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Making a total a** of yourself... | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5129 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 27 14 May 2014 at 12:21am | IP Logged | ||
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I am constantly puzzled at the odd language mixture I hear from my Latin-American friends. Sentences like:
"Esta en el barnehage", o "Es muy flink" comes out regularly, and I usually say nothing, as I do not want to offend them. I do however give them the Spanish term occasionally, when it is a word which is unknown in their country, or because they simply forgot. When I was sitting among a group of Peruvian/ Norwegians the other day, I constantly heard them say "Voy a cortar el grass", I could not stand it anymore and said: "Excuse me, a little Spanish lesson for the Spanish speakers here: in Spanish this is called "cesped". " Cesped. And then they just looked at me, and said" But in Peru we say "grass". Leave it to me to find the one expression they actually used at home. Please tell me I am not the only one who has slipped up. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 14 May 2014 at 5:53am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4405 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 2 of 27 14 May 2014 at 1:26am | IP Logged | ||
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Yikes, I thought "cut the grass" was "podar el pasto." I guess I would have made an ass
of myself too. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| chokofingrz Pentaglot Senior Member England Joined 4984 days ago 241 posts - 430 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Japanese, Catalan, Luxembourgish | Message 3 of 27 14 May 2014 at 1:48am | IP Logged | ||
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I think you should count yourself lucky to have such linguistically interesting friends. Peruvian Norwegians? That is a combination I could never even have dreamed up. I can't imagine what other funny hybrid sayings they come out with.
5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nicozerpa Triglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 4121 days ago 182 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Portuguese, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 4 of 27 14 May 2014 at 4:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Welcome to the wicked world of Latin American Spanish, Cristina! :P
Don't worry, natives can make an a*** of themselves too. In general, a native Spanish speaker knows only one's dialect and just a few words from the dialects of other countries. The classic example is when Spaniards go to Argentina or Mexico and use the verb "coger" (For those who can't speak Spanish: that word means "to take" in Spain, but in these two Latin American countries, it means "to f*ck"!). If someone told me the phrase "Es muy flink", I'd be surprised, even though I use English words in my Spanish too. Yesterday, for example, I told a coworker: "Florencia, estuviste muy polite", which is not the same as saying "Estuviste muy amable". This is a awesome music video from the Colombian band "Inténtalo Carito" about the differences among Spanish dialects: ¡Qué difícil que es hablar el español! Edited by nicozerpa on 14 May 2014 at 5:10am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| DaisyMaisy Senior Member United States Joined 5175 days ago 115 posts - 178 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish Studies: Swedish, Finnish | Message 5 of 27 14 May 2014 at 6:04am | IP Logged | ||
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telling native speakers they are saying something wrong? Yeah, that's kind of making an a** I think :) It sounds like it's just slang. Plus all the regional differences in LA Spanish vs Spain Spanish makes for confusion.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5129 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 27 14 May 2014 at 7:37am | IP Logged | ||
The thing is that 99% of the time they mix in Norwegian words that are not ever used is Spanish, and it drives me crazy. My number one "hate sentence" is "Me voy de hytta". Which in Spanish would normally be "Me voy a la cabaña" (I am going to the cabin/ lodge). And I never say anything. I love these people to death, and although I find it very puzzling that they mix in Norwegian terms, when there are a bunch of Spanish equivalents, I keep my mouth shut. I have been in a room with six Latin-Americans who did not know the word for that thingimijiggy that you put under a pot or pan when you put in on the table, in order not to burn the table (salvamanteles). And I understand it in the case where the term describes something they do not have or use in their language - why would they know the Spanish term for something they do not use? But I fail to understand why they put in the Norwegian term when there are perfectly good Spanish terms, known to them, which they have used for a lifetime before they came here. I use a lot of English in my Norwegian too, but only if there is not a Norwegan term I can use which s equally precise. It was just my luck that I would jump at the 100th case, where it was a word that was actually used in their dialect. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 3894 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 7 of 27 14 May 2014 at 8:49am | IP Logged | ||
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You have very patient and understanding friends, or there's a recurring joke here creating a lot of goodwill. I wouldn't be too happy with someone wanting to police the way I speak when in an informal group of friends (whether they mostly bite their tongue or not), and I definitely wouldn't be happy with someone professing their desire to teach the native Swedish speakers in the room some Swedish... exceptions made for a recurring joke, but if it's all a big joke then it's an embarrassing "my joke fell flat" story, not an embarrassing language story.
Filling in a word that someone is actively searching for is an entirely different animal. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5129 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 8 of 27 14 May 2014 at 9:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Given that we have been best friends for 7 years, and that it is the first time I say anything, I do not think I
have given them much reason for having to be patient with me. Also you have to keep in mind that Spaniards/Latin-Americans have different attitudes about being direct with each other than Swedes do, and that the closer you get, the more you can say without people getting offended. I have had good friends in Spain tell me that I am fat, have no hair, and that I am absolutely useless, and I did not even think of taking offense. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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