Abstract
Language Usage guides are reference works designed to help speakers when they have doubts employing the language or believe they have made a mistake. This paper aims to determinate under what conditions some user guide may indeed help users in an efficient way. The evaluation´s scope included three user guides of Spanish, French and Portuguese. Basic conditions for a successful help are a solid theoretical framework in using a language, an explicit orientation how to use it and a mutual confidence between the speakers of a language and the institutions that consolidate its use such as Language Academies or the reference works that assume this task.
Keywords:
Language use orientation; Language usage guides; Portuguese; Spanish; French