3,000 Spanish Words and Phrases They Won't Teach You in School (Skyhorse Pocket Guides) Paperback – May 1, 2012

There were a lot of different sections and phrases in here. Ranked by vulgarity and slang. It’s a great book if you want to learn how to speak like a local. The only problem is it’s mostly for Mexican Spanish. There isn’t much for Castilian Spanish, which is what I’m trying to learn. However, there’s still a lot of useful tools. It’s also marked when it’s a Mexican or Latin phrase, which is helpful. If you want to learn Spanish that locals speak in Mexico, I would recommend!

This is the book that has been missing for many years and that fills in the huge gaps where the textbooks and other slang books leave off. Most slang books don't really go into depth into the expressions and words that are peculiar to Mexican Spanish and the Spanish spoken in the southwestern part of the U.S. This book does. The title is terrible. I urge the authors to come up with something better and more descriptive of what the book is - a guidebook for those who want to learn Mexican Spanish. It is broken up into several sections and deals with standalone words and words used in a certain way in sentences and phrases. It covers slang as well as the rich lexicon derived from Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs). It has a section on common dichos (sayings or proverbs which, in my experience, are more commonplace in Spanish than in English). This book is very thorough and defines words that tend to be ignored even in other books that claim to focus exclusively on Mexican Spanish.I have searched the Internet high and low for a book like this one, and I am happy to have found this book. I grew up in the American southwest and have lived on the border and traveled in Mexico extensively and speak both Spanish and English fluently. I have studied both languages on a formal basis at the graduate level and informally my whole life, and I can definitely say that this book is the best I have found that covers Mexican Spanish. There are a few entries that I probably would have translated slightly differently, and I think there are some words that are so common in Mexico (but not used like they are in Mexico in other parts of Latin America) and used in so many different ways - like "onda" to name one example - that I would have placed the word in a section all by itself in order to explain its many uses and the origins of the use of the word in these expressions. Aside from that, I applaud the authors in being thorough. I like the way the book is subdivided. It also has a section on greetings and abbreviations that are valuable to folks interested in Mexican Spanish.I recommend this book to intermediate and advanced to students who want to go beyond the textbook in learning Mexican Spanish. For beginning and intermediate students, I also recommend an older book put out by UT Press called Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish. If you can get beyond the silly title of this book (Smart Spanish for Tontos Americanos), you will find much of practical value between its covers. The thing that I really like about this book is that it includes several common expressions that are not found in other slang books and dictionaries of Mexican Spanish (I should know as I own almost all of them and there are many good ones and a few not so good ones as well).

The toughest thing for me in Spanish was realizing that it didn't take too long to go from Beginner to Intermediate level, but getting to Advanced level in Spanish was many times more work. It's the part where you need to ditch the "grammar books" and learn Spanish the way it's spoken "in the street", in context of everyday life. Very different things. Living nextdoor to Mexico, I wanted a book that focused on common sayings from Mexico ONLY, not from Spain, South America, or other Latin American countries. But where could I find such a book with this focus? Well, here it is! There are literally thousands of sayings, phrases, transitional phrases, and such to incorporate into your speech to help you sound like a native speaker, and not like a "grammar book." And the sayings are all from Mexico, so I've really been loving this.When you get the confidence to speak to more people in Spanish, using these sayings, as well as slang expressions, it lets the native speakers know that you are ready to have a real conversation that's not just stock phrases, and that's what learning a language is all about- falling in love with the people, the culture, the language! One other book I highly recommend is "Breaking out of Beginner Spanish"- has some great insights and help with common ways to say things that get you "over the hump" to putting your Spanish into practice.

This book is an absolute must-have for people who want to start speaking more like a native as well as to understand everyday Spanish slang. This is good for people who are at the intermediate plateau and need to find new ways to express themselves to natives as well as to understand the colloquialexpressions and idioms of everyday Spanish that we may not have learned in our formal education or textbooks. There is more emphasis on Mexican slang in here but there is also a part of the book dedicated to Spanish expressions used in most Latin American countries. There are chapters on how you would say idiomatic English expressions in Spanish and vice versa. I can’t do the book enough justice. I would just buy it. It has a lot of information for such a cheap price. I appreciate the author taking the time to create this book. It’s a great reference and simply fun to skim the book and see what new form of expression I can learn to say in Spanish.

Interesting, but not as useful as I would've liked. The entries are in alphabetical order, not organized by topic or setting or other useful way. Also, only the Spanish phrase as a whole is translated to English. So if you don't recognize a verb or word in the Spanish phrase you get to look that up on your own.

I've had this book a couple weeks now and they're right, this is not like all the others out there. Contains stuff other sources haven't mentioned. A couple parts that may not really fit my needs but otherwise FULL of useful interesting info... would definitely buy again.