Book Review: Smart Spanish for Tontos Americanos by Hamer and Diez

“Smart Spanish for Tontos Americanos” is an excellent resource and a recommended for those who want to improve their abilities to more effectively understand and speak Spanish.  The Spanish-speaking world has its own distinctive colloquialisms and slang.  What may be a harmless word or phrase in one country, may be consider rude or vulgar in another Spanish-speaking country.  This reference guide helps to map through those colloquialisms to both increase your ability to understand and to avoid creating an awkward situation by saying the wrong phrase or word.  

Smart Spanish is well written and organized.  The chapter on Grammar Hints was a good review and reviewable reference source for learning (or serving as a reminder) to the differences between ser and estar, por, para, sino, etc.  Another useful source was the books inclusion of false cognates – false cognates can easily trip up the best students of Spanish.  The chapter on Mexican cultural ideas, concepts and phrases was accurate and fun to read.  The understanding of slang phrases assists you to become more immersed in the local culture, to communicate better and understand more accurately of what is being said.

Smart Spanish is a well-written guide to help those who want to progress into the next level of fluency.

Disclaimer:  A free copy of this book was provided to the reviewer with the expectation that a fair and honest review would be written of it.