Mexican slang dictionary?
Does anyone know of a good Mexican slang dictionary? I'm looking for more of an intermediate one. I've had 2 semesters of Spanish and hoping to make it through 4. I have a pen pal in Mexico and I'm getting tired of writing the same things. Most of the ones I've come across are for people learning Spanish, or just for cuss words. I want one for things like cura, orale, te pasas..... Any suggestions?
10 Answers
Slang, by definition, is hard to pin down.
You might consider checking out "The Street-Wise Spanish Survival Guide", by Eleanor Hamer and Fernano Diez de Urdanivia. Pages 133 - 223 are devoted to Mexican slang.
"Pus no me late que sea muy buena idea que te intereses tanto en el argot me cae que es mejor charlar sin slang (argot) pus porque a la neta te vas a escuchar bien banda y en algunas ocaciones te vas a ecuchar chido y en otran no tanto".jijijilol
In conclution, I don't think is going to be good idea that you spend a lot of time learning slang.
I have speak spanish all my life, and I every day try to do not use slang. So good luck
No place like our place
It's hard to find. I have been looking for 4 years. My fiance is Mexican and I do business with non English speaking Mexicans and I can't find the words they use in any book. But you might want to try (if you have not already) "C. Collins SPANISH concise dictionary" or " hide this spanish book EXTREME" it's not like it sounds. Its the closest I have come to finding some of the Splanglish. There are only a couple of pages that you might find offensive. Keep asking questions. Thats how I had to learn. I have not had any Spanish classes, my daughter had 2 years in high school. She has no idea what I am saying and vice versa. So I'm sure what they are teaching in school is proper, the problem is no one speaks proper anymore in any language. Good luck
Güey Spanish is the best website can find. They even have a quiz.
I purchased a couple, but I have found that even moreso than the Spanish language proper, slang is very regional. What is a slang word for something in the northern part of a country might not even make sense in the central part! My advice is just learn some from the people you hang out with. Ask your pen pal!
http://www.tubabel.com/pais/MX
I've been meaning to update this for anyone who is thinking about buying a slang dictionary and is undecided about which one to buy. I had the "Street Spanish Slang Dictionary and Thesaurus" by David Burke before I posted this. I tried to use some of the Mexican words in it with my Mexican pen-pal and she didn't know what I was saying. She was curious about what was in it, and the cuss words (a lot of them) seem to be pretty accurate. It's well organized alphabetically, separated Spanish-English and English-Spanish. I'm not trying to impress anyone with cuss words in Spanish so I didn't get my money's worth with this book.
The one I bought after this was "The Street-Wise Spanish Survival Guide", by Eleanor Hamer and Fernano Diez de Urdanivia. It's definitely more of an intermediate dictionary. It uses all the verb tenses and object pronouns with no explanations. It's been good to use occasionally. Whenever I throw in words from it, my friend tells me I sound Mexican. But, it's not organized well. The expressions are broken down into, Verbs, Expressions Used as Part of a Sentence, and Stand Alone Phrases and there is a part for Common Expressions in Spanish and also a different section for expressions in Mexico. There is no index, so, for me, finding phrases has been next to impossible. I just leaf through the book from time to time and write down phrases that could be helpful to me. I'm glad I bought it, but it didn't serve the purpose I was hoping for.
Thanks you guys. Hopefully the one I bought will be good enough.
