Random House Latin-American Spanish Dictionary [Hardcover]

David L. Gold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 28, 1997 | ISBN-10: 067945294X | ISBN-13: 978-0679452942

This dictionary provides detailed, reliable information on standard Spanish pronunciation, covering the distinctive words and meanings unique to Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. The dictionary's features include:

*More than 60,000 entries

*Complete coverage of Latin-American Spanish usage

*Spanish-English and English-Spanish sections

*Geographical names and their derivatives

*Tables of irregular verbs

*Commonly used phrases, weight and measures, and more

The Random House Latin-American Spanish Dictionary is perfect for business travelers and students alike.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish

From the Inside Flap

This dictionary provides detailed, reliable information on standard Spanish pronunciation, covering the distinctive words and meanings unique to Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. The dictionary's features include:

*More than 60,000 entries

*Complete coverage of Latin-American Spanish usage

*Spanish-English and English-Spanish sections

*Geographical names and their derivatives

*Tables of irregular verbs

*Commonly used phrases, weight and measures, and more

The Random House Latin-American Spanish Dictionary is perfect for business travelers and students alike.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 656 pages
• Publisher: Random House Reference (January 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067945294X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679452942
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,650,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's a start, December 28, 2001

By 

Aaron Heilbrun (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Random House Latin-American Spanish Dictionary (Hardcover)

When I first learned of this dictionary, I was very enthusiastic. Finally, I thought. Well, not quite, gringo. See, the problem is that most dictionaries are not written for the vast majority of English and Spanish speakers. They utilize British English and Spanish from Spain. This is immensely frustrating as anyone can tell you when they looked up a word only to find their Mexican or Chilean or Venezuelan friends looking at them quizzically because they'd never heard of it. We need a dictionary that employs American English and Latin American Spanish. Why is that so hard? There are more than a quarter billion Americans and several hundred million Latinos. WAY more than Spain and England together.

Regarding this dictionary, it is acceptable for beginners and intermediate users, but advanced speakers will find that it simply does not have enough words or idiomatic expressions. If you want a quick reference to look up words, it's fine. But if you are looking for a REFERENCE as in an exhaustive list of all expressions regarding poner (for example), then keep shopping. What kills me is it that if Random House took this dictionary, expanded and deepened it, it would rock the house. But as it stands now, it's limited in what it can do for most bilingual speakers.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Incomplete, September 26, 2000

By 

G. Fortmann (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Random House Latin-American Spanish Dictionary (Hardcover)

I don't think there is really any reason to buy this dictionary. As a "regular" English-Spanish dictionary it is very incomplete, it is simply a list of words (in Spanish for the first half and (naturally) English in the second) with some counterparts in the other language; no indication of use, no indication on whether the word is a verb, noun, adjective, adverb... and for some words additional meanings are simply neglected. I bought it because I thought it was a dictionary of "Latin-American Spanish" and because as such I hoped it would contain words particular to each country in Latin America. Maybe this was hoping for too much, but it doesn't even contain some very common words used throughout all of Spanish speaking Latin-American countries. The author should have done more research.