Dominican Republic - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, but I've been living in the USA for some time now and I was looking for a book that I could recommend to foreigners interested in visiting or moving to my country of origin. This book has a lot of information on our culture and customs, but honestly you could find most of it for free on the Internet.You should only buy this book if you are in a hurry and don't want to spend the time searching on the web or if you would like to have that information handy. But if you're not in a hurry please save the money and spend one hour searching on the web.Besides that, please take with a huge gulping of salt the brief historical information provided. The authors twice claim that baseball was introduced by invading US Marines, which is such an egregious mistake that you have to wonder how well researched is the rest of the book. Baseball was introduced by Cubans fleeing war in their island in the 1880-1890s and the country oldest baseball club (the Licey Tigers) was founded in 1907, mine years before the 1916 US invasion.If you care about the history that helps to provide context on why the Dominican people are who they are today, stay away from this book.

Dominican Republic Culture Smart is a great resource for anyone wanting to learn about the culture and the people of this unique and wonderful Caribbean nation. I have lived in the Dominican Republic for over 22 years and find this book to be very accurate in its description of the Dominican nation, people and culture. For both tourists wanting to know more about the Dominican Republic and foreigners who come to live and work in the country, this book is an excellent tool. The authors communicate great understanding of the Dominican culture and also show great respect for the Dominican people. The book is extremely practical too helping the reader to understand a variety of cultural situations such as visiting in homes, family life, using public transportation, food, etc. It is extremely well written and enjoyable to read. It is like having a conversation with a good friend with excellent cultural insights. I highly recommend this very interesting and practical book.

Written by two British expats, both long term residents of the Dominican Republic, this guide will unravel such mysteries as the meaning of "manana" and offer explanations of its origins.More than just a ordinary travel guide,this book will give you the needed insights to feel at home in the culture because even if you do speak Spanish, the ways to the native folk can be hard to understand.Written in very readable(if British, which may give US readers some pause but does not detract from the usefulness) prose, and accompanied by first hand experiences as illustrations, this is the ESSENTIAL guide for anyone coming here for more than a week at an all inclusive, or planning to move here.(I have lived here for seven years and use this book as the text for my English class)

As a native of the Dominican Republic and more recently an American Dominican this read was accurate in every way! Well done indeed! Highly recommended for travellers and Dominican Americans raised by Dominican parents. This book gives a deeper understanding of every facets of Dominican lives.

Good book

I'm leaving for the DR in a week on a 17d trip and wanted to get some insight as to the lay of the land & what to expect. I've only flipped through it a few times but already I find it useful and the language translation with key phrases is a great thing to have. I'll be back packing solo so I'm happy to know how to negotiate a motoconcho ride before I get on and remember to get on from the left side so you don't end up with an exhaust pipe burn on your leg!

Informative and useful. I've been once on mission and ready to return and found this helpful to be more comfortable with the culture.

Pretty good for what it is, but I was looking for a different kind of guidebook -- more historical and topographical, and it didn't really fit the bill.

This book does not provide any substantial information for a tourist: no hotel, no restaurant, no museum, nor store... Nothing! It speaks about the way of life of the people and provides general cultural bits from a left wing point of view (beware you "ugly American" capitalists, you are not welcome here!)One example of this biaised book: the authors are sorry to have to admit that Dominican blacks do not regard themselves as part of a so-called black culture; they identify first with the Spanish-speaking world... Having said so, this book provides some perspective on the country habits, but do not expect any specifics.