[.ca] 2001 Spanish and English idioms (ISBN 0812090284)

Don't just memorize words, learn to use them!:
I picked up this book from a shelf in a bookstore and I just had to have it. It is neatly organized by keyword and has both a Spanish and an English side. Each entry consists of a keyword, a brief definition, and the most common expressions using that word along with an example using it. People often face the problem of hearing a word in the context of an expression and finding it in a dictionary that gives its literal meaning. This book solves that problem. There are too many expressions, and no book could have every one imaginable, but this book makes a great attempt. I recommend this book to anybody who is at all interested in Spanish, in any stage of learning it.

good stuff:
this was a really cool story about r.e.m. i really like the picture portfolio of michael stipe and dennis rodman. stipe is a wus, but his spanish is pretty good, and i learned a lot from his comments about selena. a good read, but watch out for those idioms. they can be pretty tricky, especially if you haven't read murmer.

A great supplementary study guide-fun reading material.:
Any additional reading material other than a text book is always helpful when studying a language. Idiomatic expressions always present difficulties or challenges especially if they cannot be translated word for word. The objective of this book is to provide the reader with an explanation of the meaning and an example of how some common idioms are used in the Spanish language. I found that the book is well organized, divided alphabetically, concise and covers a broad range of examples non specific to a country, region or group of Spanish speakers. Once again NTC Publishing Group has provided readers and learners of Spanish with a useful and handy reference that can definitely enrich one's knowledge and understanding of Spanish either written or spoken. Here are some examples of the range of idioms that are outlined in the book: 1) de hecho = in fact (cannot be translated literally) 2) sin embargo = however (cannot be translated literally) 3) a primera vista= at first sight (common, everyday expression. Easy to understand) 4) dar la lata = to make a nuisance of oneself ( cannot be translated word for word, common expression) 5) tener mala pata= to have bad luck (common everyday expression) This book not only contains idioms but everyday short frases that sometimes are hard to express correctly if one has not learned the correct way or has not heard it used prior. An example of this would be #1 and #2 above. These types of short frases are important because they are of everyday usage and the more one knows the more authentic the Spanish will sound. If you are looking to enrich your Spanish regardless of your current level, this book will definitely be of great help and will broaden your overall knowledge and understanding of the language.