Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook (Spanish Edition) [Paperback]

Izaskun Arretxe (Author), Allison Jones (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0864424752 | ISBN-13: 978-0864424754 | Publication Date: June 1997 | Edition: 1st

- comprehensive two-way dictionary & user-friendly sentence builder
- pronunciation for every word
- fiestas, flamenco & futbol: goes beyond the basics into contemporary Spanish culture
- Basque, Catalan & Galician sections plus local slang for fun & friendly exchanges
- useful culinary dictionary for dining with confidence

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Unlike most travel phrasebooks, you can tell right off that Lonely Planet's was created by people who travel. Unwieldy sentences such as "I wonder, where is the post office?" have been replaced by pragmatic life-savers. The Dating & Romance section provides pickup lines ("Would you like a drink?" "Do you have a light?" "Can I take you home?") and rejections ("I'd rather not." "I'm here with my boyfriend/girlfriend." "Stop hassling me." and "Get lost!"). The menu decoder is invaluable, as are the chapters on finding a room, talking politics, hiking, shopping, music, and bullfights. The phrases reflect day-to-day life and normal conversation--the sort you wish you could make when traveling. With distinctions between Basque, Catalan, and Galician, plus a mini-English-Spanish, Spanish-English dictionary, this is an elegantly arranged Spanish phrasebook, perhaps the best on the market.

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish, Catalan

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 1st edition (June 1997)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 0864424752
• ISBN-13: 978-0864424754
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 3.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A useful resource for a traveler in Spain, June 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

When I went to Spain I had some Spanish training, but this book was still extremely helpful. It helped me remember and use parts of the language I had forgotten--for instance how to say Can I ___ and Can you ___? That is extremely important if you don't want to sound rude in a foreign country. More importantly, it was organized extremely well. If I needed vocabulary while I was shopping, I turned to the shopping section. When I wanted to prepare for asking a taxi driver how to get somewhere, I simply turned to the page about hailing a taxi and prepared.

My deepest regret was losing the book halfway through my trip, but I had used it so much already that those phrases and words stuck with me all the way until the end. I suggest the book for anyone traveling to Spain (because it is Spanish for Spain as opposed to Spanish for Latin America), who would like to blend in and take as much from the country as you can.

The book gives excellent advice about speaking a foreign language--just do it. It suggests you leave your inhibitions behind and try. You will get more comfortable with it as you go. That was absolutely true coming from someone who hadn't used the language in over 6 years.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful, June 27, 2001

By 

BookWoman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

This phrasebook was very useful to me in my trip to Spain. It's got a grammar section, topic sections (eating out, the post office, etc.), and a 2-way dictionary. The topic sections were very useful and easy to look up. The "menu decoder" in particular surprised me with its completeness -- most everything I didn't understand on menus was in there. I found the grammar sections also extremely useful. I studied Spanish for a year about 6 years ago and remembered the basics, but was stuck in the present tense. The phrasebook gave me a straightforward refresher on the past and future tenses as well as conjugation tables of irregular verbs. Maybe not the best thing to learn Spanish from scratch from, but a solid resource for someone with introductory skills.

There are small English-Spanish and Spanish-English dictionaries in the end. In a book this size they're not very extensive, but they're still pretty useful. For a long trip (or if you're planning on having conversations that extend beyond a few sentences) a pocket dictionary would be helpful in addition.

The phrasebook also has chapters on speaking Catalan and Basque if you really want to impressive the native speakers.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUPER!, October 8, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

THIS PHRASEBOOK IS EXTREMELY VALUBLE. IT IS CONCISE, EASY TO READ, AND VERY HELPFUL. THERE ARE HINTS AND TIPS THROUGH OUT. THE GRAMMAR SECTION IS VERY HELPFUL. THIS IS ONE USER-FRIENDLY PHRASEBOOK.