Today I will talk about 7 mistakes that gringos or native English speakers make when speaking Spanish. This article will help you avoid these mistakes when speaking Spanish. I have a friend from New York (New York) who stays with me here in Medellín while he is looking for a place to live. He came here to Medellín to study Spanish. You are going to take classes at a local university. He arrived a week ago and has made a mistake when speaking Spanish. Most of them are common gringo mistakes. So let me tell you about their mistakes so you can avoid them.
Tom (not his real name) and I went to eat at an Italian restaurant on Saturday night. And just by coincidence, the owner is a Bronx guy from what used to be an Italian neighborhood, not far from where I once lived in the Bronx.
When the “waiter” or waiter took our orders I asked for my favorite “starter” or appetizer:
Eggplant Parmesan (Eggplant Parmesan)
It was then that Tom made his first mistake. Tom asked for “a glass of wine.” You DO NOT call a glass of wine a “glass”. “Glass” means drinking glass, but you have to use the word “glass” when referring to a glass of wine. For example:
Give me a glass of wine.
Can I have a glass of wine?
And the second mistake Tom made also had to do with wine. It is a common mistake for English speakers to literally translate English words and phrases when speaking Spanish. So I wasn’t surprised when Tom ordered “red wine.” But that’s not how you say “red wine” in Spanish. The phrase is “vino tinto” (red wine).
Tom then made a third mistake. Well, it wasn’t really a mistake. Tom is also from the Bronx. And New York-born Puerto Ricans and Dominicans speak Spanish that is much more informal than Colombian Spanish. So that’s the kind of Spanish Tom is used to hearing.
And when Tom dropped his knife and fork that were wrapped in a “napkin” (napkin) to get the waiter’s attention, Tom yelled “Look!” “Sight!”
When that didn’t get the “waiter’s” attention, Tom yelled “Hey!” “Hey!”
In the Bronx or in some Spanish-speaking parts of New York, you can get someone’s attention by yelling “Mira!” or “Hey!” but not in Colombia. In Colombia, yelling “Look!” or “Hey!” “Listen!” To get the attention of the “waiter” is considered “rude”. By the way, “rude” does NOT mean what you think it means. “Rude” is a “fake friend.” “False friends” or “false friends” are Spanish words that are pronounced and written in much the same way as English words but have very different meanings.
“Rude” does not mean rude or rude. “Rude” means rude. So what is the correct way to get someone’s attention in Latin America?
In Latin America, to get someone’s attention, you have to say “Sorry” or “Excuse me.” But most Colombians would simply say “sir” or “ma’am” to get someone’s attention. And in Tom’s case, if the waiter (or waitress) was younger than him, words like “boy” or “boy” or “girl” are all acceptable in Colombia.
Finally, Tom caught the waiter’s attention by yelling “Hey!” And when the waiter approached our table, Tom said to him:
My covers fell off.
Tom really surprised me with that phrase. His grammar was perfect. But his choice of vocabulary had another common gringo mistake, which now made 4 mistakes for Tom.
“Cutlery” are eating utensils. But “the covers” means “the covers” or “the covers”. So Tom should have said:
I dropped the cutlery.
I dropped the cutlery.
As Tom used the wrong vocabulary, the waiter did not understand it and asked Tom “How?”
And Tom answered and made a FIFTH mistake:
The blade fell for me.
“Cuchillo” means knife in Spanish. But “blade” means razor blade. But the waiter apparently understood Tom because he came back with a “napkin” (napkin), “fork” (fork), “spoon” (spoon) and “knife” (knife), instead of a “blade” or razor for Tom. to shave.
After we finished eating, Tom made mistake number 6. He told me in Spanish:
Let me pay the story.
Tom looked at me very puzzled when I responded by saying “Why? Is the waiter going to tell us a fairy tale?”
“Bill” means a restaurant bill or bill or check. But “tale” means tale or fairy tale. So Tom should have said:
Let me pay the bill.
Let me pay the bill.
As we were leaving, Tom made a seventh and final Gringo mistake. There was a couple waiting for a taxi and blocking the entrance of the restaurant, and this time they said “Sorry.”
The couple did not move, but looked at Tom as if trying to get their attention. That’s when I said “permission”, which is the correct way to say sorry when you try to pass and someone blocks your way. You can say “I allow” or “I allow”.
So I hope knowing Tom’s 7 mistakes will help you avoid making the same gringo mistakes when speaking Spanish.