howz yer spanish? (1 Viewer)

[buzd]

this is apparently universally the first thing learned both ways. When I was engaged to a woman from Mexico and first went down to meet her parents, her father could not speak a lick of English but we drank a butt load of tequila together. He just kept telling this story of his military days when he stayed in some English speaking town and he learned to say “one beer”. He would just keep saying “one beer” and rolling with laughter. His antics were far more hysterical than his story

When I was in Panama, we had no problem ordering beer - the problem was that it was usually warm. The next word I learned was hielo.

 

[zeetes]

Yes there appears to be some stigma in the Hispanic community towards other Hispanics who cannot speak spanish. I worked with some Hispanic guys who's parents never taught them spanish, and whenever other Hispanics tried to speak them in spanish, they told me if it was 1 or more they would speak spanish in front of them, smiling and laughing, likely making fun of them.

My son has received this too, because he looks Hispanic. My mother-in-law was from Honduras, so my wife is half Hispanic and our son got some of her Hispanic traits such as darker skin, and coarse, thick, dark hair. My m-in-l never taught her kids spanish, so no one knows how to speak it.

my bff is from honduras. he speaks enough spanish to where i can understand him lol. he was born here and his parents were strict about only speaking english in communication.

 

[J.T.]

My mom says when she was growing up, her mom spoke fluent Spanish (obviously since she was from Puerto Rico), and she said her mom could understand most Italian. She said so many of the words are close enough that she could get the jest of a conversation in Italian. Not that i don't believe her, but is this true?

when i was on tour we were mostly in Romance countries (mostly italian, then spain and a smattering of france) -basically i found that you could mostly get by with a 'romance pidgin' and the correct accent (except Madrid, couldn't understand or express caca there)

If you have a good working understanding of one Romance Language and some understanding of one or two more, any others are fairly easy to at least get by. Italian is strange, it has many word that are not connected with the other Romance Languages. I have watched a few shows in Romanian. Pretty interesting language, I can understand about 20% or so of it, which is enough to get some of what is going on. No real use for Romanian for me, but I am hoping to travel there in the next year or two and would like to see how much I can learn.

For the most part, any of the major cities of the Romance Language countries is more difficult. They just talk much faster. Paris can be rough for me (I am not fluent in French, but I get about 80%), Rome is hard and it would be the same in Madrid or Mexico City. Big city people usually talk faster, like NYC. They don't have time for slow.

 

[zeetes]

my bff is from honduras. he speaks enough spanish to where i can understand him lol. he was born here and his parents were strict about only speaking english in communication.

oh and another friend, whom i've known since the mid-90s, is brazilian. so funny going by their house. they could watch uvn (i think that's the spanish channel?), but couldn't really speak it. also, portuguese sounds like the guy from the micro machines commercials.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

For the most part, any of the major cities of the Romance Language countries is more difficult. They just talk much faster.

i was surprised that Paris was easier than i anticipated, but you're exactly right the speed in Madrid made it unintelligible for me - and madriders just took "despacio" to mean, "take a breath before you speak as rapidly as you did before"

 

[zeetes]

i was surprised that Paris was easier than i anticipated, but you're exactly right the speed in Madrid made it unintelligible for me - and madriders just took "despacio" to mean, "take a breath before you speak as rapidly as you did before"

i did not go to paris, but spent a few days in northern france. i was only 11, but i had no difficulty buying sugary sweets from the bakery next store to the inn. though, i had already taken 2 years of french by then. sadly, i don't remember sheet for speaking it.

