Picking Up Comon Spanish Phrases Properly
Posted on December 15, 2008
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Common Spanish phrases found in Spanish phrase books can be helpful and many people get them before embarking on vacation to Mexico or Spain. However, many times, most Spanish learners discover that phrase books lock you to one way of saying something, and life isn’t like that at all.
Having the ability to say, “Can you tell me if this is the 10.15 or the 10.30 train leaving for Barcelona?” is all very well. But when you are in Bolivia and it’s a bus leaving at midnight you are hoping to catch to some unknown village you can’t even pronounce, it isn’t much help. You need to know more than just easy Spanish words, or at least you need to be able to adapt the Spanish phrases you know.
It is wise to begin by picking up the useful Spanish phrases. Learn how to greet people by saying “good day” (buenas días), “good afternoon” (buenas tardes), and “good evening” (buenas noches). You can always just say “hola” (hello) if you’re not sure which phrase to use.
You can naturally progress from there to a slightly more complicated greeting: “¿Cómo estás?” This means, “how are you?” However, that’s a rather formal and stilted. Typically, most people just say, “que tal?” If someone says that to you, answer them, “bien, ¿y tu?” (I’m well, and you?). They will be impressed with your command of their language, believe me!
In keeping with the popular Spanish phrase books, you need to also know how to ask for something if you are in a Spanish café or restaurant. As in most English speaking countries, native Spanish speakers have a number of courses to their meals. The first is the, “primero plato,” the second is the “segundo plato,” and the third is the “tercero plato.”
You may wish to have a glass of water (un vaso de agua) with your meal, or a coffee (un café). If you want your coffee to have milk, then it should be, “un café con leche.” A glass of red wine (un vaso de vino tinto), or white wine (un vaso de vino blanco) may also go down well. Perhaps you want an entire bottle of wine (una botella de vino). And now you can ask for one that’s either red or white too.
You may have realized that in all those Spanish phrases I didn’t say “please” once. Because we say “please all the time in English, we assume that everyone else does it too. In fact, we generally are not able to understand why anyone Could be so rude as to not use “please” when asking for a favor.
It just is not a Spanish custom. In fact, they think it is rude if you do say, “please” all the time. For instance, if you were to tell a Spanish barman, “un vaso de vino tinto, pro favor,” he would very likely get a little insulted.
Picture somebody standing at the bar in an English speaking country waiting for quite some time to get served. Finally, he says to the barman in a frustrated voice, “a glass of red wine, PLEASE.” The “please” at the end is said in a rather sarcastic way, and that’s very much how it comes over when you add “please” in Spanish. Don’t do it and and it will save you a lot of unecessary trouble and heartache.
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