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NTC's Dictionary of Mexican Cultural Code Words : The Complete Guide to Key Words That Express How the Mexicans Think, Communicate, and Behave

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Author: Boye Lafayette De Mente
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$21.95~~
Buy New: $8.50
You Save: $13.45 (61%)

New (26) Used (24) from $4.00

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

11 reviews
Sales Rank: 509731

Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.1

ISBN: 0844279595
Dewey Decimal Number: 972.003
EAN: 9780844279596
ASIN: 0844279595

Publication Date: January 11, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
NTC's Dictionary of Mexican Cultural Code Words explores the meanings of, and cultural context for, over 100 essential Mexican expressions, providing the reader with a map to the character and personality of the Mexican people.

Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Ingenious October 1, 2008
I'm an anthropology student and found this book for some light reading. It's pretty insightful. I'm also Hispanic and found myself reflected on quite a few senerios/"code words". A great guide for those who want a glimpse into a diverse and enigmatic world.

5 out of 5 stars

The lady doth protest too much, methinks July 26, 2007
An excellent resource and worth every penny. I work extensively with the Hispanic migrant community in south Georgia, and the insights gained from this book have proven time and time invaluable.Sure some of his translations are shoddy at best, but he doesn't claim to be a linguist. I have spent a lot of time on the border and on the other side, and and wrapping up a degree in Spanish, and am frequently complimented on my cultural fluency. The book does deal in some stereotypes; however, honest people will admit that there is truth in stereotypes else they would not exist.View this book as a door opener to a wonderful world.

1 out of 5 stars

A Mexican opinion if you don't mind May 25, 2005
31 out of 35 found this review helpful

NTC's dictionary of Mexican cultural code words (ISBN 0-8442-7959-5) by Boy� Lafayette De Mente in 1996 is terrible. I can well make my commentaries because I am Mexican by all sides and know Mexico. I will mentions chapter 120 mostly since it may be the worse one. The rest of it is just bad.

I am well aware that it's not up to NTC and Boy� to publish one point of view or another. But they must publish quality works. So, wat wuld yu tink if one of iour writers wrote as I do in thys sentense? This dictionary is full of orthography mistakes and bad translations all over. Let's see some examples of words and famous sentences around Mexico:

By the way, Boy�'s translation is BT, Actual Meaning is AM and commentaries is CM

"Robar no es verguenza. Robar y que lo agarren es verguenza"
BT: It is not a shame to kill; but to kill and get caught is a shame. (Chapt. 37)
AM: Stealing is not a shame. Stealing and get caught is shame
CM:
1)The meaning is depressing, but far less immoral.
2)The real saying is a bit different

" " (originalsentence not showed)
BT: Respect (for all people) is the foundation of peace.
Pag. 264, chapt 119
AM: Respecting others people's rights is the peace.
CM:
The Original sentence is "El respecto al derecho ajeno es la paz"

Vacile, relajo, relajientos
BT:
-Vacile: to vacillate, to dilly-dally, to never make up one's mind, to avoid responsability.
-Relajo: chaos.
-Relajientos: people who introduce a caotic element into everything they do, ....and to be more interested in human relatios and spiritual things than in hard work and sticking to projects they start.
AM:
-All of these terms are synonyms.
Vacile is used especially when poking fun at someone in an easy way, NOT in a mean one. They do imply some chaos, but they simply mean having fun; nothing to do with spiritually at all. We use normal terms for the meanings attached to these ones: irresponsible and disorganized.-It's vacileo This term is regarded today as childish and you'll hardly hear it. It's like goophy or teasing in English.
-Boy� got this definition from Mexicans, but from anthropologist ones. Intellectual are not good in dealing with reality.

Boy� never showed much real contact with Mexicans. It even seems that he was thye typical foreigner in any nation that self-segregates to his/her own community or contact the locals very little. It even seems that his single one friend was someone called "Mike" who as any other rich Mexican worships rich countries (or any foreign nation) I don't exaggerate when I say "worship". One of the readers at Amazon.com made really harsh judgments of Boy� since he didn't mention a single Mexican woman amongst his many commentaries of them. But as I read the book I found she was right, Boy�'s bases are extremely weak. I can almost say that whenever he doesn't base his information with Mike's knowledge, he relies in intellectual's opinions that he doesn't even mention often, barely one big name like Octavio Paz, let alone a bibliographical reference. And as I said in the former table, intellectuals usually can't see reality. The incredibly bad translation of "relajiento" is a very good example; the anthropologist who state its meaning blew things out of proportion. It was like saying that "having fun" means being promiscuous, taking drugs, etc. Yes, "having fun" can mean that but only in strange exceptions; it has a saner meaning, like when a mom drops her kids in school and tells them, "have fun".

Not only Boy� didn't show good knowledge of Mexico, he didn't show it of USA either. He said in chapter 120,
Americans and other Anglos, on the other hand, have been programmed to regard personal responsibility as a positive attribute.

Sorry guys, it turns out that I have also been to your nation and I always strove to get to knows American people unlike the typical foreigner self segregated foreigner. I even married one of you! -that's why I bother to look for a book to explain Mexico to my wife. Not only this, I also lived in Illinois, the tort state where people have sued for things like a hot coffee! So, please don't publish such works from people pushes others to use a derogative terms like "egg-heads" And remember, the sentence above is just one example of very doubtful opinions.

The best indication that he didn't melted with us is that at the beginning of the book he mentioned that we over agree. I've heard it in two other publications as well. That's wrong, but I think that's the first impression of foreigners in USA and Mexico. I also had that impression of Americans when I just arrived there. As I got to know you more and more I found out that it's almost all the other way around. It's the same with Mexicans.

In short, Boy�'s book has the worst of the two current American trends, liberalism and conservative. Like a liberal he pretends to understand foreign things but ends up focusing most in the bad side of people -the best example are feminists- And as conservative he appeals to baseless or even hypocrite righteousness. His is too liberal biased on his views of Mexican history. Why did he disagree with a huge group of Mexicans in USA (Chicanos) for trying to take American culture when most of book is about the worst of Mexican people? Saying that they were rejected is a bad answer. Again, I know it's not up to NTC to check an author's views, but for the same freedom of expression I write this letter. A negative book can be published about any nation.....well except France `because they're expert brain-washers (just read "French or Foe?" or Culture Shock: France)

Boy� might well be right in his negative views of us (easy job to look at defects) I can tell that since I know it since birth. Yet, you must do things right. This book is a freshmen scratch work, it's dishonest to sell it.

5 out of 5 stars

Very Good One April 7, 2003
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I'm a mexican who after reading some of the captions on the site bought this book for my dutch boyfriend and another dutch friend who is living in Mexico now, It has been very helpful for them to understand why we mexicans behave in a certain way. I don't find it insulting or dimishing the mexican culture. It is funny to see how others see us.

4 out of 5 stars

CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION!!!!! June 27, 2002
38 out of 38 found this review helpful

Great book but the SAME EXACT BOOK with a different cover can be bought !!! "There's a Word for It in Mexico" by the same author!!! I was the idiot who bought both!!!

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