Learning Useful Spanish Phrases Properly
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 many instances, a number of Spanish learners discover that phrase books lock you to a fixed way of saying something, and life is far from being like that.
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 small village you can’t even pronounce, it isn’t going to work. 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 one to use.
You can easily progress from there to a slightly more complicated greeting: “¿Cómo estás?” This 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, trust 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, Spanish speaking people have a variety 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 want 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. Maybe you want a whole 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” in any instance. Because we say “please to be polite in English, we assume that it is the same for other languages too. In fact, we generally cannot comprehend why anyone Could be so rude as to not use “please” when asking for something.
It just isn’t part of the Spanish culture. On the contarary, they regard it as rude if you do say, “please” for every single thing. For example, if you were to say to a Spanish barman, “un vaso de vino tinto, pro favor,” he would very likely get a little offended.
Visualize a person standing at the bar in an English speaking country waiting for a long time to be served. Finally, he says to the barman with a loud 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. Don’t do it and and it will save you a lot of unecessary trouble and heartache.