The Big Red Book of Spanish Idioms: 4,000 Idiomatic Expressions

I bougth this book to help some friends to learn spanish, it is very good. Thanks. I recomend it to students that are trying to know more about the language..

My wife and I have been studying Spanish for several years and use the Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs almost daily. I thought this would be a good addition but, in truth, it just sits on the shelf. Maybe I just haven't taken the time to figure out how it works, but I rarely find what I'm looking for when I pick it up. I guess I can say it's not like a dictionary.

Great book to have on hand where you have a ton of Spanish idioms in one location to review/study/learn.

As frequent Amazon reviewer Erugifog mentions in his list of Spanish reference books, there are a number of entrants in the field of Spanish-English idiom guides. He recommends Eugene Savaiano's "2001 Idioms/2001 Modismos" but also advises shopping around. I found that to be good advice.

Peter Weibel is the latest author to throw his hat into this specialty ring, and I consider his "Big Red Book of Spanish Idioms" the prohibitive leader of the pack at this point. With 12,000 idioms (4,000 in Spanish; double that in English), "Big Red" gets the nod simply because it is newer and, well, purports to have more idioms than any of its other serious rivals. Read the publisher's description and you'll get a good (and accurate -- truth in advertising, how refreshing!) feel for what this book has to offer. I was tempted to give it a five-star rating but changed my mind because I don't think it completely overshadows Savaiano's book. Both are reliable and useful references; if used in tandem, they complement each other very well. But if, for whatever reason, you want only a single reference book of this type, make it "Big Red."

Also, be advised that in at least two places (the front cover and again in the introduction), "Big Red" identifies itself as a book for intermediate or advanced learners. For the most serious students of Spanish idioms and slang, "Diccionario del Argot: El Sohez" by Delfin Carbonell Basset is a safe bet. Unlike "Big Red", it is monolingual. Both books are published by McGraw Hill. But what really struck me as coincidental is, both Weibel and Carbonell state that their inspiration for writing their respective books was the Nobel Prize-winning Spanish author Camilo Jose Cela. Even if you're not trying to decipher Cela's slang-riddled, idiom-filled prose, however, "The Big Red Book of Spanish Idioms" can prove invaluable in your times of need.