Top Ten Dead-Giveaways That You’re a Foreigner Speaking Spanish
If you want to l
earn Spanish, DVD multimedia courses are a fantastic method. Additionally it is really helpful to immerse yourself with magazines, TV, radio (via the internet if necessary) and movies. When you get to a Spanish country, you will be so much more familiar with the sound of Spanish and so much more prepared. You are bound to make mistakes, and by making mistakes we learn. Here are the top dead giveaways that you are an English speaker and not a native:-
Dead-Giveaway 1: Past Tense Confusion
Getting confused by the difference between the pretérito indefinido (canté/estuve/escribi) and the pretérito imperfecto (cantaba/estaba/escribía).
Dead-Giveaway 2: Por/Para
No getting away from these two – you have to knuckle down and learn the differences, but fear not, soon it becomes second nature, and we have the perfect…
Dead-Giveaway 3: The Rolling ‘R’
There is a subtle difference between the pronunciation of ‘r’ and ‘rr’, for example in pero/perro, caro/carro, and many Spanish learners are convinced they will never be able to pronounce a proper rrrrrolling ‘r’.
Dead-Giveaway 4: Ser/Estar
Just as with Por and Para, the Ser y Estar ‘problem’ drives many Spanish learners mad, but worry not! We have a a very good bit of audio to sort these two out as well!
Dead-Giveaway 5: ¡Doy Propinas Demasiado Grandes!
Giving excessive tips (propinas) is a sure sign of being a foreigner on holiday in Spain. Spaniards tend to leave somewhere between no tip at all (when drinking in bars, or for a menu del día at lunchtime), to around 5% (if service is really good, usually at dinner in the evening or for a smart lunch).
Dead-Giveaway 6: Using “El Subjuntivo”
It’s not such a nightmare as you think to start using the subjunctive! You have to start eventually, and if you are at a comfortable intermediate level, nows the time to get going!
Dead-Giveaway 7: Word Order and More…
Failing to make adjectives and verbs agree with the gender and number of objects/people… word order in sentences… using the right prepositions… This covers an awful lot, but the solution to all of these problems is the same…
Dead-Giveaway 8: Falsos Amigos
Why does Actualmente mean Currently (and not actually, which is de hecho), and how can Sanidad mean health system (and not sanity, which is juicio or cordura)?
Dead-Giveaway 9: Saying Please and Thank You Too Much!
The British, to name but one nationality, use please and thank you quite a bit more than the Spanish use ‘por favor’ and ‘gracias’.
Dead-Giveaway 10: The Gender of Words
How annoying that the Spanish language has to decide if things are Masculine or Feminine! What’s more, there are ‘trick’ ones that really look like they should be the other way round, like ‘la mano’, ‘el sofa’, ‘el problema’, and ‘el tema’.
