Ebook264 pages4 hours
Multicultural Spanish Dictionary: How Everyday Spanish Differs From Country to Country
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
1/5
()
About this ebook
An updated and revised edition of the widely used first edition. Includes hundreds of new technology terms and entries from even more Spanish-speaking countries.
Related to Multicultural Spanish Dictionary
Related ebooks
Tune Up Your Spanish Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMulticultural Spanish Dictionary: How everyday Spanish Differs from Country to Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLearn Spanish 18 Day Challenge: For Intermediate Includes Conversation, Exercises, Grammar Rules, And Dialogues: Learn Spanish, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUrban's Spanish Language Course for Beginners and Travellers: Spanish learning course Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpanish Reader for Beginners-Elementary 2: Spanish Reader for Beginners Elementary 1, 2 & 3, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of Spanish Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dichos! The Wit and Whimsy of Spanish Sayings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLearn Spanish 27 Day Challenge: For Intermediate Includes Short Stories, Exercises, Conversation, And Dialogues: Learn Spanish, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaily Spanish For Beginners: How To Easily Speak Spanish With Only 12 Minutes Of Practice A Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpanish Every Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Red-Hot Book of Spanish Slang: 5,000 Expressions to Spice Up Your Spainsh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerfect Phrases in Spanish for Confident Travel to Mexico: The No Faux-Pas Phrasebook for the Perfect Trip Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Best Way to Learn Spanish Fast: a guide to Spanish learning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCognates: Similarities In English And Spanish Words Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpeak in Spanish- Fun and motivation on your learning journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSPANISH MADE EASY Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConversational Spanish Quick and Easy: Series - Books 1, 2, and 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLatin American Spanish for Beginner and Intermediate, Flash Two In One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Easy Spanish Phrase Book NEW EDITION: Over 700 Phrases for Everyday Use Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Conversational Portuguese Quick and Easy: PART II: The Most Innovative and Revolutionary Technique to Learn the Portuguese Language. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSay It Right in Spanish, Third Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5VOX Spanish Vocabulary Flashcards Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpanish in Your Face! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVOX Spanish Grammar Flashcards Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Spanish For You
First Spanish Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conversational Spanish Quick and Easy: Part 1: The Most Innovative Technique to Learn the Spanish Language. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spanish for Beginners: Learn the Basics of Spanish in 7 Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spanish For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Spanish Phrase Book: A Quick Reference for Any Situation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spanish for Geniuses: Verbs, Pronouns, Prepositions and Beginner Vocabulary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Easy Spanish Stories For Beginners: 5 Spanish Short Stories For Beginners (With Audio) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dirty Spanish Workbook: 101 Fun Exercises Filled with Slang, Sex and Swearing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEasy Spanish Step-By-Step Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn Spanish - Flash Cards for Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Essential Spanish Book: All You Need to Learn Spanish in No Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spanish Grammar: a QuickStudy Laminated Reference Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar, Premium Fourth Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Talk Dirty Spanish: Beyond Mierda: The curses, slang, and street lingo you need to Know when you speak espanol Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Love to Help Me encanta ayudar (Spanish Children's Book): English Spanish Bilingual Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Spanish Practice Book: Hands-on Techniques to Improve Your Speaking And Writing Skills Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Advanced Spanish Step-by-Step: Master Accelerated Grammar to Take Your Spanish to the Next Level Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spanish Stories/Cuentos Espanoles: A Dual-Language Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Spanish Grammar Book: All The Rules You Need To Master Espanol Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complete Spanish Step-by-Step Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conversational Spanish Dialogues: Over 100 Spanish Conversations and Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dirty Spanish Flash Cards: Everyday Slang From "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dirty Spanish: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related categories
Reviews for Multicultural Spanish Dictionary
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
1/5