 

[0rion]

'Una mas cerveza, por favor'

I said I know it....not that I could spell it haha

 

[zeetes]

i want to visit prague, soooo badly. my number one destination, when i can.

i don't know czech though. english is one of the secondary languages, but very little speak it, from my research. apparently, even common phrases are difficult to learn (czech).

the underground tunnels look amazing.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

i did not go to paris, but spent a few days in northern france. i was only 11, but i had no difficulty buying sugary sweets from the bakery next store to the inn. though, i had already taken 2 years of french by then. sadly, i don't remember sheet for speaking it.

i minored in german in college - when i was in holland i thought 'hey, maybe i could try some of my german out (there were enough dutch words that i could figure out, so this made sense to me) i go in a dutch bakery to try to order and they start asking through the shop if anyone spoke german who could help me - when no one could i said "how about english?" and they were all like "well, yeah, of course"
(but i'm pretty sure they were just hassling me bc they hate germans)

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

i want to visit prague, soooo badly. my number one destination, when i can.

i don't know czech though. english is one of the secondary languages, but very little speak it, from my research. apparently, even common phrases are difficult to learn (czech).

the underground tunnels look amazing.

after florence and barcelona, prague might be the prettiest city i've ever been to

 

[SystemShock]

Beer ordering in Spanish - lesson of the day:

If you are ordering the first one, and want to sound like a local: "Una chela", or "una cheva". Those are well known in MX and fairly known Southward.
If you are going to continue drinking: "traeme otra" or "me das otra?"
If you think the next one is the last one: "Una mas"

Bonus knowledge: if you are buying the round, "doy mi tanda". If you want someone else to buy the round: "da tu tanda" (commanding) or "das to tanda?" (politely asking).

And if you have drank too much beer or ate too much, you ask for "la del desempanze", which is either a highball or shot of something, which is believed to make you fart or poop.

 

[zeetes]

after florence and barcelona, prague might be the prettiest city i've ever been to

awesome. i've had friends laugh that i want to go there. it has been an interest of mine since highschool.

 

[J.T.]

i was surprised that Paris was easier than i anticipated, but you're exactly right the speed in Madrid made it unintelligible for me - and madriders just took "despacio" to mean, "take a breath before you speak as rapidly as you did before"

i did not go to paris, but spent a few days in northern france. i was only 11, but i had no difficulty buying sugary sweets from the bakery next store to the inn. though, i had already taken 2 years of french by then. sadly, i don't remember sheet for speaking it.

My French comprehension can range from near 100% to 50% or so, depending on who is speaking and the dialect. Louisiana French, for those who are fluent....and there are still thousands who are, is French from the 1600-1800's in France. Languages evolve. Louisiana French evolved independent from France. France used to have VERY distinct dialects of French. As with most countries, regional dialects have decreased in the last few decades in most countries. I have a relative who is married to someone from Germany and they say the German regional dialects from 40 years ago were VERY different from today.

About 30 years ago, I was travelling alone through France and was on a pretty long train ride across the country. An older couple were in the train car with me and we started talking. They did not speak any English, so it forced me to stay in French for about 3 hours. They said my French was pretty good, I understood about 90-95% of what they were saying. It was great. They were from Brittany, which is where my French ancestors were from nearly 400 years ago. The regional dialect survived in France for a long time. The old couple were born around 1910-1920. I am sure the regional dialects are dying off fast in France. (On a side note, I can understand people in most of the USA, but man.....some of our accents are wicked. joke)

I love languages. I am hoping to work on two or three in the next two years. It would be nice to be fluent in four or five languages. (My goal is English, French, German, Spanish and Italian....I have a sprinkling of Japanese and Mandarin, but Mandarin is rough. I learned some Cantonese to mess with old people in Chinatown in SF, that was fun.)

 

[Goatman Saint]

I have taken 4 years of French, and with a bit of practice I can get by. I have two years of Spanish and I hate to use it because I sound like a Montana hick who knows French trying to speak Spanish because I get the two confused. Then, where I’m at it’s such a rough version of Spanish that as my friend form Oaxaca puts it she knows 4 different languages. Oaxacan spanish, Central Valley Spanish, real textbook Spanish and english.

 

[soupcan dan]

i can't tell you how often i've raised the white flag -----"-Mi espanol es muy sucko!" -- and I'm always given a pass for trying. Smiles and appreciation.

French Canadian---no patience in their home town - but will whip out a phone translator at the shop
Mandarin--- i'm clueless---let's see your phone pics
Slovak--- usually pictures and hand gestures
Farsi--- let's call your son or daughter!