I speak fluent Spanish,but when ordering drinks or food,the staff repeat what i have said about 3 or 4 times all over the country.Now,i say only once,they repeat,and finally say what i said in the first place. 
toby1234abc:
I speak fluent Spanish,but when ordering drinks or food,the staff repeat what i have said about 3 or 4 times all over the country.Now,i say only once,they repeat,and finally say what i said in the first place.
Hi Toby, I know what you mean, cos it happens to me tooâŚ
I think it might be something to do with our english accent, because no matter how fluent you are in any foreign language, youâll (almost) always sound like a Brit to your audience.
The other issue that might affect this IMHO is whether the person youâre speaking to is used to dealing with âforeigners.â
Thought they did it as a wind up,guessing some may not be Spanish born and have immigrated from Bulgaria/Romania etc to find work and send money back to their families,in a poorer country,some times i have to point to what i want,and dont bother talking,depending how tired,or have driven a long time.Some are real page 3 stunners,in a small village ,kms from anywhere in rural areas.
dieseldave:
toby1234abc:
I speak fluent Spanish,but when ordering drinks or food,the staff repeat what i have said about 3 or 4 times all over the country.Now,i say only once,they repeat,and finally say what i said in the first place.Hi Toby, I know what you mean, cos it happens to me tooâŚ
â
Yes but in fairness Dave ordering a steak and kidney pie in a bakery in Ellesmere Port in Spanish would confuse anyone. 
toby1234abc:
I speak fluent Spanish,but when ordering drinks or food,the staff repeat what i have said about 3 or 4 times all over the country.Now,i say only once,they repeat,and finally say what i said in the first place.
la verdad ?
pues tambien puede ser que ellos solamente quieren asegurarse que ellos tiene su orden correcto, tambien en muchos reaturantes en inglaterra cuando pides algo se repiten par que usted dispone de la opurtunidad por correcciones
Service is generally much better in Spain, sometimes they really want to make sure they got your order right 
As VascoIngles more or less says. 
Hey Vasco, is that English guy still in the Red Caps - met him a couple of times, cool guy. 
onan:
Service is generally much better in Spain, sometimes they really want to make sure they got your order rightAs VascoIngles more or less says.
Hey Vasco, is that English guy still in the Red Caps - met him a couple of times, cool guy.
he is indeed
Ben9:
Yes but in fairness Dave ordering a steak and kidney pie in a bakery in Ellesmere Port in Spanish would confuse anyone.
Hi Ben, thatâs true mate, but if Iâm after a pie, language difficulties wonât stand in the way.
I never got to grips with Spanish, (to each his own though ,) but I did discover that if you shout loudly enough in Italian, a Spaniard will probably understand eventually. 
toby you probably find that you are speaking spanish to them but they all speak different variations so each area has a little bit different ways of pronouncing words.
try lisping like chris eubank or dropping all s in any words might make a difference
Eubanks got done for TWOC,beer truck blocked his route on his kids school run,keys were left in it.Met him in Brighton,he poses in that Peterbilt,signing autographs etc,decent enough bloke. 
dieseldave:
I think it might be something to do with our english accent, because no matter how fluent you are in any foreign language, youâll (almost) always sound like a Brit to your audience.
As a man, who deals with many Polish students (I used to give Polish lessons and my girl is still doing that) i think itâs about a manâs individual circumstances. Some of us just have it right and some not. I think itâs commonly joined to your musical earâŚ
I am very proud of myself, as many times I was taken for Scottish⌠some of my girlâs students are speak really good Polish and altough I can say they are English-speakers from their gramar mistakes, their pronouncation is pretty wellâŚ
But some people just canât have it right⌠I know a Polish chap, heâs over 80 and he lives in England from 1945, he got English wife and he almost forgoten Polish, but I can still hear his heavy Polish accentâŚ
orys:
dieseldave:
I think it might be something to do with our english accent, because no matter how fluent you are in any foreign language, youâll (almost) always sound like a Brit to your audience.
orys:
As a man, who deals with many Polish students (I used to give Polish lessons and my girl is still doing that) i think itâs about a manâs individual circumstances. Some of us just have it right and some not. I think itâs commonly joined to your musical earâŚ
Your point about the musical ear is something that Iâd not considered, but I did realise that there are some people who can truly master a foreign language. (Thatâs why I wrote âalmost alwaysâ in my post. )
orys:
I am very proud of myself, as many times I was taken for Scottish⌠some of my girlâs students are speak really good Polish and altough I can say they are English-speakers from their gramar mistakes, their pronouncation is pretty wellâŚBut some people just canât have it right⌠I know a Polish chap, heâs over 80 and he lives in England from 1945, he got English wife and he almost forgoten Polish, but I can still hear his heavy Polish accentâŚ
I knew a very similar guy, but he was a Ukrainian.
