Learning Helpful Spanish Phrases Properly
Common Spanish phrases found in Spanish phrase books can be helpful and many people buy them before embarking on vacation to Mexico or Spain. However, in many instances, most Spanish learners discover that phrase books limit you into a fixed way of saying something, and life isn’t like that at all.
Being able 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 insignificant 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 start 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 one 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. Usually, 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 Spanish, trust 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, Spanish speaking people have a number of courses for 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 with 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 realized that in all those Spanish words I didn’t say “please” once. Because we say “please as a form of courtesy in English, we assume that everyone else does it too. In fact, we usually are not able to comprehend why anyone would want to be so rude as to not say “please” when asking for a favor.
It just isn’t the Spanish way. In fact, they think it is rude if you do say, “please” for every single thing. For instance, if you were to say to a Spanish barman, “un vaso de vino tinto, pro favor,” he would probably feel a little insulted.
Picture someone standing at the bar in an English speaking country waiting for quite some time to get served. Finally, he speaks 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 pretty much how it comes over when you add “please” in Spanish. Avoid saying it and and it will save you a lot of unecessary trouble and heartache.
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