biscuitfarmer's Full Review: Easy Spanish Phrase Book: Over 770 Basic Phrases f...
Like many people, I find myself touring the world on a fairly regular basis. Mostly because of my father and his connections with the military allowing me to meet people that I am still friends with to this day. Thanks to that, I have friends in Italy, Japan, and speckled around Europe. Fortunately for myself I have managed to learn Spanish and Italian fairly well over the years, however, I am still aiming for full fluency within the next couple of years. Through this process, I have collected a good 30-40 books on the Italian and Spanish languages, all of which have helped me to achieve a better understanding of the language and how it works. One of these such books is The Easy Spanish Phrase Book.
Background
The easy spanish phrase book is a collection of 770 plus basic phrases that are used virtually everyday. While normally the communication barrier would make it virtually impossible to communicate with those who speak a different language, utilizing these basic phrases and words will allow you to somewhat find your way.
Organization
The book is organized completely in English, obviously. There are several different sections within the book depending upon what you are trying to do. If you are trying to catch a taxi, then you just flip to the section titled taxi and they will teach you briefly the phrases that you will generally need when you try to catch a taxi. While this isn't exactly a save all reference, it doesn't does help you get started.
Different phrases
Some of the things that the book helps you do is get around town, order food from restaurants, ask how to get to locations, and find out where specific places are, such as the police station. Through a very organized manner, you can easily look in the book and find the section where the phrases are that you need.
It also teaches you how to introduce yourself and your family. This way you can ultimately confuse yourself and potentially others even more. While learning the language, I have come to understand that most people can figure out what you are trying to accomplish once they know that you don't speak their language, if you are able to give them single words or small phrases. By including all of the extra greetings, you are just making it that much more difficult to communicate by throwing too many words or phrases that potentially don't go together into the mix, this is how I believe a lot of tourists become so lost or confused or get bad directions.
However, if you feel that you are able to take the step, the book teaches you how to ask how someone is doing, how to thank people with more than just a single word (which is more than adequate in English), and how to request someone's address and phone number. My only real question is what you're going to do with that address and phone number, if you don't speak the same language as the person you are receiving it from in the first place.
While some of the different phrases are absolutely pointless, they do fill up a lot of space in the book, which makes the book longer and more expensive to purchase, which is the overall goal of publishing companies, so I think that's the reason they bothered including some things. Either that or they enjoy making American tourists look stupid.
However, there are quite a bit of useful things in the book that are extremely helpful. I know that even with my much greater knowledge of the language, I often times fumble with putting the words in the correct order. They are still generally understandable to those I am speaking to, but they look at me like I am dumb at times. So, this book has helped me to see how sentences need to be organized as it is quite different than how we organize ours in English, almost backwords if you will.
Overview
The book is a very good source for those that are looking to travel to Spanish speaking countries. One big issue that I see, is the use of different dialects and the use slang, which is extremely previlent in Spanish speaking countries and has been the most difficult part of my learning the language completely.
The book does a great job of establishing phrases that are necessary for tourists to get around town and get help for pretty much any situation that may arise.
The only thing that I dislike about the book, is that they give a lot more freedom than I think they should to the average tourist. Some phrases are almost asking for trouble, because the more Spanish you try to speak, the less you will be accepted in some instances. Also, if your pronounciation is wrong or you combine inappropriate phrases together, you could convey a completely wrong message and thus get the wrong answer or bad directions to where you are trying to go. So, I recommend the book, but keep it to the bare minimum if you use it and are not truly familiar with the language already.
More than 770 basic phrases for everyday use enable you to communicate instantly on a host of topics: health and medical situations; essential service...More at HotBookSale
More than 770 basic phrases for everyday use enable you to communicate instantly on a host of topics: health and medical situations; essential service...More at HotBookSale
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