Having thought a bit more about the points youâve made, it reminds me that people from the southern half of England tend to be better at pronouncing French as a foreign language, whereas the people from the North tend to be better at pronouncing German. There might be something in the North/South thing, but your âmusical earâ theory is a very good one IMHO.
Regions and accents.Spanish teacher at a colllege evening class,she was from the Catalan region of North East Spain,me and dad could not understand what she was on about,and had to leave the course early.I taught myself French by reading childrens books in French,and gradually worked up through the ages.Ignored the teacher at school.When sat on a long dining table at a Rouitier,what i learnt suddenly came back,the drivers will prompt you on to help with the food order and have a conversation and admire you for trying,and didnt worry about the mistakes.It was funny to watch the Brit tourists getting the wrong fuel pumps and turning around in the garages,the owner fuming and venting off at the tourists getting it wrong on holidays,left their brains in England.Gendarmes had a field day with the fines for no number plates and back lights that were covered up by bikes. 
onan:
Hey Vasco, is that English guy still in the Red Caps - met him a couple of times, cool guy.
Vascoingles:
he is indeed
Could have knocked me down with a feather first time I met him, he only spoke in English because I was making the effort to speak Spanish
My level of Spanish is between basic to good and I find that I am one always doing the repeating to make sure Iâve got it right what Iâve just been told.
I once stopped at Sunbila to fill up and ordered âuno bocadillio lomoâ and the girl behind the counter looked a little puzzled and was half way through answering âqueâ when a Spanish driver standing next to me absolutely tore into her with a tirade of loud abuse.
She went of into the kitchen and he turned to me and said âshe understood you perfectly but some of these people like to try to make you repeat yourself a couple of times to belittle youâ!! He went on to tell me that heâd lived in Glasgow for 10 (or so) years and hated the way she had been treating me. I sat and ate my pork loin butty with him and was entertained by some of the stories he told me of his time in the UK, within 45 mins we were good mates and as I left the girl behind the counter appologised. (she might have told me to bog off but it sounded like an appology 
)
Ross.
bigr250:
I once stopped at Sunbila to fill up and ordered âuno bocadillio lomoâ and the girl behind the counter looked a little puzzled and was half way through answering âqueâ when a Spanish driver standing next to me absolutely tore into her with a tirade of loud abuse.She went of into the kitchen and he turned to me and said âshe understood you perfectly but some of these people like to try to make you repeat yourself a couple of times to belittle youâ!! He went on to tell me that heâd lived in Glasgow for 10 (or so) years and hated the way she had been treating me. I sat and ate my pork loin butty with him and was entertained by some of the stories he told me of his time in the UK, within 45 mins we were good mates and as I left the girl behind the counter appologised. (she might have told me to bog off but it sounded like an appology
Ross.
Hi Ross, surprised you got that treatment there, I used it on and off for about 20 years with never a problem, not as good as it used to be but was still ok up to two years ago.
Mind you " bocadillio" is a problem for many english speakers to pronounce ( the ll sound ) but Iâm sure that werenât the problem at Sunbila or Sunbilla (I take it you meant the Repsol)
onan:
Hi Ross, surprised you got that treatment there, I used it on and off for about 20 years with never a problem, not as good as it used to be but was still ok up to two years ago.Mind you " bocadillio" is a problem for many english speakers to pronounce ( the ll sound ) but Iâm sure that werenât the problem at Sunbila or Sunbilla (I take it you meant the Repsol)
Indeed, me too as Iâd been going there for years and it was my one of my favorite eating spots in Spain having weekended there a few times, theyâd also âdo a good discountâ for cash on diesel which as an owner driver made a fair difference to running costs.
This was a few years ago (late 90âs) and it was a Contixa station then, obviously before it became a Repsol.
Ross.
bigr250:
onan:
Hi Ross, surprised you got that treatment there, I used it on and off for about 20 years with never a problem, not as good as it used to be but was still ok up to two years ago.Mind you " bocadillio" is a problem for many english speakers to pronounce ( the ll sound ) but Iâm sure that werenât the problem at Sunbila or Sunbilla (I take it you meant the Repsol)
Indeed, me too as Iâd been going there for years and it was my one of my favorite eating spots in Spain having weekended there a few times, theyâd also âdo a good discountâ for cash on diesel which as an owner driver made a fair difference to running costs.
This was a few years ago (late 90âs) and it was a Contixa station then, obviously before it became a Repsol.
Ross.
it still is a Contxa station (southbound anyway) and its a Cepsa northbound don,t recall the repsol though?
the cafe southbound is the best price whereas the northbound one has the best showers upstairs from the fuelstation.
favourite place of ours for sundays so keep a lookout for the CITMA boys, we nearly all speak english
the price at the contxa southbound is still one of the cheapest in spain if you can pay in cash
Cepsa northbound ? (Southbound)
Had to google earth that one It wasnât there last time I passed through.
Bit of development gone on there 
Not a Repsol Station but they have Repsol receipts for some things, they used to take Esso Cards but two weeks after I got mine they stopped using them
Don