Here's one for the "dos beers" users.

[casablanca]

Punctuation is as important as correct spelling and grammar. However, it is not everything . My step-son is dyslexic so has some problems with reading and writing. We should not judge others  by their grammar or language  skills.

I learnt French and Latin at school. If you have the basics in these languages, then Spanish is not too difficult. Italian and Portugese are reasonably similar to Spanish.

As previous posters have said, if you make the effort to speak Spanish , they appreciate it, and they are happy to help you out.

Agreed :great:

[casablanca]

I got a laugh at the Coviran butchers counter when I asked for cuartro kilo de Jamon Cocido instead of cuarto kilo. They were asking how many people were coming to the party.

[raysun]

I went into the meson one morning and asked for caracola ( Snails )
When i meant to ask for caracia. ( Coffee and brandy ) some smiles from the staff and locals.

[soosoo]

When my friend's sister first visited her in Arboleas she went to the local ,very Spanish, bar and proudly announced "Hola! Buenos Aires" Naturally there were smiles all round after the initial pause. 😀😀

[Angleseyite]

This is a fun thread.
Did you mean apostrophe misuse, Angleseyite?

I certainly did, my excuse, I had had a few before posting :57:

[zilnor]

Definitely a fun thread !
Punctuation is as important as correct spelling and grammar. However, it is not everything . My step-son is dyslexic so has some problems with reading and writing. We should not judge others  by their grammar or language  skills.

I learnt French and Latin at school. If you have the basics in these languages, then Spanish is not too difficult. Italian and Portugese are reasonably similar to Spanish.

As previous posters have said, if you make the effort to speak Spanish , they appreciate it, and they are happy to help you out.

[Angleseyite]

junepeter, I can honesty say that I was not offended by your post pointing out my spelling mistake, in fact I'm happy you let me know. I am proud of my education and I think spelling is very important in every situation.

It doesn't matter if it's on a forum, a letter to someone or a business website, it is very important to get spelling correct because it shows people that read what you have written you have had an education and actually learnt something at school.

My spelling mistake was down to typing too fast with one finger, then posting my post without my normal re-check for spelling mistakes as I was trying to do too many things at the same time.

It's the apostrophe miss use that gets me. We discuss it all the time at the Apostrophe Society, but this is the result of too much pandering. Let's get back to the correct grammar.  :bravo_2:

[Cuidarbol]

junepeter, I can honesty say that I was not offended by your post pointing out my spelling mistake, in fact I'm happy you let me know. I am proud of my education and I think spelling is very important in every situation.

It doesn't matter if it's on a forum, in a letter to someone or a business website because it's very important to get spelling correct. It can then easily be seen that you have not read what has been written and the lack of education learning nothing at school.

My spelling mistake was down to typing too fast with one finger, then posting my post without my normal re-check for spelling mistakes as I was trying to do too many things at the same time. I do make spelling mistakes because I'm only human but there's a difference in making a genuine spelling mistake and not knowing how to spell due to a poor education.

[guest14507]

Cuidarbol.  I'm sorry that my reply seems to have upset you a little, that was not my intention. My choice of the "moan" was wrong, I apologise. Sometimes I get dyslexic fingers.

[Cuidarbol]

Exactly Karen. I know Snr Kopinsky is part Polish blood, it is a hard language to learn/speak especially for us Brits and as you said, how the kids learn it is beyond me as well but they are born into it. The only good thing about the languages in those Eastern European countries is ¡s the fact they are Slavic. They are all very similar with a lot of things but then again each country has different words for other things.

As you know Karen and Peter, the Polish greeting for good day is "dobry dzień" but in Czech it's "Dobry den", so they are slightly different but similar. So you can get by and you will be understood in the different countries in Eastern Europe, they will know what you are saying but also know whatever country you are using as the base language.

[mickandjan]

And dinning tables..

[Karen4]

Try Polish! Good grief, I don't know how even baby Poles learn to speak! As for Spanish, I didn't learn it at school, but did study German and French and, more importantly, Latin, which helps when you try to have a good shot at the meaning of a word, or conjugation of verbs. There's a very useful saying which really applies to all languages..." Never look down on or make fun of someone who speaks broken English, it means they can speak another language."
Incidentally, there are always adverts for a "chest of draws" for sale......I'm saying nothing more.

[Cuidarbol]

My original post was an "observation", it wasn't a moan, attacking anyone in particular or intended to be malicious in any way.

I made a spelling mistake of "instaed" when it should have obviously been spelt "instead". Thank you junepeter for making me aware of my spelling mistake which I corrected. My spelling, grammar, punctuation were things I learnt at school too many years ago, I agree it is very important to get these things correct and I normally don't make such mistakes.

