Spanish Edition)

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If you're doing anything more than going to Mexico on a standard week or less american vacation package THIS BOOK PROBABLY WILL DISAPPOINT YOU.

I bought this phrase book based on a review. Don't make the same mistake. Check it out thoroughly to see if it will work for you.

My biggest criticism is with the dictionary and index sections. They are miserably incomplete listing only about 10-15% of the words actually found in the book. To find a word or phrase knowing either an english or spanish word is nearly impossible. You have to know which section of the book it appears in and go to any number of mini-dictionaries within these sections.

One has to memorize the book to know where to find the various phrases. Typically by the time they're found they're no longer needed.

The book appears to drawn from a european spanish version as several pages still have references to europe. What has been changed is clearly geared solely toward Mexico.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT:
In the medical section, it contains no phrase regarding diahrea or bowel problems!! Nonetheless you can find language relating to water-skiing and toboganning.

Certainly there are much better phrase books on the market.

My advice:
1) Look for a phrase book with a THOROUGH DICTIONARY AND INDEX.

2) Think of a simple question you might have while travelling; If you can't find the words to form the question within a few minutes it's probably a worthless phrasebook.

3) Think about the answers you'll be getting to your questions. Will you be able to look up what's been said to translate them?