Lonely Planet Costa Rica Spanish Phrasebook (Phrasebooks) (Spanish Edition)

In Costa Rica, it's impossible not to get caught up in the feeling of Pura Vida, 'pure life'. So whether selecting from the huge range of traditional dishes, dancing the merenge at a fiesta, or cheering a toro brava, 'fighting bull', this book will help you get into the swing.

• join in the crowd at a rodeo, street festival or salsa club
• loads of cultural & traveling tips, whether you go by bus, scooter or donkey
• sections on diving, hiking and surfing
• includes Lim n Creole, the language of Costa Rica's Caribbean coast
• music, food, shopping, art & more

P.S. That guy from Forest Hill NY who considers running down rare birds in Costa Rica on his motorcycle to be at worst a form of entertainment... at best, something funny to joke about (see review of Lonely Planet Costa Rica Guidebook).... kinda lacks social skills and should be banned from any tropical paradise where he is not confined to the grounds of the local Club Med. IMHO. :)


in defense of criticisms   April 2, 2001
Thomas Kohnstamm (Seattle, WA)
21 out of 24 found this review helpful

I am the author of this phrasebook and would like to respond to recent criticisms on the content of the book. Please excuse my star rating of my own text, but ... will not let you post a review without a rating. I would like to make 3 basic points.

1. This is a phrasebook for travellers, it is not the official Costa Rican Colloquial Dictionary, nor a list of idiomatic expressions. It was written to help travellers to conduct themselves in Costa Rica, not to determine every aspect of the Costa Rican dialect. Many of the more esoteric expressions that were originally included in the book were cut in order to appeal to Lonely Planet's market. Once again, this was not intended to be a dictionary for Ticos.

2. There was consultation and editorial assistance by a bilingual Costa Rican throughout the entire writing process. He is credited in the acknowledgements. Although I am not a native speaker, my experience in different parts of Latin America enables be to determine regional differences in the language.

3. This is a unique book, unlike other phrasebooks on Latin American Spanish. Perhaps if Mr. Mora were not Costa Rican, he would have the perspective to see how the Spanish in the book differs from the Spanish of other parts of Latin America and other phrasebooks. He is taking many of the vocabulary and grammar nuances for granted.

This is a phrasebook to help travellers to communicate and conduct themselves specifically in Costa Rica. If that is what you want, this book will help you in ways that other phrasebooks cannot. Thank you, Thomas


Reviews, Spanish Language & Why I went to Costa Roca   November 17, 2004
Bobb Jackson (SLC USA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

I am so glad I read through the Amazon reviews on this book before purchasing. I realized before I left that I wasn't looking for a treatise on grammar or an indepth look at the local idiosyncracies of the Spanish language. I already speak Spanish (Intermediate-High, ACTFL rating)and, even though I learned my Spanish at school in Monterrey, Mexico, I have been able to successfully navigate around Spanish-speaking countries all over the world. I wanted a phrasebook that would allow me to understand how to visit this delightful country respecting local cutural standards, and that's exactly what this book did. Just as I used the usted and ustedes forms in Spain, and polite and educated people understood me, I was able to use tienes, and the occasional tú, in Costa Rica without creating any confusion. The important thing is that the people, educated or otherwise, in Costa Rica appreciated the fact that I wanted to visit their country and learn more about their culture, and was willing to (use this book in order to) be a respectful visitor. I think it's a wonderful book, albeit not an all all-inclusive resource, but then, what book at this price is? For us average folks touristing the world, this is well worth every cent.