Spanish for Cruisers – 2nd Edition

By Kathy Parsons

Aventuras Publishing Company

Halletsville, Texas 77964

www.forcruisers.com

ISBN 978-096759052-3

$31.95

The new edition of this extremely useful guide has a host of new features that will make life even easier for sailors visiting Spanish speaking countries.

Besides a general expansion of every subject covered, the new edition includes essential phrases, expressions, and tips to help sailors who wish to understand and enjoy more of the local culture. As this reviewer pointed out in the review of the original edition, although English may be regarded as a universal language, there are still many places visited by cruisers where English is not spoken and where even a smattering of the local language will be greatly appreciated.

Rather than produce the usual phrasebook, the author has considerably widened its scope by dealing with every single situation which may confront a sailor visiting a Spanish speaking country. The guide has separate sections on docking and marinas, talking on the radio, clearance procedure, engine parts and repair, electrical and general hardware, electronics, sails, emergencies and general troubleshooting.

Equally well are covered in other areas such as health, weather, provisioning, etc. There are several sub-chapters dedicated to specific items, one of the most useful among them “describe your engine” which includes such essential phrases as “I have trouble starting the engine as it makes a strange noise”, not something that could be easily explained in sign language without ending in a comedy show, as most such occasions usually do.

The author has not only covered every conceivable situation but has also given the pronunciation of words and phrases in their English transliteration. But to help even the most linguistically impaired person, every chapter has a wide range of illustrations that accompany the relevant terms or phrases, so the book can be taken along and simply point to the object you wish to order or acquire.

Kathy Parsons, who has traveled extensively in Latin America and speaks Spanish impeccably, has published this book herself. It can be ordered directly from her website www.spanishforcruisers.com.