Augustin Martinez - Multicultural Spanish dictionary: how everyday Spanish differs from country to country

The publisher wishes to acknowledge the diligent work of the editors and contributors of this ground-breaking volume. The idea for this kind of innovative Spanish dictionary was born during annual conferences of the American Translators Association, to which most of the contributors belong. It grew out of the practical experience of Spanish translators who have been confronting the daily realities of having to find the right Spanish word for such common things as a flat tire or a bow tie. When called upon to participate in this effort, they all came forward and plunged into this exploratory task with great enthusiasm. Their contributions are greatly appreciated. Their names appear on the next page.

The same holds true with regard to this Second Revised Edition. My coworker, Diego Gutirrez, volunteered to trim the entries from his native Colombia. Also, noting the absence of Paraguay, Lic. Oscar Manuel Pava Bentez, a distinguished Paraguayan jurist and linguist, volunteered terms from his country, which Yamand Snchez, another Paraguayan, completed. The one country remaining was Nicaragua, which Lic. Margarita Cruz, a Nicaraguan linguist, graciously added to the mix.

Finally, Alison Smith lent her editing and proofing skills in reviewing the final version. My sincerest thanks to all of them. Mordecai Schreiber, Publisher First Taylor Trade electronic edition, 2011
eISBN 978-1-58979-715-4 copyright (c) 1999, 2006 Schreiber Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without prior written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. -- 2nd rev. ed. p. cm. 1. 1.

Spanish language--Dictionaries--English. 2. English language--Dictionaries--Spanish. 3. Spanish languageProvincialismsLatin AmericaDictionaries. I.

Sofer, Morry. II. Martnez, Agustn, 1967- Multicultural Spanish dictionary.
PC4640.M26 2006 463'.21dc22 2006013957

Ana Mara Berger, Guatemala Teresa Mara Campero, Bolivia Nefertiti Casado-Hagan, Dominican Republic Milagros Cobos, Spain Lic. Margarita Cruz, Nicaragua Enid Gonzlez, Puerto Rico Diego Gutirrez, Colombia Andrs Harnecker, Costa Rica Ana Kalnay, Argentina Ana Victoria Krizn, Ecuador Agustn Martnez, Cuba Anamaris Martnez, Panama Arne Myne, Costa Rica Lidia Nazak, Uruguay Ruth Olson, Venezuela Katia Panhans, Mexico Lic. Oscar Manuel Pava Bentez, Paraguay Guadalupe Reynolds, Peru Sandra M. Rivera de Aquino, Puerto Rico Teresa Romn, Chile Yamand Snchez, Paraguay Carolina Valencia, Colombia When this book first appeared in 1999, it enjoyed instant success.

It went into several printings and elicited many comments from users near and far. It was quite clear that there was a great need for such a specialized reference. This has been particularly true in the United States, where the Spanish-speaking population has grown rapidly in the past thirty years, becoming the largest ethnic and linguistic minority. Millions of Hispanics interact daily throughout the U.S. with people who share their native language yet not all of their native words. It soon became clear that a new revised edition was needed, and after several years of research the Second Revised Edition was completed.

It should be pointed out that there have been more than a few misunderstandings about the nature of this book, and of the ways to use it. For this reason we add the following section on how to use this dictionary. More information about this dictionary can be found in the Introduction.

This dictionary is different from other Spanish dictionaries in that it only provides words that are not the same in every Spanish-speaking country. The Spanish word for apple is manzana, used everywhere where Spanish is spoken, hence it is not included. Grapefruit, on the other hand, is called toronja in some countries, and pomelo in other countries, hence it is included.

What is also important to keep in mind is that there is a far greater mobility today than ever before, whereby many Latin Americans have moved to Spain in recent years, while others move from Central to South America and so on. All of this impacts on Spanish usage, and many linguistic distinctions have been blurred. Consequently, none of the Spanish terms in this book are cast in stone. All the contributors to this book brought the terms of their respective native countries, but keep in mind that some of those terms are not static. They do tend to change. Do not use this dictionary as a substitute for the standard Spanish dictionary, but rather as a specialized source when confronted with variations or uncertainties of the use of common everyday words that differ from country to country.

If you travel to a particular Spanish-speaking country, you may find this a very useful source for the common words of that country. Multicultural
Spanish Dictionary

What kind of Spanish do you speak? This may seem to be an odd question, since Spanish is Spanish is Spanish. Not so. When you go to the grocery store in Uruguay, you go to the almacn. In Peru you go to the bodega. In Uruguay the bodega is a wine cellar.

In fact, if you travel to a dozen different Latin American countries, you will find a dozen different names for grocery store. There are scores of Spanish-English dictionaries to choose from, but none of them takes cognizance of the variety of everyday Spanish words as used throughout Latin America and in Spain. In fact, if you compare the word grocery in a number of widely used Spanish-English dictionaries, you will find that there is little consistency among them as to which Spanish term they list first, and none of them lists them all. This is where The Multicultural Spanish Dictionary comes in. It is not meant to replace the standard Spanish-English dictionaries, but rather to pick up where they leave off. As such, it has many uses.

It can serve native speakers of Spanish who are interested in finding out how certain words vary in other parts of the Hispanic world. It can also serve non-native speakers who have dealings with or travel to one or more Spanish-speaking country and need to know how a particular word is rendered in each country. In short, anyone who works with the Spanish language needs to add this book to his or her reference shelf. Since this small volume is breaking new ground, it is far from being an exhaustive work. The editors have chosen the most common areas of everyday life and have attempted to cover the most commonly used words in each area. To facilitate the use of this book, words are accessible in three ways: PART I: ENGLISH - SPANISH: words which vary in one or more Spanish speaking countries (e.g., apple, is not included in this section, since everyone calls it manzana; grapefruit is included, since most call it toronja, yet in Argentina, Chile, Spain, and Uruguay it is called pomelo).

Each English word is matched with what appears to be the most widely used Spanish equivalent and followed by variations according to country (a key to country abbreviations is provided at the bottom of each page). PART II: SPANISH - ENGLISH: words which vary in one or more Spanish-speaking countries. Here the most commonly used Spanish word is followed by Pri., for Primary Term, while variations are given with the country indicator. PART III: SUBJECT AREAS: This English-into-Spanish section include all the common words in that particular category. Words which vary are bolded. Each Spanish-speaking country included in this book is represented by a native speaker of the language of that country.