Traveler's Spanish

[Gale in KY]

Here's a good link for all the necessary words...can also click to listen to the pronounciaton.

http://www.fodors.com/language/ll.cgi?lid=1&cid=14

[MikeW]

I know enough to get in trouble. Then my wife bails me out.

I did learn one new phrase.
"La cuenta por favor."

[Gale in KY]

I never took spanish in High School, didn't and still don't know much more than "Si" and "Gracias"..lol..but, I still did most of the talking, even though my daughter in law had 4 years of Spanish..I thought she would be the one doing the communicating..boy,was I wrong..when it was time to ask for the check, she was heard to be saying, "El Checkey?"..lol..

My favorite phrase was of course holding up an empty glass and saying, "Dos mas, Coco Loco? por favor"..that was all I needed!

[MikeW]

After "El Checky" drew a snicker from the waiter, and my wife. I learned "La cuenta, por favor".

[Gale in KY]

Well, at least she wasn't the only one..our waiter was great about repeating whatever we said to him in Spanish..but, when he heard Mary as for the "El Checkey"...he cracked up, took him a minute or two to finally tell her, "Maria, La Quenta, not "El checkey"..lol

[sunscreenaddict]

It never hurts to try if you're stuck so 'el checkey' is admirable...and more then a little funny. I learned, in a quasi fit of frustration induced rage, that the spanish for "it's not your turn' is 'no es su turno'. I would never have believed it.

[Gale in KY]

lol, should I ask what you were waiting a turn for? I can actually understand more than I can speak..and have been doing about.com's spanish lesson a day. I am determined to be able to carry on a conversation someday..lol!
There is another good site for free spanish instruction, www.studyspanish.com

It isn't the words that are difficult, it is the dialect I stuggle with..well, can't you imagine, my down home Kentucky accent imbedded in the spanish dialect..lol..no wonder our waiters were laughing at us!

[sunscreenaddict]

Thankfully it wasn't aimed at me. It was aimed at the person who went out of turn while reading in, you guessed it, spanish class.

I, too, can understand more than I can speak though I had no real trouble communicating on my trip to PDC. Most of the locals spoke MUCH better english than I spoke spanish. In the one instance where the waitress didn't speak much english, my meager amount of spanish was enough to bridge the gap. I am amazed at how quickly you pick things up when you're immersed in it. I knew more after a week there than I had managed to cram into my brain in a few weeks of reading.

Here's another helpful tip. If your feeling confident in you spanish that when asked if you speak spanish...DO NOT...reply with 'un poco'. In my experience my definition of 'un poco' is way different than pretty much anyone else's. Luckily I understood enough of to figure out what she asked me next but had no hope of answering her in spanish.