Travel, live, and retire in Mexico!

with
Rosana Hart

Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish: A Review

I love Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish, by Joseph J. Keenan.

It makes terrific browsing, as well as providing a lot of information for intermediate and advanced students of Spanish.

Keenan has lived and worked in Mexico for years, and his hard-earned knowledge of the language is shared in a delightful and informative manner.

For example, there's a common verb in Mexican Spanish, chingar, and to use it incorrectly is to invite serious trouble. It's a major "four-letter word" with infinite variations. I don't use the word myself (not trusting my fluency to use it appropriately) but after reading his section, I've certainly heard it in many, many conversations where I otherwise might have missed it completely. It adds certain overtones to people's comments, worth catching.

Most of his tips are not about vulgar language, though. Whenever I pick up the book to check something, I find myself reading for five minutes. We used to keep it in the bathroom. More than once, a guest went into the bathroom and gales of laughter issued forth!

Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish is not essential to learning Spanish, but it will add a certain flair to your Spanish!