ANHOW Review of Books: <I><B>There's A Word For It In Mexico</B></I> -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 02:03:22 07/15/04 Thu
Author: Mt. Healthy Mountaineer, your intrepid reviewer
Subject:

ANHOW Review of Books: There's A Word For It In Mexico

Author: Boye Lafayette De Mente

Full Title: There's A Word For It In Mexico: The Complete Guide to Mexican Thought and Culture"

Alternate title for this book: NTC's Dictionary of Mexican Cultural Code Words : The Complete Guide to Key Words That Express How the Mexicans Think, Communicate, and Behave (Really this is a much better title - Mountaineer)

Published: 1996 by Passport Books

Short summary:

This book is set up like a dictionary. The 139 entries are culturally important words and concepts that a foreign resident of Mexico might expect to run into as he / she lives in Mexico. There is an emphasis on business in the book but most of the entries deal with non-business subjects such as amor (love), casa chica (the house where well-to-do men keep their mistresses) and sexo (sex vs. love).

My review:

I read the book the way it was not intended to be read - straight through. It can get a bit repetitive as the author tries to fully explain how Mexico's history has caused their culture to react certain ways and to see things as they do. I must have read the sordid history of the Conquest of Mexico and its exlpoitation by both Church and Spain 25 times.

The cultural elements are well-explained, very informative and usually well-written. Frequent spelling errors mar the book as do occasional historical errors. His math facts concerning the growth of the Mestizo population in Mexico also conflict with one another, depending on the entry you read.

Was the book valuable? Yes, and not just to the traveller to Mexico. If you live near or work with Hispanics in the United States it will also be of considerable value.

Despite the flaws that I mentioned above, I am still giving this book an "A-"

Here are the Amazon.com links. There are several interesting reviews for this book. I will include links to both of its titles. Notice that Amazon.com will sell you both titles in a package deal on one of these pages! (Its such a good book you'll want to read it twice!)

First link: Amazon link 1

Second link: Amazon link 2

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]