Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great little tool!, November 20, 2008
They never teach you slang in those high school foreign language classes. At least they never did in mine. But of course, we all wanted to learn how to swear in the language we were learning. I became better acquainted with the intricacies of another language when Maria, a foreign exchange student from Colombia, and I became friends. I mispronounced something that caused her (1) face to turn tomato red, and (2) to break out in hysterical laughter. Although I knew I'd just committed some major faux pas, she would never tell me what I'd actually said. That alerted me to the fact that I'd better be careful what I say when I try to speak someone else's language.
A little book like Dirty Spanish is a great tool. Not only will it help you to not sound as if you've just wandered out of Spanish 101 in high school, you'll learn that harmless slang in Mexico might get you a fist in the nose in Spain. Divided into chapters such as Howdy Spanish, Friendly Spanish, Party Spanish, Body Spanish, Angry Spanish and Hungry Spanish (among others), the author also tells you which Spanish-speaking country uses the particular phrase. There's lots to learn in these 126 pages, and you'll laugh along the way.
Dirty Spanish is indispensable for any trip you're planning to a Spanish-speaking country, or if you just want to understand what Spanish-speaking employees are saying as they walk past. (I'd received a compliment and didn't even know it!)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the Book !!, March 14, 2009
I loved it! I am fairly fluent in Spanish, having lived in Mexico and gotten a Bachelor's Degree in the language, but neither my friends nor my teachers along the way wanted to "corrupt" me with slang or obscenities. So I always felt there was a gap in my learning, which this little book fills in nicely.
Its contents run the gamut from the simply informal to cool slang, funny insults, explicit sexual terms, and raw swear words. It gives you all the nuances to understand how a word or phrase is intended, so that you don't embarrass yourself if you attempt to use a new saying--or it lets you know the speaker's frame of mind if you are simply the listener. There are sections devoted to eating, sports, entertainment, working out, and so forth. Written in 2008, the book is quite up-to-date which is important as colloquial speech tends to evolve quickly. And as the Spanish-speaking world is so diverse, the author made a point to differentiate which phrases are used in different countries (although he tried to write using terms that would pretty much be understood universally). And it's got all the new-tech stuff you might want: lots of computer-ese, text messaging lingo, etc.
I read the book with a highlighter, skipping many expressions that I would never use in either English or Spanish. That left me with exactly what I wanted, a short and colorful list to expand my use of the vernacular. Andale!
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2.0 out of 5 stars
save your money, October 9, 2009
Good title, weak content. I'd suggest "The Red-Hot Book of Spanish Slang and Idioms" if you'd like to get "dirty Spanish" plus about all the idioms and slang you may ever encounter in Spanish speaking countries.
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