Do you speak Sangria?
While I was in Spain, I was learning Spanish on the fly and one of my more winning attributes is a devil-may-care attitude that lets me look like an idiot without it bothering me too much. That helps me get some practice in, but it also guarantees the people around me no end of amusement as I mangle the language. Here are some of the more amusing failures I have had trying to speak the language in Madrid translated as they would appear in English:
“Do you speak Sangria? I would like to speak Sangria please.”
To me “habla” sounds like “have” in English so I just swapped them.
“I have lived in Madrid for two tables this year.”
tables = mesas
months = meses
This is pretty easy to do, but some of our customers from Columbia gave me a little smile when I pulled this one.
“I am an electrical January from the United States.”
engineer = ingeniero
January = enero
Seriously, can anybody tell the difference here? It’s like “In-He-NEE-ero” versus “A-nairo” and I think it should count anyway.
“For lunch I would like to eat the ribs of a Chinese man.”
It’s very easy to get these mixed up, but it’s a good way to horrify the waitress and amuse your work colleagues.
That’s it from your friendly neighborhood Sangria-speaking, cannibalistic electric January.
P.
Well, that made me laugh out loud. 🙂
By Cindy on December 5, 2008 2:16 am
I was there for half of these, and they still made me laugh. I love the post. It definitely shows how easy it is to make small mistakes and how important it is to have a sense of humor about it (one of the lessons I am still learning by Puck’s example in life). I was truly amazed by Puck’s willingness to jump right in and use the Spanish he knew and by how quickly he was picking up the language.
By Mary on December 5, 2008 8:46 am