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Multicultural Spanish Dictionary is a wonderful idea gone badly awry. It purports to be a guide to how Spanish differs from country to country. For example, the cover shows the word "grocery" and allegedly tells how this is said in Spanish in Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Venezuela, etc. The author apparently compiled the book by submitting a list of English terms to one speaker of Spanish from each Spanish-speaking country except Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Paraguay. Although it is questionable whether a lexicographer should rely on a single native speaker from each country and omit four countries that have unique terminology of their own, if these problems in methodology were the only problems with the book, it would still be enormously useful. Unfortunately, however, the manner in which is was compiled is simply where this book's problems begin. In the first place, the author appears to have overlooked the fact that if you ask two native speakers, each from a different country, how to say something in Spanish, their answers may vary simply because the answers are synonyms, not regionalisms. This is precisely what happened on many occasions in this book. For example, when asked how to say "wrong," most of the informants said "equivocado," but the person from Colombia said "erróneo," and the informants from Puerto Rico and Spain said "incorrecto." The book implies that "incorrecto" is a Puerto Ricanism for the standard "equivocado," but in fact, all three of these words are used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. They are simply synonyms. "Delicious" is another example. The dictionary suggests that Argentines and Puerto Ricans say "rico," Peruvians say "exquisito," and everyone else says "delicioso." Again, this is nonsense. All three terms-rico, exquisito, and delicioso-are synonymous and are used in all Spanish-speaking countries. "Tasty" is given as "rico" in Argentina, Colombia, and Spain and as "sabroso" everywhere else-but in reality everyone uses both terms. The list could go on and on. This failure to distinguish regionalisms from synonyms makes the book practically useless to a nonnative speaker of Spanish, who will not always know whether terms are synonymous or regionalisms in Spanish (which is precisely why he needs a reliable "multicultural Spanish dictionary").However, the errors do not stop there. The next problem is that the author failed to ensure that all informants understood the English term in the same way. Take the word "vest," for example. All of the informants but one understood "vest" to mean "an article of clothing that men wear in a three-piece suit," which is what it means in American English, and translated it as "chaleco." The Argentine informant, on the other hand, understood it to mean "undershirt," which is what it means in British English, where our "vest" is called a "waistcoat." Accordingly, she translated it as "camiseta, musculosa." The Multicultural Spanish Dictionary implies that "vest" in the American sense is "chaleco" everywhere but in Argentina. Another example is the word "iris," which the book suggests is "lirio" everywhere but Venezuela, where it is "iris." In fact, however, the flower "iris" is called "lirio" throughout the Spanish-speaking world, whereas the part of the eye that is called the "iris" is "iris" throughout the Spanish-speaking world. This is not a case of regionalisms, but of the informants understanding the English word in two different ways. Yet another example is "jacket," which some informants took to mean "a garment you wear when it's cold" (chaqueta), while others took it to mean what we also call a "sports jacket" (saco). The dictionary implies that chaqueta and saco mean the same thing, but they do not. As far as I know, there are no speakers of Spanish who refer to a jacket in the sense of the garment for cold weather as "saco," which always means the jacket that is part of a suit.The next problem with the book is very poor editing. Here are some examples of the spelling errors found: "hechado a perder" (should be "echado a perder"); "clauadista" (should be "clavadista"-apparently someone's handwriting was hard to read); "enagüa" (should be "enagua"); "crecimeinto" (should be "crecimiento"); "beterraga" (should be "betarraga"). What is worse, sometimes the book implies that a Spanish word is spelled one way in one country and another way in another, when in fact, one of the informants simply made a spelling error. For example, "spine" is given as "espinazo" in Colombia and "espinaso" in Spain (the correct spelling is "espinazo"). "Armpit" is given as "zobaco" in the Dominican Republic and "sobaco" in Panama (the correct spelling is "sobaco"). "Yellow jacket" is given as "avispa" everywhere but Cuba and Panama, where it is supposedly "abispa" (in fact, however, the correct spelling is "avispa").Then there are some flat-out translation errors. "Carjack" (spelled "car jack" in the dictionary, which makes it look like the tool used to lift a car when a tire goes flat, rather than the crime where a car stolen while the owner is in it-which is what the author means) is translated as "asaltar con violencia" (Mexico) and "raptar" (Bolivia), neither of which conveys the real meaning of "to carjack." "Stuntman" is awkwardly translated as "aquel que realiza los trucos." Among the translations of "to encrypt" in the computer sense is "ocultar," which is certainly a suspicious translation of that word (normally "cifrar" or "codificar"). Finally, the book omits many terms that do vary widely from country to country (such as the words for "drinking straw" or "cheat sheet"), while including others that do not (such as the adjectives discussed above). It also fails to alert a native speaker to the sexual overtones that a perfectly innocent word in his country can have elsewhere. In short, this book is far too shoddily compiled to be of much use to anyone.
Book preview
Multicultural Spanish Dictionary - Augustin Martinez
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1