two tourist that don't speak English?
This morning i was on the beach. There was a couple sleeping near of the sea. The tide was going up and in few minutes a wave could catch them. I have said them first in Euskera. " kontuz bikote olatu batek arrapatuko jatzue" they have look to me and seem that they have not understand me. And i have repeat the same but this time in Spanish. "Digo que cuidado pareja. Una ola os va a atrapar" they seem not understand me and I have entrusted to San Spanishdict and I have made my best in English. " be careful. The see is going up til 3 in the afternoon and a wave will cacths you" . They have continued sleeping and ten minutes later a big wave has cacths them.
My question is: Is so badly made my sentence in English or they don't speak English?
3 Answers
Hola astotxua, No, your English sentence although not perfect, was not so badly formed. I understood what you meant. A native English speaker might have said :- Be careful, the tide comes in until 3 o’clock and you could get caught out.
Tide rather than sea. (Note the spelling of sea although they are both pronounced the same.) In English The tide rises or It comes in. Afterwards it can fall or it goes out.
Caught out is an idiomatic saying meaning that someone was unprepared for whatever happened. like the people on the beach.
I hope this is helpful and you get my vote for trying to help complete strangers.
¡Bien hecho!
BlockquoteThis morning I was on the beach. There was a couple sleeping near [of ]the sea. The tide was going up/coming up or rising and in few minutes a wave could catch them. I have said to them first in Euskera. " kontuz bikote olatu batek arrapatuko jatzue" they have looked at me and itseems that they have not understood me. And i have repeated the same but this time in Spanish. "Digo que cuidado pareja. Una ola os va a atrapar" they seem not to understand me and I have entrusted to San Spanishdict and I have made/used my best [in] English. " be careful. The sea is going up/rising or the tide is coming in til 3 in the afternoon and a wave will cacths/catch or hit you" . They have continued sleeping and ten minutes later a big wave has cacths/caught them.
My question is: Is [so badly made] my sentence so badly made in English or they don't speak English?
In the UK we talk about water or the sea rising and falling and the tide coming in and going out. Some possibilities: They did not care - they wanted to ignore everyone They did not understand your accent [but if they were polite they would have asked you to repeat it] I have suggested some amendments but I am sure I would have understood you Perhaps: Be careful. I suggest you move further up the beach or you will be soaked by the incoming tide. I think it is fantastic that you make the effort to help tourists
Txelis, your English certainly was not so bad that you could not be understood. If they had any proficiency in English, they would have at least understood enough to have asked you for clarification.
As for you paragraph, I would offer these corrections:
This morning i was on the beach. There was a couple sleeping near of the sea. The tide was coming up and in few minutes a wave was going to catch them. I said to them first in Euskera, "kontuz bikote olatu batek arrapatuko jatzue." They looked at me and it seemed that they did not understand me. I repeated the same but this time in Spanish, "Digo que cuidado pareja. Una ola os va a atrapar." They seemed not to understand me and I turned to/looked to Spanishdict and I made my best attempt in English. "Be careful. The sea is coming up til 3 in the afternoon and a wave will catch you" . They continued sleeping and ten minutes later a big wave caught them.
My question is: Was my sentence in English so bad or did they perhaps not speak English?
