I learnt Spanish in Mexico:P

Question

So we stayed in Mexico for 7 (short) days and we had a blast, Gary was right

Please read about the trip and beautiful Playa del Carmen here if you wish

I knew I was going to see incredible diving spots, what I did not know : I had to learn Spanish to be understood and to understand

So, who would think you close the door of a taxi and they ask you, hey, don't whip the door (to death I guess)

I think this is Jenny whipping a door

No azoten la puerta (sign on a taxi door)

Spanish: No cierren la puerta de golpe

And then of course: In Spain you go to a bank, they give you money and a credit, in Mexico you go to a bank and you get wool!!!

I knew that lana was money, but what really surprised me was that the word lana was also used for credit

¿Necesitas una lana? ¿Qué esperas para obtener tu Credimax Efectivo de Banco Azteca?

Oooo, Jen looks very mean! - Yeser007, Dec 14, 2010

Je, je. Yo siempre les digo a mis amigos mexicanos que ellos hablan otro idioma. :-) - Gekkosan, Dec 14, 2010

did they make fun of your lisping while you were there? :) - cheeseisyummy, Dec 14, 2010

Grr.. The 'th' sound is not a lisp! - bill1111, Dec 16, 2010

Answer 1

Ok, so dinner....well, dinner is ok, and the people are very friendly, but what are they talking about?

The waiter came to us and he said:

Ahora le llega el capitán y le dice el término en el que quiere la carne.

That is...we were not on a ship so the captain was out of the question, that was obvious

And the terms we wanted our meat in...well, in terms of ...???? jeje

Hmmm, términos matemáticos quizás?

Just kidding, but without context...hey, that was not so clear:

Ahora viene al jefe de mesa/maitre y le toma nota en qué punto quiere la carne/cómo quiere la carne.

I wonder if this is in any way related to a couple lines that always baffled me in this song, 'Hotel California': So I called up the captain, ’please bring me my wine’ - bill1111, Dec 14, 2010

(obviously the story told in the song doesn't occur in a ship, it's a hotel!) - bill1111, Dec 14, 2010

I think there are lines in Hotel California that no one understands. - Leatha, Dec 14, 2010

Yes, I think if you truly understand Hotel California you need to be committed. - amykay, Dec 14, 2010

Fair enough! :) Still, I wonder if that 'I called up the captain', apparently referring to a waiter, makes any sense for a native speaker? - bill1111, Dec 15, 2010

Answer 2

I think it was in the film 'Traffic' (excellent film by the way) where Benicio del Toro's partner tells him about a 'chingo de lana'. At first I didn't know if it was a sex joke reference or what he was talking about, but apparently he was talking about a million US dollars.

jeje, eso suena fatal sobre todo por el uso de chingar, normalmente muy vulgar - 00494d19, Dec 14, 2010

lol...It's still not particularly polite even in MX. I used to say "un chingo" to mean "mucho/a" but I was warned only to say it around the guys who taught it to me. ;) - alba3, Dec 14, 2010

I have several of the 'chingada' variations firmly in my head because of reading "El Plan Infinito'! - galsally, Dec 14, 2010

Answer 3

jajaja...

Y ¿aprendiste la seña para pedir la cuenta?... eso es indispensable en México... es tan indispensable que a todo mexicano que veas en otro país tratará de pedir la cuenta de ese modo...

Se hace levantando la mano y haciendo como si agarraras una pluma, y luego agitándola... jajaja... en otros países te dan respuestas como "¿qué... quiere un autógrafo?"

jejej, pues no, el camarero vino a nuestra mesa sin llamarlo, no surgió. - 00494d19, Dec 14, 2010

That is so thruthful !!! I have done that all mylife...never down on me that it's not actual "sign language" jejeje.. - Myneg, Dec 14, 2010

Answer 4

This is too funny Heidita, I wish I could have been there to see your reactions to their dialect. At least when I was there I didn't know enough Spanish to confuse me. It is different when you only know a few words, you can muddle through it all and figure it out. Thank God you could understand your divemasters.

well, taht was not surprising, gary, they were Spanish!!! lol - 00494d19, Dec 14, 2010

Answer 5

And then the next problem, air conditioning everywhere, so strong it was freezing.

so I went to one of the waiters and said:

Perdone: ¿Puede bajar el aire acondicionado?

Waiter: Si, si, si, si ------ahorita!!!!

So I thought, as I had already been to Mexico once and I knew O N E thing: they say ahorita...that means three days later if at all!!!

so I waited nevertheless and insisted again: ¿el aire acondicionado?

This time I got another sí, sí, sí....but I did not even wait for the ahorita...I took the waiter's name label and said I was going to file a complaint.

I was not going to do that, but at least I got a reaction: go talk to the man in the vest, he was the head waiter, I suppose.

So he said: Hmmmm, ¿aire acondicionado?

Which was the moment I noticed they had not understood me, once again

Ahhhhhh, señora, quiere decir ¡¡la refrigeración!!

Awwww....they wanted to freeze you Heidi :( I taught Spanish was the same all over but I guess it is just like English, every country have their own dialect/ slang/ modifications. - HotChickCD, Dec 14, 2010

Wow, they say refrigeración instead of aire acondicionado? I did't know that. Haha, funny. I'm from the central region of Mexico and we say 'aire acondicionado' too ;P - InésDelRío, Dec 14, 2010

la refrigeración?... sas, yo no entiendo eso... en mi rancho se llama "clima"... "bájele al clima" - Tonyriva, Dec 14, 2010

Answer 6

Es exactamente lo que me temía..todo el español que he aprendido aquí en España no sirve para nada para cuando vuelva a mi país!! No voy a conocer a mucha gente que sea de España en EEUU. Hay muchos más mexicanos, puertorriqueños...mejor darme un golpe en la cabeza para que se me olvide todo para poder empezar desde cero!!

-Charlius-

For what it is worth, My mother told me her cousin (who is British) learned Spanish in Spain, and when he visited the US, had no problems communicating in Spanish with Mexicans and Mexican Americans. - Stadt, Dec 14, 2010

I could add that when my wife's uncle visits (from Hull). I sometimes have to say to him "what is that in American?", but we can still communicate fine. - Stadt, Dec 14, 2010

Answer 7

That's funny. I have a friend from Puerto Vallarta who couldn't understand the Mexicans in Southern California when he first moved here.

They say the same about the Spanish spoken in Texas - Izanoni1, Dec 14, 2010