Getting back to my original post with the posts that other people have made. As it was intended, my original post has raised some interesting points and the funny use of the Spanish language by us foreigners who sometimes get it wrong. No one is perfect, Spanish is a hard language for us Brits to master but with a little effort it isn't hard to be able to have a basic conversation, to be understood when trying to explain something and the Spanish appreciate your effort in learning their language.

I'm a lot happier living here and trying to learn Spanish, I used to live in the Czech republic, try learning that language because if you think learning Spanish is hard, the Czech language is a nightmare. The Czech language has too many "J", "Z", "V", "K" letters in one word that to us Brits doesn't even look like a word and baffling how it is actually pronounced or said. Imagine words like "krk" (neck), pronounced "k-rook", "vlk" (wolf), pronounced "v-look", "muz"(man), pronounced "mush", so I'm happy to try and learn Spanish.

[sleepy john]

Now add to the list with RAMBLER instead of RAMBLA. :bravo_2:

[doreen1]

GEman, I know what you mean. We recently picked up a free ads magazine for English speaking company and it had actually printed WRECKERS.😡😡😡😡😡

The one that's gets me too is player not playa 🙄

[sparkiemike]

after dos beers I struggle with english

[nibbler]

What I don't like are those who take the ****   for no good reason. The Spanish are always helpful when one tries to use the language no matter in which context

[GEman]

"Wrecker" instead of reja gets me every time .

[raysun]

Extrano !!!!

[Cuidarbol]

Cuidarbol. One of my favourites is when someone moans about people spelling another language incorrectly and cannot spell their own language correctly,   instaed, should be instead. :sign0065:

Thank you junepeter, modified my post.

I wouldn't consider my original post as "moaning", it was an "observation" but I could be wrong.

[uslot]

I use some Spanish words in an English sentence if I learnt them in Spanish first. Like "reja", "pincho" and "viga". There are lots more that I can't think of. Most English words/ phrases are more succinct than Spanish but sometimes only the Spanish sounds right to me.

[guest14507]

Cuidarbol. One of my favourites is when someone moans about people spelling another language incorrectly and cannot spell their own language correctly,   instaed, should be instead. :sign0065:

[Cuidarbol]

Nice one ajc, I love it.

It always reminds me of the classic series Fawlty Towers when Basil gives Manuel a language lesson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-oH-TELcLE

[ajc]

Anyway i am just leaving my casa to go to the shop porque i need some leche

[Angleseyite]

I got myself in trouble once by asking why a lot of people state how long they have lived in Spain even when it is irrelevant to the conversation as though it's some sort of badge of honour or a sentence, I apologies now for mentioning this again and await the onslaught.

I think its "I have been here so long , so I must know what I'm talking about" as if!!!! :57: :57:

[ajc]

I got myself in trouble once by asking why a lot of people state how long they have lived in Spain even when it is irrelevant to the conversation as though it's some sort of badge of honour or a sentence, I apologies now for mentioning this again and await the onslaught.

[Cuidarbol]

Here are a couple of my favourite words in Spanish that are very similar:-

cansado - casado, (tired and married).
esposa - esposas, (wife and wives or handcuffs).

When a Spanish person asks me if I'm married, I always reply with "si, estoy cansado".

[Cuidarbol]

You are treading on dangerous ground with questions like that

I know my question will quite possibly open a very large can of worms with some people, obviously the "dos beer" users.
It is a genuine question but there are people out there like lmj52 that understand what I've asked and "pardon" instead of "padron" is a classic.

My favourites along those lines include, "por flavour" instead of "por favor" and "nintendo" instaed of "entiendo".

I came across the "nintendo" the other day and I thought they were talking about computer games but I was wrong.

[ajc]

You are treading on dangerous ground with questions like that

[lmj52]

Love it! My favourites are "deposito" for water tank. "Pardon" should be padron. Predictive text. Lol.

[Cuidarbol]

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how some people use the odd word in Spanish when making a post in English on an English forum in the middle of a paragraph and when the word in Spanish is used, it is quite often spelt incorrectly. Why use the odd word from another language when there's a word that can be used from your own language. There are many words in the English language that we use on a daily basis that originate from other languages but to use a word like "casa" instead of "house" in the middle of a paragraph is unexplainable.

I understand why we use words in the English language that are from other languages but not a word like "casa" instead of using the word "house". Can anyone enlighten me to why some people use the odd word in Spanish in the middle of an English sentence because I don't understand why

I've listed a few choice words we use in the English language that we've taken from other languages but there are obviously many more.

Rucksack, glitch, patio, ballet, cafe, genre, lingerie, delicatessen, chocolate, moped and garage.