Common Spanish phrases found in Spanish phrase books can be helpful and many people buy them before going for vacation to Mexico or Spain. However, in real life, most Spanish learners discover that phrase books lock you into a fixed 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 remote 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 helpful to begin by learning 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 one to use.
You can naturally progress from there to a relatively more complicated greeting: "¿Cómo estás?" which means, "how are you?" However, that's a little bit formal and stilted. Actually, 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 infamous Spanish phrase books, you need to also learn 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 variety 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 cup 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. Maybe 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 noticed that in all those Spanish phrases I didn't say "please" once. Because we do it usually in English, we assume that it is the same for other languages too. In fact, we typically can't comprehend why anyone would want to be so rude as to not say "please" when asking for something.
It just simply is not a Spanish custom. On the contarary, they regard it as rude if you do say, "please" with everything. For example, if you were to say to a Spanish barman, "un vaso de vino tinto, pro favor," he would probably get a little insulted.
Picture a man who has been standing at the bar in an English speaking country waiting for a long time to be served. Finally, he speaks to the barman in an impatient voice, "a glass of red wine, PLEASE." The "please" at the end is said in a rather sarcastic way, and that's pretty much how it feels to a native Spanish speaker when you add "please" in Spanish. Avoid saying it and you'll keep yourslef out of needless trouble.
No comments:
Post a Comment