SAN CLEMENTE : Spanish Directions for English-Speakers

A newly published pocket-size book of Spanish words and phrases such as “Are you legal?” and “Don’t over-water” has been selling briskly in Orange County and north San Diego County.

Published by a Carlsbad marketing executive and former general contractor who was frustrated because he didn’t know the language of many of his workers, the book is a big seller in such unlikely places as the Ace Hardware of San Clemente.

Owner Wilma Bloom displays a box of the paperback books near the checkout register and has just placed her second order.

At her store, she said, mostly homemakers buy the book, and some of them tell her that they want to learn how to communicate better with the cleaning woman and the gardener.

“Their husbands send them in for nuts and bolts, and they stand here and read this book,” she said.

Bob Prosser, who with his wife, Sharon, started Southwestern Press, said the rapid influx of workers from Latin America, especially Mexico and Central America, means that Anglo bosses need to know instantly how to give out instructions in Spanish. Their book is a linguistic shortcut that provides readers with a few handy words and phrases or commands and their pronunciation.

Sales of “Spanish on the Job” indicate that more employers--from the lumber industry to restaurants to households--are looking for a quick way to bridge the language gap, Prosser said. Prosser has sold 7,000 copies of the book since its June printing, mostly in unexpected places such as a hardware store and liquor store.Of course, the book is also sold in some bookstores. The book has a chapter on common words and phrases including “You will have Sundays off,” and “Are you hungry?” It also has chapters on construction terms, landscaping terms and household terms.