Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

by Andrew Whittaker

* Provides a deeper, long-term understanding of the nation and its people* Designed to supplement the usual suspect guide booksA guidebook can show you where to go, a phrasebook what to say when you get there. Only "Speak the Culture: Spain" will lead you to the nation 's soul. Spain boasts a rich and sometimes misunderstood culture, itself infused with the influences of other great and distant civilizations. Spanish life, language and culture in its widest sense is a major force of growing influence. How many outside it understand its origins and significance?Through exploring the people, the movements and the lifestyles that have shaped the Spanish experience, you will come to an intimate understanding of Spain and the Spanish.There are many travel guides and manuals on living in Spain. "Speak the Culture: Spain" is different: a superbly designed, informed and entertaining insight into Spanish life and culture and who the Spanish really are.For new residents, business travelers, holidaymakers, students and lovers of Spain everywhere, "Speak the Culture: Spain" is an engaging companion and guide to an enviably rich civilization at the heart of Europe. Excerpt As you might expect Spain 's traditional vernacular architecture isn t easily pigeonholed; regionalism generates marked variation. Available building materials and, more significantly, climate have always dictated how people build their houses or outbuildings. The Spaniards approach to living arrangements is more easily summed up. They re nothing if not sociable; while northern Europeans anxiously section off their own plot of terra firma, in Spain they seem to enjoy living on top of each other, clustered in apartments and houses around the plaza mayor. It 's not like they re short of space either a population density of around 85 per sq km is one of the lowest in Europe.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Spain, History, Ebooks, Spanish Literature

346 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Roger Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting guide to the life and culture of Spain. As the book was published in 2008 some of the sections are out of date. However, the sections on history, society and literature, art and architecture and food and drink remain very informative.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't tell if I didn't like because of the book or because of the subject matter. The British POV helped freshen things and I really liked the page layout. But overall it was kinda boring and waaayyyy too dense for my taste. Then again, I'm no fan of Spain, so maybe there was no way for me to have liked this book.

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, breezy run through Spanish history and culture.