Learning Spanish Anecdotes

[pr1970]

Thought it would be nice to have a thread of forum users embarrasing/amusing anecdotes about trying to learn Spanish here.


I have a couple, one from a few months back when I went to the doctors. My Spanish is still pretty basic but I understand some things. So the doctor invited me to lie down on the examination bed, and he said "Boca arriba" (mouth up / lie on your back in English) , which I`d never heard before and I thought he had said "Boca o River". So thinking he was talking football I answered "Yo prefero River, y vos?". Duh!

Another is my 5 year old son is fluent in Spanish and pretty good in English but the other day he said "Daddy, I`ve hurt my fingers on my feet" . He`d translated "Dedos de Pies" literally. cute!

 

[Girino]

When I arrived here, I went to Personal to ask for a SIM card with fingers (plan con dedos instead of datos).
Some time ago I was asked about how I prepared a dessert we were having at our place, and I said my secret ingredient was "a cockroach of vanilla" (cucaracha de vainilla instead of cucharadita).
Today I was telling how I was doing the "year's doorlock" (cerradura de fin de año instead of cierre).
I recall once I said I don't like to have my steak with the bear (bife con oso instead of hueso)

...plus many more I am not even aware of.

 

[nlaruccia]

Someone their friend, a yoga teacher, was here for a month giving classes in a studio in San Telmo. She brushed up on her Spanish before the trip and during the entire month every class she would tell her students in class to hold the position and to try not to fall. "No caigan", except that she was saying: "no cagen".

 

[EdRooney]

I don't know about you folks, but there are two topics I utterly dread discussing with my daughter in Argentine Spanish: 1 is telling her to put on her t-shirt (for fear of calling her a whore), and 2. is asking her to get the comb (for fear I might be asking her to get a phallus).

 

[RodalfoWalsh]

Hate to tell you this Ed, but if you're having to tell her to put on a shirt....

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

Thirty years ago on my first visit here to meet my spouse's family I asked my sister in law, "cuántos anos tienes?" There was dead silence for a few seconds and then all 25 people in the room started laughing. Whenever I see my sister in law she tells the story and everyone laughs all over again and I turn red all over again.

At some point I also mistook "embarazada" for embarrassed and asked my younger (unmarried) sister in law how far along she was instead of how embarrassed she was by something that had happened to her. It was pretty tense for about 5 minutes before they figured out I had made a mistake and was not accusing her of being an unwed mother, then they laughed - thank God.

 

[johnw100]

Thirty years ago on my first visit here to meet my spouse's family I asked my sister in law, "cuántos anos tienes?" There was dead silence for a few seconds and then all 25 people in the room started laughing. Whenever I see my sister in law she tells the story and everyone laughs all over again and I turn red all over again.

haha, The ~ symbol is just another reason of many why I struggle to learn this damn language. No wonder Spanish speakers like to have siestas, it takes all your energy just talking.

 

[camel]

So the doctor invited me to lie down on the examination bed, and he said "Boca arriba" (mouth up / lie on your back in English) , which I`d never heard before and I thought he had said "Boca o River". So thinking he was talking football I answered "Yo prefero River, y vos?". Duh!

Reebok or Nike? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXF6FUwX-vE

 

[Somewhereinba]

Thirty years ago on my first visit here to meet my spouse's family I asked my sister in law, "cuántos anos tienes?" There was dead silence for a few seconds and then all 25 people in the room started laughing. Whenever I see my sister in law she tells the story and everyone laughs all over again and I turn red all over again.

Did the exact same - he answered uno..... y vos?

 

[RodalfoWalsh]

haha, The ~ symbol is just another reason of many why I struggle to learn this damn language. No wonder Spanish speakers like to have siestas, it takes all your energy just talking.

Is ñ that hard to say? If you can pronounce "Enya" you can say "año"