The Rough Guide to Mexican Spanish Dictionary Phrasebook 2: Dictionary Phrasebook

I got this as well as the Lonely Planet version of the same. They are both very helpful, this one has a shorter "phrases" section and a longer dictionary section, but between the two i think they have everything covered. I like them both a lot.

I consider myself beginner in spanish. The only sentence that I can confidently say is "Habla usted ingles?". I took this book and Oxford spanish dictionary to my eight day trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. This book became so handy that I left the Oxford dictionary in my hotel room. Besides words and phases, it provide menu reader and other very useful information about Mexico. i.e. Under a word "phone", it describes how to use public phone in Mexico. I didn't realize most public phones only accept phone card and only the phone card from their company. I suggest buying Telmax phone card, since you can only find Telmax public phones. This book is well worth the price.

The first time I went to Mexico I tried my Galician on the people and I did not get anywhere. They simply could not understand me. Recently I have been back and took this guide with me. It made a lot of difference. I managed to communicate and the Mexican people I talked to looked happy I spoke their language instead of trying to impose the language of Spain on them. This guide covers all the expected areas, like food, shopping, accommodation, etc. It is very good, but more phrases would be even more helpful. Then you could use the vocabulary lists in more combinations and enlarge what you can say. Perhaps there will be an extended edition with more of it. I will buy it too!

Though I would not suggust a nonspaniish speaker to enter Mexico with only this limited dictionary, it is a great suppliment. It has very useful words that are common in Mexico plus some great slang. It also has little bits of info next to certain words to aid in its correct usage. I spent an extensive amount of time in Mexico and got this little book's worth many times over.

I bought this book in conjunction with Barron's Law Enforcement Spanish kit. "Mexican Spanish - The Rough Guide" is an outstanding pocket reference! I learned to conjugate verbs very easily given the simple description in the Rough Guide. I particularly like the contextual listings for words in the dictionary section. Very useful! I have several other Spanish books and dictionaries, and they are gathering dust now. I highly recommend this book.