bigr250:
I once stopped at Sunbila to fill up and ordered “uno bocadillio lomo” and the girl behind the counter looked a little puzzled and was half way through answering “que” 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 “she understood you perfectly but some of these people like to try to make you repeat yourself a couple of times to belittle you”!! He went on to tell me that he’d 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.
Bugger, that is about the extent of my Spanish, uno bocadillo lomo, dos cerveza, por favor and grassy arse, hope I never meet her
welshboyinspain:
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
That will just make you sound like an “Andalus” or “Buqurron” !!
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.
depends how ye say it , I think any Spaniard would have difficult in understanding a fluent Spanish speaker speaking Spanish say in a Chorley accent.
You have to mimick the Spanish, they speak with a very harsh aggressive tone, very gravelly,even the women so ye have to mimick that. Same in any Euro Language,perhaps this is why they repeat what you say. But in all restaurants they will reaffirm your order.
When you say fluent , is that Read, Write, Speak ? Can you have an argument / joke in Spanish with a Spaniard ? Just curious…
to the linguists out there, do you ever find when you speak in the language of the coutry you are in, the person replies back in English in answer to what you have said ? is this a point they are making to let you know they speak english or to say your lingo skills are complete crap?
routier:
to the linguists out there, do you ever find when you speak in the language of the coutry you are in, the person replies back in English in answer to what you have said ? is this a point they are making to let you know they speak english or to say your lingo skills are complete crap?
Surely if your language skills are that poor, they’ll say so.
Essentially taking the mick out of someone at least making an effort to speak your language is, to me anyway, extremely rude. Even worse than telling someone they are murdering your language.
I speak very poor German. I’ve had people reply to me in English, rather than listen me murdering German some more. I’ve had people tell me my German is diabolical. Most of the time people are pleased that I make the effort, and ‘help’ me improve my skills. There’s a lot of learning to be done still
I don’t mind any of these straightforward approaches.
Someone taking the mick out of my efforts would make me rather unhappy. An unhappy me is not a pleasant sight . Some might say a happy me isn’t any improvement
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 too…
’
Yes but in fairness Dave ordering a steak and kidney pie in a bakery in Ellesmere Port in Spanish would confuse anyone.
Never mind ordering in spanish confusing people in Ellesmere Port ordering in english is hard enough!!!
)
so ye have to mimick that. Same in any Euro Language,perhaps this is why they repeat what you say. But in all restaurants they will reaffirm your order.